Lack of Interest in Draft?

[Lurker64]

If anybody is going back and reading last year's draft thread, the Harrell pick happens on page 43. It's a bit interesting to read the banter before it happens, I don't think Justin's name appeared before then except in a "Here's a list of the top 30 prospects still remaining."

There was some suggestion that we take Alan Branch, however, so DT wasn't far from some people's minds. Personally, I would rather have Harrell than Branch. It's not surprising that we have more Big Ten people here than SEC people here so Branch would have been more on our minds than Harrell (despite the fact that Branch is a big ol' slug).

[Deputy Nutz]

I follow the players or the prospects, and have a understanding of team's needs, but in all honestly following along with mock drafts and predictions is a waste of time for me. You have a better chance of playing the powerball.

[Maxie the Taxi]

How interested can you get when we pick so low? Anything is possible.

Players I'd like to see on the Packer roster after all is said and done:

Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers
John Carlson, TE, Notre Dame
Andre Woodson, QB, Kentucky

And most of all, Steve Justice, C, Wake Forest

[Rastak]

I am usually totally fired up for the draft but not quite as much this year. I'll still watch and I plan to post player bios all day like last year if all goes well but the spark is missing. You guys pick really low and the Vikes pick in the middle. If the Vikes deal their 1 and 2 for Allen they won't even pick day one. So I'm not as pumped as usual.

[Lurker64]

How interested can you get when we pick so low? Anything is possible.

I'm excited for the draft not because "Oh boy we're going to get (specific college players x, y, or z)!" but because "Oh boy, we're going to get some new players! Maybe some of them will be good!"

Plus it's always interesting to see who TT might take, since I have no idea.

[Partial]

I feel like in general the interest is down this year. Not just for us hardcore fans, but for the casual coverage as well. It seems like their is far less coverage on ESPN, etc.

[Lurker64]

I feel like in general the interest is down this year. Not just for us hardcore fans, but for the casual coverage as well. It seems like their is far less coverage on ESPN, etc.

I think part of this is because the college football season we just came off of was historically unspectacular. We had the first two loss national champion ever, there were no truly dominant teams, there were no exceptional or superstar players at the gaudy positions who guided their teams into the national spotlight, the national champion was a primarily defensive team with an average offense, there were numerous upsets of the "top teams", etc.

I think the draft gets the most buzz after years like two years ago, when the college football season featured several elite teams with household names at the glamour positions (particularly on offense), the best of which faced off in an instant classic national championship between undefeated teams. That year we had two QBs and a RB from elite schools as some of the top prospects. This year in the top prospecs we have one RB and one QB from middle of the road schools who didn't really accomplish anything of note last year. Moreover, this year's top QB and RB both have serious questionmarks. Two years ago it was a big deal when the #1 team passed up a RB for a DE. This year we're talking about whether the #1 team is going to take an OT or a DE and whether the top RB (that most everyone agrees is the #1 player in the draft) is going to fall to #6 overall.

It's hard to make a big deal about it, since it's just an unglamorous draft.

[RashanGary]

I'm just as into it as ever. I probably have more understanding of the guys coming out this year than any year in the past. There has been a big deflation here since the TT hate died. Nobody wants to go out on limbs any more. Hell, nobody says anything and when somebody does, the idea just gets disproven, with no real alternaive for what might actually be. Like I said, the ideas are shot. Nobody says anything.


I'm out doing my draft diligence though. If there is ONE player that I have an affinity for that we mgiht be able to get at pick #30 it's James Hardy - WR from Indiana. He is a dominate force in the redzone. It's not because he's big, tall and explosive, but because he's big, tall, explosive and absolutely punked whoever lined up in front of him when it came to scoring TD's. The ball goes up, the WR and DB go up, Hardy comes down with ball, DB looks up like WTF just happened - I was all over him. That's the routine. It goes down just like that regularly. He's a truely special player IMO. A player that didn't play at a big time program and doesn't get tons a national hype, but a player that dominated his competition and seems to have all the skill to dominate at the next level. He would be the PERFECT long term weapon to play alongside Jennings for the next 10 years.

[Partial]

I think now that the Packers are a good team people aren't necessarily super concerned about adding a new stud to the team to get them back to the playoffs.

I think my interest in the Packers has gone down big time since Favre retired

[texaspackerbacker]

OK, think Christmas.

You've got a lot of pie-in-the-sky ideas of what you want. It's boring and kinda pointless to try and figure out what you're really gonna get. Then the big day comes, and you have a whole lot of fun "analyzing" the surprises you actually got. Oh, yeah, and do you really care all that much what other people got? Sound familiar?

I really don't agree with the idea that this is a "meaningless event". It's anything but. It's a major determining factor in who ends up with the most talented team--which more often than not, determines who has a winning team. Just the same, for the reasons alluded to in the paragraph above, it's kinda hard to get into before it actually happens.

[RashanGary]

I also like Brian Johnston from Gardner-Webb. He's a small school player that if you looked for more positive words from an opponent of another player, you couldn't find it. Legend has it, he faced double teams every single play and if it wasn't a double it was probably a triple. He reaked havok in a run happy league, racking up TFL's and also QB pressures and sacks whenever the opportunity arose.

When the stop watches came out at his proday he ran a 4.65 at 275lbs which are almost mirror numbers to Kampman and better than such players as Chris Long, Derrick Harvey or Phillip Merling.


Before his proday who was interested? Everyones very own, Theodore Thompson.

He's widely considered to be anywhere from a 4th to undrafted player around the internet sites. Don't be suprised if Ted takes him in the 2nd.

[wist43]

I'd love to be in here stirring the pot... just too busy these days. Life should slow down in a few months though, so I should be back arguing pretty soon.

I'm still trying to check in once in a while - but like some of the others who posted on this thread, I really have no clue what's out there in the draft.

I plan on watching as much of the draft as I can though

[PackerBlues]

I do not have any interest in the draft, except in regards to who the Packers pick up. I am sure that I will be near a television tuned to the draft when the Packers picks come up, and I am sure that I will be jumping online to read everything I can about the picks that Thomson makes. Otherwise, I am not all that hyped about the draft this year.

In years past, the draft was interesting to me in the sense that I wanted to see who the team was getting or what kind of draft day trades would be made to help push for a Super Bowl run. Now, without Favre, and with the youngest team in the NFL...........

With the 30'th pick though, I expect that the chances of Thompson picking up a guy nobody has ever heard of are even better than in the past. In fact, if anyone can find a list of guys who were injured during most, or all of their senior season, I would bet that Thompsons first round pick will be on that list.

[Guiness]

I'm more interested this year, but in a different way,

My interest is morbid - I want to see if one of the top teams passes on their pick to try and jump in later (and save money). And I want to see the fallout.

My perfect scenario (I mentioned it in another thread) is Miami passes, St-L decides it doesn't want to pay first pick money either, passes, then what???


Everyone wants to see a train wreck!

[Lurker64]

With the 30'th pick though, I expect that the chances of Thompson picking up a guy nobody has ever heard of are even better than in the past. In fact, if anyone can find a list of guys who were injured during most, or all of their senior season, I would bet that Thompsons first round pick will be on that list.

I'll take that bet. Let's look at Thompson's history, shall we? Prior to his tenure in Green Bay, Thompson worked in Seattle running their draft from 2000 to 2004. Let's see how often Ted has taken a player who was hurt all his senior season in the first:

2007: Justin Harrell (was injured most of his final season.)
2006: A.J. Hawk (was not injured most of his final season.)
2005: Aaron Rodgers (was not injured most of his final season).
2004: Marcus Tubbs (was not injured most of his final season).
2003: Marcus Trufant (was not injured most of his final season).
2002: Jerramy Stevens (charged with felony assault his final season, but was not injured).
2001: 1A Koren Robinsion (was not injured most of his senior season)
1B: Steve Hutchinson (was not injured most of his final season)
2000: 1A Shaun Alexander (was not injured most of his final season, though he did miss some games with a sprained ankle)
1B Chris McIntosh (was not injured most of his final season.)

So of 10 first round draft picks that Ted Thompson was mostly responsible for, he has picked precisely 1 player who had serious injury issues during his final college season.

What makes you think he's so certain to do it now?

Also, for the record, it's not that "nobody had ever heard of Justin Harrell" when he was picked by Green Bay. If you look at the draft thread last year around pages 35-41, you'll notice that his name appears at about 29 on Mel Kiper's big board. Now perhaps taking Mel's 29th best player at 16 is a reach, but it's not like he's completely obscure. He was projected to go in the first round by Mel Kiper for chrissakes, none of those guys are obscure. You may have never heard of him, but that's not to say nobody has.

Moreover, if you go back and read that thread a lot of us were thinking DT at that spot with the way the talent was shaping up. The problem is (since most of us are in Big 10 country and not SEC country we mostly thinking Alan Branch and not Justin Harrell.)

I wonder if in 2003 Seahawks fans were so convinced that they were going to reach for a player who was recently charged with felony assault because they did that last year.