Packers Select Barksdale, Trade Up For Stocker In #MockThree

LSU tackle Joseph Barksdale was the third-round selection, while the Packers traded up to grab Tennessee tight end Luke Stocker in the fourth round.

As part of the #MockThree draft on Twitter, the Green Bay Packers selected LSU offensive lineman Joseph Barksdale in the third round.

The offensive tackle was the 96th overall selection and will add depth to an offensive line looking for help with aging tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher to go along with potential free agents Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz.

Barksdale is a physical specimen with ample athletic ability whose best days could still ahead of him. The way he seemingly improved every year of college makes it possible that he has yet to reach his full potential.

He does a really good job of moving defensive lineman exactly where he wants them to go in the run game. The downside is that he can be beaten by quickness and slow reaction time in pass protection, although there's hope he can still improve in that area.

He's number #78...

The Packers moved up in the fourth round to select Tennessee tight end Luke Stocker.

We traded selections in the fourth, fifth and seventh round (129, 163 and 233) with the Detroit Lions for the 107th overall selection.

In Stocker, the Packers got the second tight end off the board as late as the fourth round.

The reasoning was when we saw several highly rated tight ends in the draft slipping, we just couldn't pass them up. We also thought very highly of Wisconsin's Lance Kendricks and Arkansas' D.J. Williams, although Stocker seemed to be the most-well rounded of the three.

He's received a lot of favorable comparisons to Jason Witten.

The Packers don't necessarily have an immediate need for tight end, but as mentioned earlier, Stocker was just too good to pass up. And as the Packers have shown in the past, they're not against keeping four tight ends on the roster.

Plus, with Jermichael Finley becoming a free agent after next season and Andrew Quarless largely unproven, Stocker provides an insurance policy.

And the Packers still have three selections remaining in the draft: their fourth-round compensatory selection, their sixth-rounder and the very first pick of the seventh round in the trade from Carolina for J.J. Jansen.

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Comments (6)

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Molri's picture

April 22, 2011 at 09:40 am

Hell yeah, I wasn't happy with either one of the first two picks, but those right here are killing it.
Luke Stocker ftw!

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ShopeIV's picture

April 22, 2011 at 12:14 pm

i hope we get barksdale if only for all the wire puns it will allow us to make

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Asshalo's picture

April 22, 2011 at 12:32 pm

i like how you handled this brian. TE in the third is a classic thompson move that may puzzle fans in the short term and have everyone praising him not long after.

i just know hes going to pick someone that ive never heard of before in the 2nd or third.

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Brian Carriveau's picture

April 22, 2011 at 12:54 pm

That was kind of thought process.

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PackersRS's picture

April 22, 2011 at 02:56 pm

Why did you have to ruin the draft moving up for a TE, Brian?

What about Finley and Quarless?

What roundd did you have him going? I couldn't fathom TT moving up for a player in a position where there's no immediate nor future need...

Every time TT traded up for a player, there was a need in that position (pass rusher twice, SS). Couldn't see him doing it for a TE, unless the guy was a early 2nd round value. And even so...

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lars's picture

April 23, 2011 at 12:12 pm

Wouldn't it just be easier to draft an Olineman in the first two rounds rather than settle for a passive/not particularly athletic prospect that we "hope" will get better? Or, is reaching for yet another OLB THAT important in round one?

Re: TE...agree with your logic, but Quarless is a prospect with athleticism and upside who was drafted with Finley's flakyness/injury proneness in mind. Don't know if Ted would burn two picks on a position that is NOT a need in 2011.

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