Packers draft pick plays for late father

4th round pick Carl Bradford lost father 14 months ago

Even on Mother’s Day, a Packers draft pick probably can’t help but think about his father.

Green Bay drafted Carl Bradford, an Arizona State linebacker, in the fourth round. On a conference call with the Wisconsin media, he said he wished he could have shared the moment with his dad, Roy, who passed away 14 months ago.

They were on a family trip, when Carl saw his dad fall and suffer a fatal heart attack.

Now, Carl plays with his dad in mind, not just Mother’s Day. Every day.

“I think we try to look at a young man’s path on how they got to where they got,” Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said.

“There’s a number of stories in this draft if you went through all the teams in the league, the hardship and the difficulty of these young men, getting to where they get to. I think I do have a personal bias for those people that have the hardest trek.”

In total, Green Bay drafted four defensive players and five offensive players.