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Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: DT William Campbell

Player Information:

William Campbell, DT Michigan
6-5, 311 pounds
Hometown: Detroit. MI

STATS

Pro Day: 

40 yard: 5.15

Bench: 35

Vert: 27″

Broad: 107″

3 cone: 7.28

News and Notes:

William Campbell is your quintessential late round/priority rookie free agent.  Coming into Michigan, Williams was a 5 star recruit who never lived up to expectations; typically overweight and unrefined, Williams bottomed out when he was asked to switch to offensive line during his sophomore season.  That didn’t work out either and by his junior year he was back to defense.  Things took a turn for the better when Williams reported to camp in his senior year after dropping 46 pounds, which translated to on the field production.  However, just as things were improving, Williams was charged with  felony malicious-destruction-of-property when he attempted to slide across a car hood ala Starsky and Hutch.  In the end Campbell presents an enticing mix of size and athleticism muddled with immaturity and inexperienced.

 What they’re saying about him:  Read more... (847 words + 1 image, estimated 3:23 mins reading time)

• CBSSports.com: “Looks the part with a tall, well-built frame, broad shoulders and a large wingspan (80 inches). Can carry a lot of weight on his frame without losing his athleticism. Quick feet for his size with the agility to collapse inside and disrupt the pocket. Natural power to bully blockers at the point of attack, reset and redirect. Takes up room and has the size/strength combination to command double-teams.”

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North Carolina DT Sylvester Williams

Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: Defensive Tackle Sylvester Williams

Player Information:

Sylvester Williams, Defensive Tackle, University of North Carolina

6’3″, 305 pounds

Hometown: Jefferson City, MO

STATS

NFL Combine:

40 time: 4.99

225-pound bench: 27 reps

Vertical: 26 1/2″

News and Notes:

After nearly giving up on football and dropping out of high school, Williams gave the game another try during his junior year at Coffeyville Community College.  He spent two years there (honorable mention JUCO All-American with 12.5 tackles for loss and five blocked kicks) before transferring to Chapel Hill. . became an immediate starter at UNC in 2011. . .still managed 42 stops in 2012 despite heavy focus from opposing offensive blocking schemes.. .  earned First Team All-ACC honors from both coaches and the media with a career high 13.5 tackles for loss and six sacks

 What they’re saying about him:   Read more... (548 words + 3 images, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

• CBSSports.com: ”Possesses a naturally large, thick build. Possesses a very quick first step and a lethal swim move (both arms, if necessary) to slip past interior linemen. Varies his burst off the snap, lulling his opponent into relaxing and can make the explosive tackle behind the line of scrimmage before the ball-carrier has had time to make his first cut.”

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Veteran free agent DE Phillip Merling became the twelfth defensive lineman on the Packers' offseason roster.

Call it the “shotgun approach.” Ted Thompson added his twelfth defensive lineman to the roster on Wednesday with his signing of DE Phillip Merling, who spent the last four years with the Miami Dolphins. Of the four (non-Packer) veteran free agent signings by Thompson this offseason, three have been defensive lineman: Daniel Muir, Tony Hargrove, and now Merling.

There’s obviously been some emphasis by the Packers on bolstering the talent and depth across the unit. The drafting of Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels take the total number of new linemen up to five, meaning almost half of the group will be new faces in training camp.

Is this a case of desperation in response to the horrible performances of last season? No, that’s taking it a bit far. Ted Thompson is not spending beaucoup money on these free agent players, which one would tend to do when desperate.

But he is stockpiling the talent pool in a variety of ways, and hoping a good number of them stick.

The three free agent signings are not superstars. Tony Hargrove is the most well known of the group, but he’s probably not going to be a game-changer. His career has been up and down, playing with four different teams over eight years and racking up just 19.5 sacks and 16 run stuffs in the process. Hargrove hasn’t started a game in two seasons, and he only has 25 starts to his name across his entire career. Those numbers aren’t meant to discourage anyone – they’re certainly not the whole story – but they’re not indicators of a guy who’s going to “tilt the field.”  Read more... (1080 words + 1 image, estimated 4:19 mins reading time)

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DT Daniel Muir is the latest free agent signing by the Green Bay Packers.

The Green Bay Packers have just announced their second free agent signing of the season – defensive tackle Daniel Muir. Here is the information as reported by Packers.com:

Muir, a 6-foot-2, 312-pound fifth-year player out of Kent State, played for the Indianapolis Colts from 2008-11, appearing in 40 games with 26 starts. He posted a career-high 66 tackles (54 solo) and a half-sack for the Colts in 2009.

Muir originally entered the NFL as a non-drafted free agent with the Packers in 2007. He appeared in three games for Green Bay as a rookie in ’07 and recorded eight tackles (four solo). Muir was a four-year letterman (2003-06) at Kent State, playing in 46 games with 45 starts.

It’s clear Ted Thompson has identified the same holes in the team as just about everyone else. With the replacement of center Scott Wells by former Colts player Jeff Saturday, Thompson has now moved onto addressing the gaps in the defensive line. The departure of Cullen Jenkins last season coupled with the disappointing play and four-game suspension of Mike Neal have made the unit rather thin.

Muir is not guaranteed a spot on the roster, but it’s obvious the Packers are taking this need seriously. Thompson doesn’t often dip into free agency outside of his own team, so these last two signings are rather noteworthy.

Expect Thompson to continue to shore up the defensive pitfalls with draft picks in April.  Read more... (281 words + 1 image, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

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