Brooks Reed's speed will fill a team's need at outside linebacker.
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper, on a conference call with reporters Wednesday, affirmed what he wrote for the network’s website:

He sees former Arizona defensive end Brooks Reed as a potential late first-round pick.

He has Reed going 32nd — the last pick in the first round — to the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.

“For D-linemen in the second-round mix, a lot of these guys are going in the first,” Kiper was quoted as saying in the Buffalo News. “For second round, I have Brooks Reed of Arizona going in the late first. You would have thought second. But I’ll say late first or second for Brooks Reed.”

As we discussed here, Reed’s burst in the 40-yard dash at the recent NFL Combine sent his pro stock soaring.

That initial speed is what scouts want to see from a pass-rushing outside linebacker, which is where Reed projects at the NFL level.