Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The Packers Are A Week Away From Drafting Someone In The First Round

I've been terribly neglectful of the Green Bay Packers 2016 draft plans. GM Ted Thompson just made his annual announcement that he'll draft the best available player but in reality that decision is usually shaped due to need. The idea that the Packers would draft anyone other than a defender to play on the front seven seems unlikely.

They really need an inside linebacker, but only one (Alabama's Reggie Ragland) has a 1st round grade, and he should be long gone by the time they're on the board. Even at outside linebacker, the top three projected players are not expected to be available at No. 27 overall. I hate trading up, but this year I'd love to see them trade up for Ragland, if he was available in the early 20s. With two compensatory 4th round picks in hand, trading a 3rd and their own 4th to move up several spots would be worth it. Though I doubt it'll happen.
Mel Kiper appears to love Correa but I'm less smitten with a college DE who has to move to outside LB to make it in the NFL. Maybe as a late-round developmental project but not as a reach with their 1st round pick.

There's a lot of love going around for Alabama DT Jarran Reed and Baylor DT Andrew Billings. But I don't feel like the Packers need to draft either one. Despite NT B.J. Raji's kind-of-sort-of retirement, they've re-signed NT Letroy Guion, DT Josh Boyd is returning from injury, and DT Christian Ringo made progress behind the scenes as a rookie on the practice squad. It's not an elite unit, but they have plenty of bodies, which is maybe all that they need. It's a great year for defensive tackles and maybe one of these guys is the best available player, and I'd lean towards Billings, because he's more of a pass rusher than Reed (Billings had 5.5 sacks last year) and versatility would be more important.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment