Nov 23, 2012; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks wide receiver Brandon Mitchell (17) is upended by Louisiana State Tigers safety Micah Eugene (34) and linebacker Kevin Minter (46) during the second half at Donald W. Reynolds Stadium. LSU defeated Arkansas 20-13. Mandatory Credit: Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday the deadline for NFL teams, including the Green Bay Packers, to designate a franchise tag came and went with the Packers denying the tag for Greg Jennings – something many thought would be the case.

So, with that milestone behind us, it’s time to keep our eye on free agency (and the visit tomorrow by Chris Canty) and to continue to focus on the Draft  with our daily Big 3.

Here’s is the March 4 Big 3

Here’s is the March 3 Big 3

Here’s is the March 2 Big 3

Here’s is the March 1 Big 3

Here’s the Feb. 28 Big 3

Here’s the Feb. 27 Big 3

We here at lombardiave.com have been scouring the Internet in search of mock drafts to include in our Big 3 – three different mocks with three different selections. As we move along each day, it gets more difficult to find mocksters who aren’t projecting the same selections … but we are still coming across those who are differing. Some of you may think these guys are crazy for their picks, but it certainly makes the comment section a lively read.

So, we turn to our Big 3 selected today by By lionsman81, Matthew Fairburn of SBNation, and Rodgers. Lionsman and Rodgers are independent mocksters who posted at NFLdraftgeek.com.

Lionsman81 projects the Packers, with their pick at 26, will select …

Kevin Minter
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Minter, LB, LSU

Here’s how Minter is described on the LSU home page:

Hard-hitting linebacker who capped his career with one of the best seasons for a player at his position in school history … Earned first team All-America honors and was a finalist for the Butkus Award after recording 130 tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks as a junior in 2012 … Capped his career with 206 total tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks … Played in 38 games with 24 starts … Graduated in December of 2012 with a degree in general studies … Opted to forgo senior season at LSU and enter the 2013 NFL Draft.

Lombardiave: If there’s a player who could fit right into the Packers’ linebacking corps, this might be the guy. Looking at his credentials on paper, he is clearly a winner. The only question, again, is whether Ted Thompson would see linebacker as a position of need at this point. Yes, there are question marks with two Packers veterans, D.J. Smith and Desmond Bishop, coming back to the team off significant injuries and recovery times. Whether the Packers keep A.J. Hawk will also play into any decisions about who and what position to draft in the first round. The old company line of drafting for the best player would play to Minter’s advantage, but if Thompson factors in need, he might hope that Minter drops in the draft so he could have a shot at him later. I don’t see Minter as a first-rounder with the Packers.

Here’s a video of Minter …

Matthew Fairburn of SBNation projects the Packers, with their pick at 26, will select …

Manti Te’o

Manti Te’o, Notre Dame

The Packers’ linebacker issues were on full display in the team’s playoff loss to the 49ers. Manti Te’o fits the 3-4 scheme and would be lucky to land in such a strong locker room and small market.

Lombardiave: I heard yesterday that one NFL player said his locker room would laugh at Manti Te’o. That’s just plain mean … however, I do not see Te’o going in the first round to any team. His performance at the Combine was marginal and he is a backup for just about any team, especially if his draft stock drops and he falls to the second or third round. While there are those who feel he might be a good fit in Green Bay because they employ the 3-4 and because he could be kept out of the national limelight in small town USA, I think it would be a reach for the Packers to consider his selection. There are too many other more talented linebackers in this draft.

Here’s a video of Manti Te’o …

Rodgers projects the Packers, with their pick at 26, will select …

Margus Hunt, DE, Southern Methodist University

This according to Wikipedia: Margus Hunt (born 14 July 1987 in Karksi-Nuia) is an Estonianmulti-sport athlete who competes in the discus throw and shot put in addition to playingcollege football. He is the former world junior record holder in discus throw.

When Hunt tried out for football, his physical power, combined with a 4.7-second 40-yard dash, led head football coach June Jones to give him a scholarship, and he began attending SMU full-time in 2009. Since then, he has played for the Mustangs. On October 12, 2009, Margus Hunt was named theConference USASpecial Teams Player of the Week. On November 7 Hunt broke the school record for blocked kicks in a season when he blocked an extra point try and a field goal against Rice. In his first 14 games at SMU he blocked 8 kicks, putting him in the top 10 in blocked kicks among all NCAA players. He was named the MVP of the 2012 Hawaii Bowl.

Lombardiave: Depending on whether the Packers land a defensive lineman in free agency may directly impact their first round selection. For instance, if the Packers pick up either Chris Canty or Ricky Jean-Francois in free agency, they may go with an offensive lineman in the first round. However, Hunt would be an excellent choice. This guy is a beast and an athlete who can play football. He might be a natural for the NFL and had an incredible performance at the Combine. No doubt, he will also be a project, but he’s got the shear athletic ability. Many are projecting him as a first-rounder. He could be and may even be gone long before the Packers’ 26 pick. But if he were still on the board for the Packers, I would see him as a great long-term player who could contribute immediately. If he’s available, he would be an excellent choice to solidify a weak spot on the D-line. Again, it depends on how successful the Packers are in free agency.

Here is a video of Hunt …

Would you pay $25 to watch this?
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

So, if you’re a friend of the NFL, have $25 burning a hole in your pocket and a ticket to Indianapolis, Ind., at the end of February, you might want to take up the offer to sound off on the league’s request for answers to their poll on whether anyone would be interested in paying money to attend the Combine.

The league tried something unique this year and opened the Combine up to 300 for free to whet the appetite of the rabid fans – then they asked those who attended whether they might be interested in attending if there were a $25 charge. Though no results of that survey are yet available, it will be very interesting to see the bottom line.

I can tell you one thing – if there’s an NFL event that’s equivalent to watching the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field grow in January, it’s the Combine. Oh sure, it’s fun watching the replays of the event on the NFL Network and even somewhat amusing catching the two camera options on nfl.com/combine, but to sit in the stands and watch the equivalent of an NFL big top circus with hundreds of grown men run around in shirts and shorts … hmmmm … not for me, thank you.

Feb 25, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te

I would rather take my wife out for a nice dinner for that $25 – not to mention that she would probably divorce me on the spot if I spent it on a ticket to the Combine … and she’s a huge Green Bay Packers fan and follows the game sometimes more closely than I.

It’s understandable why the league is doing it – revenue. But should they decide to go this route and make the Combine more of a fan event as opposed to a track meet, they are going to have to come up with more than that to make any money doing it.

How about holding a concert with the Combine as the backdrop? You can imagine that Manti Te’o's 40-yard dash would have been much more respectable if he had Macklemore and Ryan Lewis pounding out “Thrift Shop” in the background, don’t you think? How about bringing in monster truck pull and have 20 of the biggest and strongest offensive and defensive linemen pull their own weights around the Lucas Oil Stadium?

Just some thoughts …

As for my 25 bucks … yeah, I’ll be holding on to mine for awhile and I suggest you do the same.

Like Lombardiave.com on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Growing up a Green Bay Packers fan is more than wearing the Green and Gold and knowing the history of the team, it is about heart and spirit.  Sometimes we forget that this is just a game and that in the end it means very little in the grand scheme of things.  Yet, every now and then there is a story that comes along that tugs at our heartstrings and puts to shame the selfishness and greed that we see so often in professional sports.

We are fortunate (for the most part) that our team is void of self-serving egomaniacs.  We see reminders of the good that Aaron Rodgers, Donald Driver and Coach  Mike McCarthy have done in this community.  We applaud them for their actions and name them MVP and shower them with accolades.  In many ways they deserve it for they have accomplished a lot for the greater good.

Yet as I write this, I can say with all seriousness that none of these men come close to to what I saw in this video.  I ask that you first watch it before you read any further.  Some of you may not agree with me and that is fine.  Some may see what I see and will understand my feelings.  So please take a moment to watch this.

Pretty powerful on many different fronts.

A  coach willing to risk victory to make one young man’s wish come true. The actions of one young man, contrary to all that is held in sports, to do what was right and finally a dream fulfilled.  In an age of multi-million dollar contracts, Jonathan Montanez, a senior at Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas, and Coach Peter Morales, at Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas, did not care about winning at all costs.  They cared about doing the right thing.

They put the integrity of the game and doing what was right before anything else.  They put the dreams of Mitchell Marcus ahead of winning and losing.  To watch Montanez call to Marcus, pass him the ball and give him the opportunity to make the shot proved to me that sportsmanship still lives and thrives.  I was also impressed with the other members of the Franklin High School team who allowed Marcus his one last opportunity to fulfill his dream.  What took place was greater than any game or any championship.

I was amazed when Coach Morales said that he “was prepared to lose that game, ‘for (Marcus’s) moment in time.’”  In today’s win-at-all-cost mentality, words like that are never spoken in sports today.

In the end, Mitchell Marcus made his shot and his school rushed the floor and hoisted him on their collective shoulders.  Not because he won the game, but because he represented everything that is true, honest and good about sports.  He played the game for the love of it, not for a trophy or an award, not for money or fame.  He played because that was what was in his heart.

So you may ask what does that have to do with the Packers and football.  Well it has nothing to do with it, yet it has everything to do with it.  The Combine is wrapping up and the talk of who to draft and why is at the forefront of every story being penned.  We hear of the Manti Te’o, Alec Ogletree and Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieus of the Combine and see all the press they get for all the wrong reasons.  Lying, drunk driving and drug use is their badge of dishonor, yet in the end they will, in all likelihood, get millions of dollars for all the wrong reasons.

Here is what I would love to see happen.  The money that NFL players like these three will probably get should go to schools like Franklin High School and Coronado High School in the form of a scholarship that rewards these schools, their coaches and players like Montanez for their actions and deeds.

I am calling out every would-be professional player who is about to hit paydirt and honor the integrity of the game they play by honoring the actions of coaches like Peter Morales and players like Jonathon Montanez.  I dare you to take your precious signing bonus and reward the actions of kids like this with a scholarship or provide the funds to improve the athletic department where schools like this put honor and integrity above winning at all costs.

I have joked about getting paid $20 million to write these articles, but I will say this.  I would gladly give a salary of that amount to the players and coaches of the two schools in the video above.  I would gladly put scholarships together to honor Coaches like Peter Morales and players like Jonathon Montanez and Mitchell Marcus, before I would give a dollar to college athletes like Te’o, Ogletree and Mathieus.

I would rather have Te’o, Ogletree and Mathieus watch this video and then get up in front of every reporter and news agency and profess what they truly feel after watching that video and then put their money where their mouth is.  I would love to have Greg Jennings look at every camera and say that the money is not important after watching this video.  But in the end, I know that the power of the almighty dollar is what drive men like them to play the game.  Sadly, along the way they forgot that what was important was to play the game for the love of it.

I applaud the young men in the video.  I applaud them for playing the game they love with all their heart and for putting integrity, honor and sportsmanship above all else.  No matter what happens, you are the true champions and you deserve the accolades and honor that come with that.

You truly exemplify all that is right about sports and sportsmanship and you are the true representation of sportsmanship of which the Te’os, Ogletrees, Mathiues can only dream.

Manti Te’o ran a 4.82 in the 40-yard dash at the Combine.

Like you are really interested in hearing anymore about Manti Te’o, right?

Well, today was his day to shine at the NFL Combine, but he was far from bright in his onfield workouts. He ran the 40-yard dash in more than 4.8, a time that doesn’t set him apart from the pack and diminishes his draft stock as we inch closer to that April extravaganza.

Many felt that Te’o's performance in the National Championship game set him back at least a notch. Playing against a far superior Alabama squad, Te’o and his Notre Dame teammates were embarrassed. But the experts also believed that if he had a solid outing in the NFL Combine that he could recoup some of the status that had been tarnished at the end of the season.

Even Baltimore Ravens’ Head Coach John Harbaugh wasn’t impressed. NFL.com utilized a split screen showing Harbaugh’s reaction when Te’o was running – he simply shook his head, shut off the stop watch and started taking notes.

So, what does this mean for Te’o? Well, most likely he will slip out of the first round of the Draft to the second and possibly into the third round. That depends on whether scouts see more than the rest of us saw today. There are those intangibles that they talk about …

Either way, maybe this is the signal that the Te’o media blitz could come to an end. That would be the best thing that could come from this.

Feb 23, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te

Offensive linemen and tight ends worked out on the field at the NFL Combine today, but much of the media frenzy taking place in Indianapolis, Ind., centered on the media room where Manti Te’o, the beleaguered Notre Dame linebacker stood and to podium to answer questions about his national news-breaking past, though his focus was centered on what he can do on the football field.

Te’o told reporters Saturday that while he was embarrassed by the fact that his family had to sneak into their own home during the national feeding frenzy a couple months ago, he was putting it behind himself and was ready to focus on football.

“It got overwhelming at times. I’m just looking forward to getting straight to football. I understand people have questions, but I think I’ve answered everything I could. I’d really like to talk about football,” Te’o said.

If you’re not familiar with Te’o's story (have you been under a rock?) the Heisman Trophy runner-up was duped into believing he was dating a woman that didn’t exist and also believed that the fictitious woman had died during last season.

When asked about the incident at Saturday’s press conference, Te’o said, “I’ve learned to be honest in everything you do. And to keep your circle small and know who’s in your corner and who’s not.” He added, ”It’s only going to make me stronger.”