By: Marques Eversoll

Since the Packers’ 2014-15 season ended at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship, they’ve lost a couple key veterans at both inside linebacker and cornerback.

But through the first two days of the 2015 NFL Draft, the Packers had clearly filled their holes at cornerback, which were created by the departure of free agents Tramon Williams and Davon House. The Packers picked Arizona State’s Damarious Randall with their first-round pick and Miami (OH.) cornerback Quentin Rollins at No. 62 in the second round.

Ted Thompson made Stanford receiver/returner/“gadget player” Ty Montgomery his third-round pick, and while it looked like the Packers added a lot to their secondary and special teams, one big thing still remained on the to-do list – perhaps the No. 1 thing on that to-do list – finding an inside linebacker to help replace departed free agents Brad Jones and A.J. Hawk.

But with their first pick on Day 3 of the draft – No. 129 in the fourth round – the Packers drafted an instinctual, hard-working linebacker from the Big Ten – (sound familiar?) – two-time team captain, Michigan’s Jake Ryan. Fourth-round success stories under Thompson include left tackle David Bakhtiari (2013), Mike Daniels (2012), Davon House (2011), T.J. Lang (2009) and Josh Sitton (2008).

Despite being a Day 3 pick, the opportunity at the linebacker position gives Ryan perhaps the best opportunity to start amongst the entire draft class. While rookie cornerbacks Randall and Rollins would need to unseat fourth-year Casey Hayward and/or third-year safety/corner Micah Hyde, Ryan will enter training camp with third-year player Sam Barrington (nine career starts), second-year linebacker Carl Bradford (inactive for every game as a rookie) and unknowns Joe Thomas and Josh Francis. Clay Matthews, although Mike McCarthy said Saturday that his “premium position” was outside linebacker, has been spending time in both (inside and outside) linebacker meeting rooms and will likely spend a lot of time in the middle.

But while most rookies come into the league with little-to-no hope at playing significant time in their first year (See: fifth-round quarterback Brett Hundley), Ryan is in a very different situation. As a fourth-round pick, Ryan has a golden opportunity in front of him. Of course, things can change and the roster may look very different when training camp opens, but as things currently stand, three of the team’s four linebacker positions are spoken for.

Julius Peppers will be a starter on the outside. Sam Barrington will likely be a starter on the inside. Matthews will be a starter somewhere, likely leaving Ryan to battle Bradford, Thomas and Francis for the final starting spot, and in the process, determining where Matthews plays in the base defense.

Marques Eversoll is on-air on SportsLine every weekday afternoon from 4:00-6:00 PM on The Fan, and he hosts the Saturday Morning Showcase every weekend 8:00-10:00 AM. Follow him on Twitter @MarquesEversoll.