Packers Draft Visits 2017: Cincinnati ILB Eric Wilson will come to Green Bay

The Green Bay Packers value athleticism in their players, that much is certain. This is not news, but the Packers tend to value sheer athletic ability more than most teams in the NFL.

It should come as no surprise, then, that when examining NFL Draft prospects expected to be chosen in the later rounds or to go undrafted the team tends to value pure athleticism. Excellent athletes have a better shot of being trained up and developed into useful NFL players. Think back to the signing of Miami cornerback Sam Shields for one of many examples of this working out well for the team.

On Tuesday, a report surfaced from Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post that the Packers have scheduled another private visit with an NFL Draft prospect, and this player should have fans salivating over his raw tools, as well as his solid college production.

The player is linebacker Eric Wilson, formerly of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Wilson was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, but he put up a very impressive workout at Cincinnati’s Pro Day on March 23rd. Here is the report from Pro Day from Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com:

Measuring 6010 and 230 pounds, he broke 4.5s on a number of watches, running as fast as 4.48s. He completed 25 reps on the bench and touched 39.5 inches in the vertical jump.

Those numbers are excellent, and Wilson’s size and athletic profile make him an obvious fit for an inside linebacker in the Packers’ defense. Wilson is also an impressive physical specimen, as you can see here.

Wilson was a two-year starter who recorded over 100 total tackles in both his junior and senior years. In his final season with the Bearcats, he recorded a total of 129 tackles, with 7.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. He also forced a total of six fumbles in his college career and recovered seven more.