Green Bay Packers have a need for linebacker speed

In the first round of the draft, the Green Bay Packers should consider selecting Devin White or Devin Bush.

The Green Bay Packers‘ use of free agency (finally) has opened up the possibility of using their first-round picks on a position they wouldn’t normally select.

For the past three years, Blake Martinez has roamed the middle of the field for the Packers defense in steady but unspectacular fashion, never making true game-changing plays. This could be the year for the Packers to shake up the linebacker room.

There are two linebackers in this upcoming draft class that have the potential to be real game-changers in Mike Pettine’s year-two defense.

Meet the Devins: LSU’s Devin White and Michigan’s Devin Bush. Both linebackers are true sideline-to-sideline speed demons who rank in the top 14 of Daniel Jeremiah’s top 50 for NFL.com.

Both tested through the roof at the NFL combine this year, running in the low 4.4s. Not only are they both fast and rangy, but they are both very physical players.

Here’s what Joe Marino of The Draft Network wrote about the physicality Devin White plays with:

“Aggressive player who isn’t afraid to lay the wood. Can be a violent finisher and pursues the football with bad intentions.”

I can’t remember the last linebacker for the Packers that an offensive coordinator probably feared.

As for Devin Bush, Marino wrote that he “projects favorably to all three linebacker positions but is likely most natural as an inside backer”.

Can you think of a time recently the Packers had such a weapon at off-ball linebacker?

Before free agency, most fans would be screaming for a pass rusher at 12, but after signing Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith to get after the quarterback, the Packers have the luxury of spending their top pick on one of the speedy three-down linebackers.

While the Packers did just spend a third-round pick on Oren Burks last year, the jury is still out on him, and even if he does pan out it doesn’t hurt to have more than one athletic linebacker. Speed is the name of the game in today’s NFL.