With the series covering Green Bay’s first-round selections since 2000 concluding, I am sticking with the draft theme, but moving to a different side of it.

This week, I am going to talk about the best late-round draft selections made by Green Bay in the team’s history. Any selections made from round five and later is considered for this article, as the draft used to go up to as many as 30 rounds in its entirety.

Thankfully, the draft is shortened down to seven rounds now, but there is still a great amount of talent that the team has dug up during its history, and I’m going to dive into the best ones.

This four-part series will rank the twenty best late-round selections in Green Bay history, going from twenty to one (with one being the best). In this article, I will only include players twenty through fifteen.

Big shout out to Pro Football Reference for the great draft research tool, as it includes many different fields to help sort results, and it made this research much easier, and to the NFL’s Hall of Fame website, which pulled a lot of helpful information together for me to use.

 

#20- Don Majkowski, QB

Drafted in the tenth round out the Virginia (255th overall) in 1987, Majkowski played six seasons with Green Bay and ten years total, his last four with the Colts and Lions, two years apiece.

Green Bay did not appear in the playoffs any of the Majik man’s six seasons at the helm, and he only appeared in the playoffs once, in 1995 with the Lions.

While he was a Packer, Majkowski threw for 10,870 yards, 56 touchdowns and 56 interceptions, which was the epitome of how Green Bay faired while he was the starter.

In 1992, Majkowski was famously removed from a blowout game (that they eventually lost 31-3 to Tampa Bay) for Brett Favre, who completed his first-ever pass to himself. The rest, as we all know, is history.

Majkowski’s claim was his consistency while at quarterback, even though he never was flashy. He had one Pro Bowl season, in 1989, when he amassed over 4,300 yards, with 27 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

Majkowski checks in at #20 on this list.

 

#19- Doug Evans, CB

Evans had a solid 12-year career, beginning his career with five years in Titletown. Evans started 62 games while in Green Bay and played in 79 total games.

12 interceptions, over 150 return yards, one return touchdown, seven forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, six sacks and 262 tackles were what Evans put up in his Green Bay career, making for a very solid beginning to a solid career.

Drafted out of Louisiana Tech in the 6th round in 1993, Evans went on to play for Carolina for four years, Seattle for a year and split his final year (2003) between two teams.

Evans sits on this list at #19.

 

#18- Scott Wells, C

Number 63 in his 11-year career and number 18 on this list, Wells was a steady force on the Pack’s offensive line from 2004 to 2011, manning the center position.

2011 was his only Pro Bowl season, and he left for St. Louis after that season and went on to play three more campaigns for the Rams before being released in a cost-saving measure before the 2015 season began. He currently is a free agent but has not garnered much attention and has not played in three years.

When Wells was a Packer, he helped Aaron Rodgers in his transition into starting, and he was the line caller for the Pack, helping alert his fellow linesmen of defensive schemes and blitzing formations.

Wells was drafted in the seventh round, 251st overall, out of Tennessee by Green Bay in 2004, and, outside of his rookie campaign when he only appeared in five games, every other season for the Pack he played in at least 13 games. He only started all 16 games three times for Green Bay, including in his two final seasons with the team.

Offensive linemen will be a common theme of this list, and Wells kicks it off at 18.

 

#17- Larry Craig, DE & BB

As a man who played both sides of the ball well, Craig had an interesting career, ranging from being a blocking back (which resembled the quarterback in Curly Lambeau’s rushing attacks) to a defensive end who had a knack for disrupting offensive schemes to the left side of the field.

Craig, who was drafted in the sixth round out of South Carolina in 1939, was a well-rounded player, but only scored once in his 11 seasons in Green Bay, on a fumble recovery in 1945.

Craig was referred to as a ‘back’ instead of a ‘QB’ for Green Bay due to the rush-heavy schemes that Lambeau employed. Craig did see time in the passing game, but as a receiver, as he caught 14 passes for 155 yards in his career.

A revolutionary for a two-way player, but someone who is not normally mentioned in the same breath as a revolutionary, Craig helped pave the way for dual-purpose players later on in the NFL.

The six-time All-Pro and two-time championship winner Craig places 17 on this list.

 

#16- Bob Forte, HB/LB/DB

Another multi-positional masterpiece employed by Lambeau, Forte played at the same time as Craig and contributed to the non-set positional nature of the league at that time.

Forte was drafted out of Arkansas in the 11th round in 1943, and he rushed for over 300 yards in his career, but no touchdowns. He had two receiving scores and one passing touchdown, as well as one interception returned for a TD.

Defensively, Forte was a force, as he amassed 23 career interceptions, including nine alone in 1947, in his second year on the Pack, and he returned one for a score that season.

Forte’s best seasons, both offensively and defensively, were in 1947 and 1948, when he scored all four of his touchdowns. Defensively, ‘47 was the better season, while 1948 was his better offensive season of the two.

Forte checks in at 16.

 

#15-Jim Ringo, C

The second offensive lineman on this list, the class of 1981 NFL Hall of Fame inductee played 11 seasons with the Packers and 15 total in the league. An All-NFL member seven times and a Pro Bowler 10 times, Ringo has the laurels to rest on for his career.

Drafted out of Syracuse in the 7th round in 1953, Ringo quickly rose to the top of the list in games played, as he overcame numerous injuries to start in 182 consecutive games across 13 seasons (1954-’67), which was a record at that point.

Ringo quit football for a bit after arriving at Packers camp in 1953, as he didn’t fit in with the playing and militaristic coaching styles. After being persuaded to go back because he wasn’t accepted at home for being ‘a quitter,’ Ringo made his way back to camp, found his spot and made his mark in the league.

Ringo was never the same size as most NFL lineman, weighing in at no more than 235 pounds at any point during his career. His speed and schematics were what made him successful in the league, which helped make up for the differences in his physique.

Ringo started every game but one that he appeared in his career, going 186-for-187 on starts in his career, missing his lone game in the 1954 campaign.

One of the original ironmen in the league, Ringo finishes out this article at 15.

Next week, this series will continue, as no. 14 through 10 will be covered. Thanks for reading!

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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

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