641 - Can the Packers Find Defensive Line Help in the 2023 NFL Draft?

There are a lot of interesting defensive line prospects in this year’s draft, which should be good news for the Packers. They definitely need help up front.

What are our criteria for defensive linemen worth watching?

Not every lineman is a good one; every pre-draft evaluation process should involve some sorting of the wheat from the chaff.

Here’s the criteria we use at The Power Sweep and Blue 58. As far as defensive linemen go, we want players with a Relative Athletic Score above 8.0, a career Production Ratio above .75, and a career Pressure Percentage of 10% or better. Find out more about Relative Athletic Score here, and read about Production Ratio and Pressure Percentage here.

How do the linemen in the consensus top 100 stack up?

The NFL Mock Draft Database Consensus Big Board paints this as a pretty promising class for defensive linemen, especially toward the top end of the draft. Here are the consensus top 100 prospects we talked about:

Jalen Carter - Georgia (6)
Bryan Bresee - Clemson (23)
Calijah Kancey - Pittsburgh (24)
Mazi Smith - Michigan (37)
Keeanu Benton - Wisconsin (57)
Siaki Ika - Baylor (58)
Gervon Dexter - Florida (70)
Zacch Pickens - South Carolina (109)

What should we know about linemen outside the top 100?

Of course, the conversation about worthwhile linemen doesn’t end with the top 100 picks. Here are the guys between 100 and 200 that we talked about in this episode.