Packers picked a lifelong fan of the team during the 2022 draft

The Green Bay Packers drafted a lifelong fan of the team during the 2022 NFL draft.

Shortly after being picked by the Packers in the seventh round on Saturday, Georgia Tech safety Tariq Carpenter shared this photo of himself wearing a championship t-shirt from the Packers’ win in Super Bowl XLV, with the caption: “So grateful to be a Packer. Being a Packer has always been a dream of mine. It’s time to get to work!”

The Packers picked Carpenter, who made a pre-draft visit to Green Bay, at No. 228 overall. The hybrid safety/linebacker could become a core special teams player for Rich Bisaccia as a rookie and eventually develop into a versatile matchup weapon on defense for Joe Barry.

Carpenter, a Georgia native, played in 52 games (41 starts) at Georgia Tech, including each of the school’s last 50 games. He delivered 223 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and four interceptions. His 13 tackles against Clemson in 2021 set a new career-high.

General manager Brian Gutekunst said Carpenter is a physical and athletic player. He could split time between safety and linebacker in Green Bay.

“He’s a little bit of a tweener because he has the size of a linebacker but he plays safety and he has that kind of speed. He’s really, really physical,” Gutekunst said. “We’ll figure out exactly how he fits, whether he goes to the linebacker room or safety room at different times and what packages he plays in on defense, but certainly on special teams is one of the reasons we took him.”

List

Closer look at the Green Bay Packers' 2022 draft picks