Acme Packing Company
The Packers cleared up a small part of their roster picture this weekend, sending a 2027 sixth round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for offensive lineman Darian Kinnard. The move solidifies the bottom end of the offensive line depth chart, probably sealing the fates of linemen Kadeem Telfort and Donovan Jennings in the process.
But who is Kinnard, and what does he bring to the Packers? Here’s the background on the Packers’ newest offensive lineman.
Though he has yet to live up to his billing in the pros, Kinnard has been a heavily decorated prospect dating back to high school. An all-state lineman in Ohio, Kinnard was ranked as a four-star recruit by ESPN and was named the 101st best prospect in the country by 247Sports. With offers from 16 FBS programs, Kinnard chose Kentucky over Penn State, UCLA, and Tennessee.
Kinnard appeared in nine games as a true freshman during Kentucky’s 2018 season, starting two of the final three games at left tackle. That would be the last time in his college career he’d be anything close to a backup. Kinnard started every game in which he appeared for the rest of his time at Kentucky, establishing himself as a mainstay on the right side of the offensive line.
During the 2021 season, he played under offensive coordinator Liam Coen, now the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. That ended up being Kinnard’s best collegiate season, though he received numerous accolades throughout his college career. That year, he was named a consensus first-team All-American, becoming just the 12th player in the history of Kentucky football to receive that honor.
Kinnard will never be confused for a svelte, finesse-oriented lineman, but he was especially big at Kentucky, tipping the scales at more than 370 pounds at times during his college career. He slimmed down prior to the 2022 NFL Draft, though, weighing in at 322 pounds at the NFL Combine, where he posted decent but certainly not outstanding measurables. His 10-yard split of 1.78 seconds in the 40-yard dash did clear the Packers’ typical thresholds for offensive linemen, though, and the Packers brought him in for a visit.
Most analysts regarded Kinnard pretty highly ahead of the draft that year. Dane Brugler had him as the third best guard prospect in the 2022 edition of The Beast, ranking him as a second round prospect. That’s the highest I’ve seen anyone project him, but it’s not that big of an outlier. Eric Edholm projected him as a second or third round pick for Yahoo Sports, esteemed offensive line evaluator Brandon Thorn had him as a third round pick for Bleacher Report, and Lance Zerlein had him as a third rounder for NFL.com. He was the 66th ranked prospect on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board.
But when the draft rolled around, Kinnard wasn’t selected until the fifth round, likely due to concerns about his ability to play tackle at the NFL level given his middling overall athleticism. Both teams...
