GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers, faced with an aging secondary and poor pass rush, Sunday boosted their defense and picked up another first-round choice in next year's collegiate draft.
The Packers selected cornerback Vincent Clark of Ohio State with the 19th choice in the draft after trading the No. 8 pick to Philadelphia for the Eagles' first-round pick this year and in 1992.
The Packers drafted defensive tackles Esera Tuaolo of Oregon State and Don Davey of Wisconsin in the second and third rounds, respectively.
Clark and cornerback LeRoy Butler, a second-round selection last year, are expected to bolster Green Bay's aging secondary. The Packers, 6-10 in 1990, started Jerry Holmes, 33, and Mark Lee, 31, at the corners last season.
'I'm real excited,' Clark said from Columbus, Ohio. 'I'm anxious to get there and become a Packer.'
Clark, 6-0, 186-pounds with a 4.5 40-yard dash, played mostly zone at Ohio State but will be taught to play man-to-man in the Packers system.
'My style of play is a bump-and-run, break on the ball and real aggressive,' Clark said.
Coach Lindy Infante said Clark would not automatically start next season but would compete with the three veterans for the two spots.
'Certainly, he's going to have to come in quickly and get in the hunt,' Infante said. 'You can't hand him the spot at this time.'
'When you draft a player in the first round, you hope he comes in and becomes a starter very quickly,' Infante said.
Tom Braatz, executive vice president of football operations, said 'three or four' teams were offering trades for the No. 8 pick, but only the Eagles offered a first-round choice in 1992.
'It was a good opportunity for us to get a No. 1 pick for next year and for us to move down,' Braatz said.
The defensive tackles in the second and third round are expected to address Green Bay's inadequate pass rush the past season. Only linebacker Tim Harris put consistent pressure on quarterbacks.
'All of us in the draft room felt if we could address the defensive side of the ball first, that's what we wanted to do,' Infante said.
Tuaolo is a 6-2, 260-pounder whocould compete with Bob Nelson for the starting nose tackle job. Davey was named to the Academic All- America team four straight years.
