Packers.com has consulted more than two dozen mock drafts from reputable national outlets and compiled a list of players most frequently mocked as draft selections in the middle portion of the first round (picks 10-20) who could fit Green Bay's potential roster needs.
Between now and draft day, when the Packers own the No. 15 overall selection in the first round, those players will be profiled with thumbnail sketches and videos known as "Prospect Primers."
Today's player is …
Calijah Kancey, DL, Pittsburgh
Height/Weight: 6-1, 281
Key stats: Over three seasons, 34½ of his 92 total tackles went for loss, including 16 sacks.
College honors: Chosen unanimous All-American and ACC defensive player of the year in 2022 (14½ TFLs, 7½ sacks), and the only player in the country named a finalist for both the Outland Trophy (nation's best interior lineman) and Nagurski Trophy (nation's top defensive player). Earned first of two All-ACC selections in 2021 (13 TFLs, seven sacks).
Background/other info: Became his school's first unanimous All-America selection since defensive tackle Aaron Donald in 2013. Clocked a 4.67-second time in the 40 at the combine, an incredible time for a 280-pound player. the fastest by a defensive tackle since 2003, and one-hundredth of a second better than Donald's 4.68 in 2014. Spent four years at Pitt, playing in just one game as a redshirt in 2019, becoming a starter late in 2020, and playing 36 games over his three full seasons. Missed the last two games of his college career with a shoulder injury, and didn't test at the combine except in the 40. His lack of overall size and length make it difficult to project how his speed and quickness can produce playmaking on the interior of an NFL defensive line. Same was said about the similarly sized Donald, who had a far more decorated college career yet lasted until the 13th pick in the first round in 2014 and has since won three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards. Definitely viewed as a penetrate-and-disrupt lineman, not a hold-the-point two-gapper.
