Draft Grades

[HarveyWallbangers]

Now for the meaningless draft grades. Remember before TT proved himself, we got dinged on a lot of draft grades, but now everybody loves them some TT.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/18881992/2012-nfl-draft-winners-and-losers-colts-stay-on-offensive-with-smart-draft

Winner

Green Bay Packers -- I neglected to include the Packers in my Day 2 list of winners and losers and that was wrong. So my apologies for that, because Ted Thompson crushed this draft, going defense with his first six picks. Nick Perry will help limit the number of double teams Clay Matthews sees and moving up to snag Jerel Worthy in the second was superb. Thompson then proceeded to pile on the depth all over the defense with good value picks like Terrell Manning and Casey Hayward. I love the pick of B.J. Coleman from Chattanooga late in the seventh round too. He's going to be their next Matt Flynn type guy, watch.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Kiper had the Pack with a B grade--only 6 teams with better.

Summary: Green Bay sacked opposing quarterbacks on 4.28 percent of pass attempts last year. That was worse than the other 31 teams in the NFL. The Packers simply had to add to the pass rush. Nick Perry may not be the perfect profile as a guy who can fit their scheme, but one thing he can do is get up field and turn the corner. I still think he has some development left. The value was about right for my board. Jerel Worthy gets dinged for effort, but when he plays, the guy is Round 1 material. He could be a steal at No. 51. Casey Hayward is a nice little nickel corner and can handle slot receivers, something they really need in that division. The real steal for me is Terrell Manning all the way down at No. 163. He can shadow Clay Matthews and become a nice pass-rush threat for them. If you saw my draft guide book last year, I had Manning as the top OLB in his class. He fell a little this year, and had injury issues, but there's a lot to like. Nice draft for the Pack.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Vinnie Iyer has always loved him some TT.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-04-28/nfl-draft-2012-grades-bengals-cowboys-patriots-packers-steelers

Green Bay Packers (A)
Key picks: OLB/DE Nick Perry, DT Jerel Worthy, DB Casey Heyward.

They needed defensive energy and focused all but their last two picks on that intention. More specifically, they turned to boosting the front against the pass to help their secondary.

[wist43]

Give TT an A this year.

[Joemailman]

Give TT an A this year.

I feel like I don't even know you anymore.

Hope you're recovering well from your surgery.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Some knocks on Worthy about not being as productive as he should be, but the dude was first-team All-Amercian, so I don't know where that comes from. Maybe he needs a breather on occasion, but in the NFL that isn't as big of a problem. He looks like a beast on his highlights.

I was down on Hayward a bit because he doesn't have that size/speed combination you look for, but the kid looks like a poor man's Antoine Winfield in his highlights. Half his highlights are of him making a good tackle. I doubt he tackles that well, but he's a bit taller and has good ball skills to boot. Maybe he'll pan out.

[smuggler]

He doesn't have long speed, but he is quick. If they stick him in the slot, he can change directions and hopefully deal with the Harvins and Welkers of the world who are typically shorter WRs anyway. He's a willing tackler, but I think he needs some coaching in that area. He definitely is comfortable near the LoS and that's nice for what we usually have our slot CB do. He has good instincts and ball skills, and was falling only because of size/speed. As long as he doesn't have to run with a burner, he should be okay.

[Scott Campbell]

All this talking head draft love can't be good.

[denverYooper]

Some knocks on Worthy about not being as productive as he should be, but the dude was first-team All-Amercian, so I don't know where that comes from. Maybe he needs a breather on occasion, but in the NFL that isn't as big of a problem. He looks like a beast on his highlights.

I was down on Hayward a bit because he doesn't have that size/speed combination you look for, but the kid looks like a poor man's Antoine Winfield in his highlights. Half his highlights are of him making a good tackle. I doubt he tackles that well, but he's a bit taller and has good ball skills to boot. Maybe he'll pan out.

One of the other draft day writeups on Worthy said that he wasn't highly recruited and worked very hard to get to that All-American level. But then it went on to say that he takes plays off. It seems like a lot of the bigs get knocked for taking plays off but at 300+ pounds I think these guys just get gassed at times and need a quick break. The real trick is knowing when they can get away with it and not doing it when it will negatively affect the play at hand.

[smuggler]

All this talking head draft love can't be good.

The talking heads love any draft when you trade up and address needs. The real test will be if we picked the right guys or not, which they can't answer (yet).

[Bretsky]

I keep finding reason to be upset at this draft but logic keeps slapping me back

Historically, IF I am really happy with a draft pick or a draft it does not turn out so well...aka....Brent Fullwood...etc

So looking for straws

In retrospect, would we rather have Jared Crick and Vinny Curry or Jerel Worthy ?

[Bretsky]

wait...I don't think Curry would have been there so I have to scratch that idea

[pbmax]

All this talking head draft love can't be good.

That is the downside of Ted being "reasonable". That, and the other method was working just fine

[pbmax]

The talking heads love any draft when you trade up and address needs. The real test will be if we picked the right guys or not, which they can't answer (yet).

This.

[Tony Oday]

Is Wist suffering from a brain tumor? I'm scared he actually likes something the Packers did...next ill see a post by him saying Hawk is a valued member of the defense!