INDIANAPOLIS — At last year’s NFL Scouting Combine, Mike McCarthy recalled being asked approximately seven questions about the Green Bay Packers’ struggles at safety. The need to address that position was as obvious to reporters as it was to the Packers, who drafted Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round less than three months later.

There is once again a glaring positional weakness facing Green Bay this offseason. This time, it’s inside linebacker.

McCarthy seemed just as aware of the need to upgrade at inside linebacker now as he did about upgrading at safety a year ago. Perhaps that’s an early indicator of what the Packers are hoping for in the first round of the upcoming draft.

"I think the inside linebacker position could probably be compared to where we were last year at the safety position," McCarthy said. "Obviously we had a number of moving parts there. So we’ll see what this process that we go through as far as player acquisition, how that affects it."

Unlike the 2014 draft, there aren’t any inside linebackers expected to be picked in the top 20 like when Ryan Shazier went No. 15 and C.J. Mosley was selected at No. 17. But with the Packers waiting near the back of the line at No. 30, that might work out OK for Green Bay.

There are three inside linebackers ranked somewhat similarly in this draft, with projections for them ranging from being late-first-round picks to mid-second-round selections. That group is Mississippi State’s Benardrick McKinney, UCLA’s Eric Kendricks and University of Miami’s Denzel Perryman. Clemson’s Stephone Anthony and TCU’s Paul Dawson have less of a consensus in terms of how they’re rated, but they’d round out the top five.

Now, the questions for the Packers become: which of them will be available? And which one would best fit what they’re looking to do defensively?

McKinney is 6-foot-5 and 246 pounds, while Kendricks and Perryman are busy answering questions about whether their 6-foot frames are too short.

But for Perryman, he knows being undersized by traditional NFL inside linebacker standards doesn’t have to hold him back.

"I got a comparison to Chris Borland," Perryman said, referencing the former Wisconsin Badgers star who had a very good rookie season with San Francisco. "I watched his highlights. I’d say that’s a pretty good comparison. But I’m my own man. . . . I’d say my style of play is a little bit different than his."

Perryman has received the height question repeatedly. Not just during the draft process either.

"I’ve pretty much been getting knocked for my height since I got to high school getting recruited," he said Friday. "My play makes up for my height. I don’t play like I’m 5-11."

The other question that comes up with Perryman is his speed.

"A lot of scouts want to know that I can run," he said. "They want to see if I’m durable, see if I’m good with my hips and my feet, so I’m going to show that in the drills."

Undersized or not, Perryman knows what he can deliver for an NFL team.

"You’re going to get a physical, hard-nosed, downhill dog," Perryman said.

Kendricks has one inch on Perryman, but he’s six pounds lighter. Kendricks is known for his football intelligence and being a high-character player, as well as being a tackling machine. He had games during his senior season with 17 tackles and 16 tackles, and he had single-digit tackles in only two games.

Kendricks described his tackling ability as the pride of his game.

"My ability to track down the ball-carrier wherever he’s at and however I have to get there," he said. "I think it’s uncommon, and I can’t really explain how I do it. Sometimes I just get to the ball."

Kendricks’ older brother Mychal is a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles and has started 40 games in his first three NFL seasons. Not that the two brothers spend all their time together breaking down game film, but knowledge of the game has helped Eric as he gets ready for the draft. It makes racking up 10-plus tackles every week that much easier for him.

"I watch enough film and I do enough studying early in the week to know what some tendencies are, and maybe pattern formations," Eric Kendricks said. "So when I get on the field I can play comfortable, I can play loose. So if I see an open gap I know they’re going to run to that gap and I can cheat to it because I trust in my preparation."

While Perryman overcomes lower sight angles to make plays and Kendricks is a film junkie, McKinney can naturally do some things that those two can’t. It’s those measurable attributes that McKinney is touting as he meets with teams.

"Being tough, my length, being big," said McKinney as he began his list of strengths. "(Being taller) helped me quite a lot. Looking over the line of scrimmage, me being having a long wingspan, getting off a tall, big offensive lineman, using my hands. It helped me giving me a big advantage."

They’re all in competition with each other. They all want to claim bragging rights of being the first inside linebacker drafted.

"It would mean a lot, man," Perryman said. "Something I can say is one of my goals when I first started playing football was obviously to get to the NFL. Now I’m here, and I want to be the first inside linebacker taken."

McKinney was confident it would be him, though.

"It’s very, very important," McKinney said. "I have a high expectation for myself. It’s been my dream since I was young to be the best at what I do, to be the best linebacker in the country."

Asked if he thinks he is the best linebacker in the country, McKinney responded, "I do. I really do."

Of course, it’s possible the Packers go a different direction with their first-round pick. Maybe they go after a defensive lineman like Oklahoma’s Jordan Phillips or a tight end like Minnesota’s Maxx Williams and wait until the second or third round to address inside linebacker.

But with McCarthy seeming to view inside linebacker this year like he did safety last year, it’s very possible McKinney, Kendrick or Perryman could be starting their NFL careers with Green Bay less than 10 weeks from now.

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