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 bottom half of the first round (picks 16-32) who would fit Green Bay's potential roster needs.
Between now and draft day, when the Packers own the No. 22 and 28 overall selections in the first round, those players will be profiled with thumbnail sketches and videos known as "Prospect Primers."
Today's player is …
George Karlaftis, Edge, Purdue
Height/Weight: 6-4, 266
Key stats: In 27 games over three seasons, recorded 14 sacks among 29 tackles for loss.
College honors: Named Associated Press third-team All-America and first-team All-Big Ten in 2021, following second-team All-Big Ten honors the previous two years.
Background/other info: Karlaftis burst on the scene his first year at Purdue in 2019, racking up 7½ sacks among 17 tackles for loss in 12 games and becoming a focal point for any game plan against the Boilermakers' defense. Statistically, he didn't match that production beyond that breakout year, missing significant time due to injury and COVID-19 in 2020 and then recording 4½ sacks among 10 TFLs this past season. But the attention he commanded has him squarely in the first-round conversation amongst edge rushers in this draft, and in the top half of the round for many. Even more attractive is just how much more room for growth there is in his game, as Karlaftis didn't even play football until the eighth grade, when his mother moved the family to West Lafayette, Ind., from Greece following his father's death. A standout water polo player in his youth, Karlaftis took quickly to football in a football town, where his size and speed served him well from the start. The only question is how far his relentlessness and upside will take him.
