The Packers selected Bowling Green State University defensive lineman Karl Brooks with pick 179 in the 2023 NFL Draft. Here’s what evaluators said about Brooks during the pre-draft process.

Strengths

Pro Football Focus — Active hands. Throwing them continuously while rushing the passer. Agility is a big plus for a DT — good enough that he played on the edge for Bowling Green. He can really turn the edge on guards to get back to the quarterback. Flexible.

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — Quick first step to easily build up momentum as a bull rusher to drive through contact from different angles ... swipes or jars blockers off balance with his sudden, physical hands ... attacks with natural bend and body control to dip/rip underneath blocks ... his hands/feet stay on the same page ... maneuvers his frame to free himself in the run game and chase down the action ... quickly locates and closes out screen passes ... experienced playing multiple techniques on the line ... voted a team captain in back-to-back years ... was 185 pounds as a high school sophomore and gradually packed on the weight ... durable five-year starter (48 starts) with eye-popping production and finished his career No. 3 in school history in sacks (27.5).

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — Two-time team captain with 48 career starts. Explosive production in major categories. Winning first-step quickness sets the tone. Sets up rush moves with angles and hand usage. Comes forward with a high level of urgency and activity. Possesses plus burst to close in short spaces. Gets sudden wins with slap-and-slide technique. Reads and mirrors blocker’s stretch steps to beat the block. Plays with unified hands and feet.

Kyle Crabbs, Draft Network — Highly-productive sack artist with great production the last two years. Heavy hands and power to collapse blockers and play on the plus side of the line of scrimmage. High-effort player from snap to whistle. Pleasant variety as a pass rusher to attack and adjust mid-rush

Bleacher Report — Great production with 17.5 sacks and 30.5 tackles for loss over the last two seasons. Quick off the ball and can get penetration with his get-off alone. Sets up his pass-rush moves well by getting to square during the stem phase of the rush and giving himself a two-way go. Also has some quickness and agility to him to get offensive linemen off-balance. Has a plethora of inside pass-rush moves that he can win with like a cross chop, hand swipe, swim and spin moves. Decent at turning speed to power as a pass-rusher to take advantage of offensive tackles with a weak inside shoulder. Against the run, he has some pop to his hands and solid upper-body strength to get some extension.

NFL Draft Buzz — He's a massively productive and dominating pass rusher. Has totaled 20 sacks and an unbelievable 100 plus pressures over the last two years. Brooks has an excellent feel for working off blockers and knowing how and when to counter as the play goes on. Super well-respected player who is a two-time team captain. Played with good leverage, even on the nose, despite average bulk. Hustle defender with a good bull rush inside that can close and get home when quarterbacks leave the pocket. He’s quick to react and locate the ball, and Brooks shows enough speed to succeed in backside pursuit. Brooks plays with excellent balance and a strong, flexible core, rarely ending up on the ground. Has a nice set of tools in his bag - his bull rush is impressive, but he's nimble enough to show a good spin move and quick countering. He’s ready for the physicality of the NFL; he has a stout build, strong core and powerful limbs to step in right away as a three-down player. Combines strength and footwork to fill holes inside, as well. Recovers from cut blocks or falling on his way to make a tackle. He’s long but has a powerful lower body and plays with impressive leverage considering his tall frame.

Brett Yarris, Pro Football Network — Agile, does a terrific job using his hands, and moves well about the field. Tough to move off the point. Nicely redirects to the action or immediately alters his angle of attack. Slices inside blocks to penetrate the line of scrimmage, then disrupts the action. Occasionally stands over tackle and effectively rushes the passer.

Weaknesses

Pro Football Focus — He can get bounced against double teams. Play strength in the run game is a concern. Short arms for a defensive lineman. Not the kind of defensive tackle who can sit on a block. Inexperienced on the interior. He has only 214 career snaps inside the tackles.

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — His short-armed, tweener frame will be more noticeable in the NFL ... doesn’t have the speed to capture the corner as an edge player ... lower-body stiffness chips away at his ability to sink and redirect in small space ... gets upright when stacked and has a tough time controlling the point of attack ... his crazed style negates his ability to consistently tap into his play strength ... struggles to handle extra attention ... his awareness in the run game needs to improve to avoid getting washed ... needs to tighten up his pursuit to square ball carriers and avoid the missed tackles.

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — Build carries shorter arms with smallish hands. Could struggle shedding blocks quickly enough. Below average force to neutralize drive power. Gets pads turned through contact.

Kyle Crabbs, Draft Network — Body type is unorthodox and length to stack and extend is in question. Illustrates some tightness through his frame, limiting his projection to corner and flatten against NFL blockers. Run-defending skills are very boom or bust

Bleacher Report — His two worst games last season came against the highest level of competition he faced, UCLA and Mississippi State, with only one total tackle and no sacks in the two games combined. Stands up out of his stance and has poor knee bend, causing him issues holding ground as a run defender, especially against double-teams, and will diminish the effectiveness of his bull rush at the next level. Also has wide hand placement as a run defender and isn't strong and violent enough to shed blocks from NFL offensive linemen. Late with his hands as a pass-rusher. Better offensive linemen will make the first significant contact. Runs out of gas quickly against no-huddle and/or on two-minute drives, diminishing his get-off and explosiveness.

NFL Draft Buzz — Not a great athlete demonstrated by how poorly he performed at Bowling Green's pro-day where he looked sluggish and not particularly explosive. Brooks struggles with leverage off the snap and plays too tall, limiting his effectiveness as a pass rusher.

As a pass rusher, his hand use is inconsistent. Played against a sub-par talent - may struggle to step up to a much higher level of competition. Struggles as a run defender - doesn't disengage well enough from offensive lineman and gets caught up in the trash. Doesn't have the best motor - slows down late in the game. Brooks doesn’t have the ability to dip and bend around the edge and lacks the necessary suddenness at the line of scrimmage to penetrate through gaps.

Brett Yarris, Pro Football Network — Inconsistent using his hands. Not bulky or strong. Can be easily knocked from his angle of attack or out-positioned from the action.

Overall

Pro Football Focus — Brooks started eight games as a true freshman for Bowling Green, seeing 497 defensive snaps on the year. In 2019, he started all 12 games for the Falcons and marked the start of four straight seasons with an 80.0-plus PFF pass-rush grade. After playing in just three games in 2020, Brooks produced an 81.1 PFF grade in 2021 and then enjoyed a career year this past season. A force as a pass rusher, he registered 12 sacks, eight hits and 49 hurries from 388 pass-rushing snaps.

Dane Brugler, The Athletic — A five-year starter at Bowling Green, Brooks was primarily a defensive end in former defensive coordinator Eric Lewis’ 3-4 base, lining up outside as a 7-technique, head up over the tackle or inside as a 3-technique. Very few college players can say they led their team in sacks five straight seasons, but Brooks is one of them, including a prolific senior campaign as one of only six FBS players to finished with 18-plus tackles for loss and 10-plus sacks. With his initial quickness and effort, Brooks should be Bowling Green’s first defensive draft pick since 2013. His hands are active, but not always efficient and his sawed-off frame makes it difficult for him to control blockers or stay square. Brooks has a unique package of tools, which creates questions about his ideal position fit, but he has the light feet and urgent hands to be a gap disruptor. He projects best as a 3-technique who can be flexed up/down the line.

Lance Zerlein, NFL.com — The inclination to shrug off Brooks’ production based on level of competition -- or because of questions about his positional fit -- might be a mistake. Brooks’ snap quickness, footwork, hand usage and motor are all translatable play qualities. His movement and counters are intuitive, allowing for quick access into the backfield. Against the pass, he frequently beat tackles as a bull rusher off the edge. Brooks has the size of a three-technique but the versatility and athleticism to move around a defensive front. He flashes disruptive, three-down talent as a future starter in a one-gap scheme.

Kyle Crabbs, Draft Network — Expectations for Brooks are difficult to forecast. He’s facing a significant leap in competition and I’m not sold his athletic profile has him suited to fulfill one traditional role or another on a defensive front. I foresee him being a developmental-type player who will need reconditioning to either facilitate more burst or more raw strength in his game before he finds his way onto the football field. 

Bleacher Report — Brooks' upside is worth taking a flier on in the later rounds/Day 3 of the draft. His tape should catch the eyes of a team looking for a 3-technique who can put pressure on the quarterback. It helps that he has some versatility, having played up and down the defensive line at Bowling Green.

NFL Draft Buzz — Unranked player Karl Brooks put up an amazing couple of seasons in 2021 and 2022 for Bowling Green where he dominated at a lower level. He's got good size for the position standing 6-4 and 303lbs and can play all along the line. He, however, has only limited athletic ability, and his measurables are closer to what you expect to see on a late-round selection, not a top-100 player. And since he's never had to play against the best college players it's difficult to say whether how he'll hold up at the next level. Brooks currently looks like a fourth/fifth-round selection in the 2023 NFL draft given his limited upside however he may get drafted higher by a team hoping he can replicate his college production

Brett Yarris, Pro Football Network — As a defensive tackle, explosion and agility are paramount to operating and dominating in tight spaces. Those traits help you jump gaps against the run and collapse the pocket against the pass. Not helping Brooks is playing in the MAC. While it is an impressive résumé, the competition he faced isn’t as strong. Then, to not perform strongly athletically could give teams additional pause.

Where Karl Brooks ranked on evaluators’ big boards

Pro Football Focus - 99

NFL Mock Draft Database Consensus Big Board - 115

Bleacher Report - 145