Originally Posted by Smidgeon
TT has only had a few mid or top of the round picks:
2006: AJ Hawk (#5). Reliable starter, eminently replaceable (but wasn't) in a draft that was overall just terrible.
2007: Justin Harrell (#16). A miss. Injuries killed his career. I don't like calling injured players busts as I reserve that for the Ahmad Carrolls of the NFL, but you can if you want
2009: BJ Raji (#9). Flashed very brightly in 2010 helping lead to a Super Bowl. I don't know how I'd rank him otherwise, but I'd trade the #9 pick in the draft for that kind of performance in a Super Bowl winning year.
Those are the only times TT picked within the Top 20. After Rodgers first starting season, he hasn't picked inside the 20s (barring a trade up, this will be the eighth year in a row). Restocking and finding quality is tough when two thirds of the league has picked their favorites before you get a chance.
Here are the rest of TT's first round picks in draft order:
21 (2014): HHCD - appears to be long term starter and a good player
23 (2010): Bulaga - long term starter and a good player
26 (2009): Matthews - the second first round pick that year, and someone who had several great seasons to start his career but has tapered off due to injuries; still a good player
27 (2016): Clark - too early to tell, but he flashed in the playoffs against a good Dallas O-line
28 (2012): Perry - not a flashy pass rusher, but a very good run defender, and some argue more important to the D than Matthews because of that
30 (2015): Randall - a terrible sophomore campaign that followed a very promising rookie campaign--he's got one more year to turn it around before we Casey Hayward him.
30 (2008): Traded into second round for Jordy Nelson
32 (2011): Sherrod - along with Harrell, the only (so far--Randall, I'm watching you) outright miss by TT in the first round, but again, due to injuries; as I recall though, many people hated the Harrell pick but loved the Sherrod pick at the time. Both failed for the same three reasons: injuries, injuries, injuries.
Anyway, with only 2 out of 12 (maybe 3 depending on how Randall rebounds) first round picks outright failing to deliver value for the Packers, I'd say he's done a pretty good job picking through the leftovers at the end of the round.
If Clark doesn't turn into something special though, I would think we're due for another star in this draft. It's random and completely unpredictable, but we haven't gotten a bonafide star for a while.