Packers NFL Draft 2017: Who Will The Packers Select?

I don't know which college players the Green Bay Packers should draft next week based on their talents. I watch just enough college football (mostly Big 10 football) to over (or under) rate certain players. But GM Ted Thompson drafts more for need then he would ever admit publicly. For example, selecting DT Kenny Clark last year after DT B.J. Raji decided to take a "hiatus". So I'm looking at a list of potential draftees based on the team's current needs.

My last realistic GB wish list:
CB Conley (long shot)
iOL Lamp (long shot)
WR Davis
CB White
LB Foster
Pandora's box: Humphrey/Bowser/Watt

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) April 23, 2017

Of the eight players listed above, three of them are cornerbacks. It's debatable that recently re-signed CB Davon House is their best outside corner, and that is a sign that they need some serious help. Watching Corey Hayward and Micah Hyde leave in free agency in consecutive years is another sign that they believe they'll find someone to play in the slot. Ohio State's CB Gareon Conley would have to slip a few spots, but LSU's CB Tre'Davious White and Alabama CB Marlon Humphrey should still be available. It's a very good draft for cornerbacks so if they want a good one at the end of the 1st round, they should have more than one option.

It'd be a very boring selection and it's not their greatest position of need (which is cornerback), but I'd love to see them draft Western Kentucky OT/OG Forrest Lamp. The current starter at right guard appears to be Don Barclay, which isn't good news but isn't quite as bad as it sounds either. If the Packers can survive with Lane Taylor at LG, they can probably get by with Barclay at RG. Also the right tackle position isn't entirely solid either though injury-prone RT Bryan Bulaga is coming off a mostly healthy 2016 season. Jason Spriggs looked good at times but he also looked lost at times during his rookie year. Having a player like Lamp who could be needed to start at right tackle in a year or two wouldn't be a bad thing, especially if he can start at RG in 2017.

Western Michigan's WR Corey Davis is an example of a player I'm not fully respecting because the only time I saw him play was in the Cotton Bowl, and he was relatively quiet until he caught a too-late TD pass with a couple minutes left in the 4th. It's really not a position of need for 2016 but it could be in a couple years if WR Davante Adams is allowed to walk as a free agent, and the Packers can never have too many wide receivers. Still, it seems unlikely that arguably the draft's best wide receiver would still be available at the end of the 1st round.

Oh God, Alabama LB Reuben Foster. Before the NFL Combine, it would have been a dream come true if Foster was still available at the end of the 1st round. His talent is there for everyone to see, and then the NFL Combine came and showed publicly all of his flashing red flags for everyone to see. Sometimes the Packers stick with troubled players who they believe in, but that's the exception to the rule. I can't see the Packers taking any chances with Foster.

I'm concerned about the edge position but I don't think the Packers would have let DE/LB Datone Jones walk to the Vikings on a one-year, prove-it deal, unless they weren't concerned about it. LB Clay Matthews should be healthy next season, LB Nick Perry's been re-signed, and the usual cast of guys with upside are their backups. So I can't see the Packers drafting an edge player with a high pick and that would rule out both Houston's Tyus Bowser and Wisconsin's T.J. Watt.

So that leaves one of the few corners who project at the end of the 1st round (and probably fit the Packers's preferences) and Lamp for RG, and I'd like to see Lamp, if he's still available. It'll probably be one of those cornerbacks.