Packers 2016 Draft: Best available players on day three
By Kenn Korb
Kevin Peterson, CB
Peterson is another player I talked about in the community mock, and what I said before still stands.
He is smaller, and had a terrible showing in his final college game, yes. But don’t let the recency bias cloud your vision, however; he has many quality attributes for whatever team picks him up.
His toughness led him to return from multiple injuries in this past season (a preseason knee injury, as well as a mid-year ankle injury) to post his best season.
His confidence provided him what was needed to constantly line up in single coverage versus his opponents’ top options. In some cases, it didn’t work out (first-rounder Laquon Treadwell dominated him); in others, he more than held his own (played Josh Doctson — also a first-rounder, and considered by many the best WR in the entire draft — to a relative draw). More often than not, he tended to live up pretty well to that challenge.
His intelligence shows in his strong field awareness; watch him, and you see a propensity to make innate decisions in coverage that help erase mistakes around him.
He is savvy out there on the field, picking appropriate times to peek on the quarterback in zone coverages, accurately reading cues by receivers for when the ball arrives, and influencing receivers out of their routes despite his size limitations.
Spending one of the four remaining picks the Packers have on him — preferably their seventh rounder, since I see him lasting until there — brings more young depth to a talented young unit.
Next: An intriguing safety