THE draft thread (2013 version)

[3irty1]

Just reading the writing on the wall.

We have a lot of holes, and where we don't have holes, we have average starters. Without Rodgers, we're a sub .500 team; with Rodgers, we're a low level playoff team, but not a real contender.

With respect to the starting lineup, we upgrade 1 position, DE; and slightly improved another, RB. Were we those small upgrades away from overcoming the Niners??

TT ignored holes, and did what TT usually does - throw a million darts at the wall and hope 1 of the bartenders that falls out of the net can play. While he's doing that, the holes on the roster go unfilled.

We're not a 5-11 team, bereft of talent - we have enough talent to compete at the bottom level of the playoffs - how do you take the next step from here?? TT says you draft a bunch of chaff, hope the stars align, and "grow from within". What?? do the Packers meditate everyday, and sing kumbaya?? I say he should move around in the draft to get the approriate value for the pick, and fix the teams obvious defects.

The truth is, TT and MM don't think they're defense is 579 yds and 45 pts worth of bad - they obviously didn't watch the train wreck - and neither did most of you guys apparently.

What holes are left after the draft? I would have thought you'd love this draft. 4 players in the front 7. Huge investments in all aspects of running the ball. Don't pretend that you disagree with the concept of "growing from within." 2nd and 3rd year players account for a lot.

[wist43]

Some of you ladies need to take your tampons out for a while. Your vaginas need some air. Yeesh. Wist, has it ever occurred to you that TT drafted TWO running backs and a bunch of offensive linemen because he wants to make the running game more prominent? That makes anything that the running game was or was not expected to do BEFORE kinda irrelevant, don't you think? See, when you change the type of personnel you have, you can change what you focus on as a team...

Talk of tampons just throws me off a bit... a most confusing shopping task I will say.

As for the mess that TT drafted - it's deja vu all over again.

TT's drafts are nothing short of bizaare - and I think that's why he drives some of us nuts. Last year he takes dead aim at the mess he created in the front seven - but then didn't actually fix it. He drafted a bushel of good players - most of whom belong playing in another scheme - WTF??

Now our front seven is still a mess, but with different problems. So we take it on the chin for 579 yds, 323 yds rushing, and 45 pts - seemed pretty obvious to me that the whole thing was dysfunctional and that reconoiter was in order. TT responded by drafting Jones - okay fine - but then goes on a dart throwing rampage.

In other words - he moved down in the draft and passed on competent players at positions of great need for the opportunity to draft a bunch of developmental projects, most of whom will be cut in 6 months.

The other idiotic thing he did was drafting 2 RB's that are almost clones of 2 players he already has on the roster (Benson and Harris). While they may be slight improvements over the previous guys, the picks are essentially lateral moves. We did not appreciably improve by drafting Lacy and Franklin - we already had most of that production on the roster.

We're not going to overcome the embarrassing beat down the Niners laid on us by drafting laterally and mining for bums.

[mission]

The other idiotic thing he did was drafting 2 RB's that are almost clones of 2 players he already has on the roster (Benson and Harris). While they may be slight improvements over the previous guys, the picks are essentially lateral moves. We did not appreciably improve by drafting Lacy and Franklin - we already had most of that production on the roster.

Couldn't be more wrong, strongly underestimating Lacy. Benson has no big play ability and isn't even on the Packers (small detail there). The 230 pounds thing is deceptive as I've never seen someone catch him from behind not to mention maybe already having the best spin move in the NFL without even playing a down. These picks allow a backfield of Lacy, Franklin and Harris. Gotta factor Franklin was a hedge pick to not have all our eggs in one basket. Lacy only started for a year in Bama and ran over the highest ranked defense in the country not to mention breaking 1st and 2nd round pick tackles all season. Big holes, sure, but watch some of his "tape" and you'll see he made the most out of everything.

Turn a couple 3rd and short into conversions and our defense gets to stay off the field. 49ers game was more a result of piss-poor game planning than anything else.

[wist43]

What holes are left after the draft? I would have thought you'd love this draft. 4 players in the front 7. Huge investments in all aspects of running the ball. Don't pretend that you disagree with the concept of "growing from within." 2nd and 3rd year players account for a lot.

We got 1 front seven player - Jones. The other guys are either camp fodder, special teams guys, or lateral replacements, in othe words, no improvement.

Is the muslim guy gonna supplant Newhouse?? Is EDS still our starting C?? Is MM going to stick with only those 3 running plays??

Lacy and Franklin might be improvements on Benson and Harris, but with all those other problems, how much did we really improve?? The RB's weren't entirely lateral moves, but the benefit to the team is marginal.

Now if the muslim guy is a player, then we're making some progress - but - have you seen that guy?? He has the strangest build I think I've ever seen on a human being

The muslim guy is all legs, fairly long arms, and a torso about 1/2 the size of a normal human. The guys true calling might be circus freak - really a strangely built guy.

[rbaloha1]

The Packers defense will not be able to control new NFL offenses until Capers is replaced.

Capers career is defensing against pro offenses. The defense had an advantage since it did not have to account for the qb.

Carroll and Kiffin both had problems in college defensing zone read plays. Carroll figured it out -- Kiffin has yet to prove it. Belichek initially had problems with the wildcat but figured it out quickly.

Can Capers figure it out?

[wist43]

Couldn't be more wrong, strongly underestimating Lacy. Benson has no big play ability and isn't even on the Packers (small detail there). The 230 pounds thing is deceptive as I've never seen someone catch him from behind not to mention maybe already having the best spin move in the NFL without even playing a down. These picks allow a backfield of Lacy, Franklin and Harris. Gotta factor Franklin was a hedge pick to not have all our eggs in one basket. Lacy only started for a year in Bama and ran over the highest ranked defense in the country not to mention breaking 1st and 2nd round pick tackles all season. Big holes, sure, but watch some of his "tape" and you'll see he made the most out of everything.

Turn a couple 3rd and short into conversions and our defense gets to stay off the field. 49ers game was more a result of piss-poor game planning than anything else.

Lacy is better than Benson, but he's in for a rude awakening when he starts running behind Green Bay pathetic line. Lacy running behind a kickass line is what is deceptive I think. He was running thru holes that looked like Alex Green running down the middle of the field in Hawaii's offense.

Ingram is pretty fair comparison. Super productive Alabama RB, gets drafted a passcentric team - he hasn't done much in the NFL. Ingram was a wasted pick for them if for no other reason than they simply weren't going to make use of him enough to justify the selection.

I think MM will try to call more running plays than New Orleans has offered to Ingram, but New Orleans OL is much better than ours. Lacy has no idea what he's in for I don't think.

As Merrill Hoge screamed at the idea of Green Bay drafting Lacy, "... NOOOOO!!! WHAT A WASTE!!!".

[rbaloha1]

Talk of tampons just throws me off a bit... a most confusing shopping task I will say.

As for the mess that TT drafted - it's deja vu all over again.

TT's drafts are nothing short of bizaare - and I think that's why he drives some of us nuts. Last year he takes dead aim at the mess he created in the front seven - but then didn't actually fix it. He drafted a bushel of good players - most of whom belong playing in another scheme - WTF??

Now our front seven is still a mess, but with different problems. So we take it on the chin for 579 yds, 323 yds rushing, and 45 pts - seemed pretty obvious to me that the whole thing was dysfunctional and that reconoiter was in order. TT responded by drafting Jones - okay fine - but then goes on a dart throwing rampage.

In other words - he moved down in the draft and passed on competent players at positions of great need for the opportunity to draft a bunch of developmental projects, most of whom will be cut in 6 months.

Just like everyone else its all speculation today. Jones better start. The other dt/ng appears to be a decent rotational player. Both appear to be one gap penetrators which is required against spread options.



The other idiotic thing he did was drafting 2 RB's that are almost clones of 2 players he already has on the roster (Benson and Harris). While they may be slight improvements over the previous guys, the picks are essentially lateral moves. We did not appreciably improve by drafting Lacy and Franklin - we already had most of that production on the roster.

We're not going to overcome the embarrassing beat down the Niners laid on us by drafting laterally and mining for bums.

The rbs are huge upgrades and allow to call more running plays.

[rbaloha1]

Lacy is better than Benson, but he's in for a rude awakening when he starts running behind Green Bay pathetic line. Lacy running behind a kickass line is what is deceptive I think. He was running thru holes that looked like Alex Green running down the middle of the field in Hawaii's offense.

Ingram is pretty fair comparison. Super productive Alabama RB, gets drafted a passcentric team - he hasn't done much in the NFL. Ingram was a wasted pick for them if for no other reason than they simply weren't going to make use of him enough to justify the selection.

I think MM will try to call more running plays than New Orleans has offered to Ingram, but New Orleans OL is much better than ours. Lacy has no idea what he's in for I don't think.

As Merrill Hoge screamed at the idea of Green Bay drafting Lacy, "... NOOOOO!!! WHAT A WASTE!!!".

It is a fair assessment about Lacy and Green. Green ran in parking lots at Hawaii.

[mission]

Career stats at Alabama
Mark Ingram 572 3261 5.7 42
Eddie Lacy 355 2402 6.8 30

Over a yard per carry difference. That's extra effort, agility and speed that Ingram just doesn't have.

Ingram was much more of a product of getting what was there (and what you're describing). I assumed you watched the national championship game... how many times did ND have 9 men in the box and at least one with a chance to make a tackle and Lacy would make the first guy miss? Seems like that will be happening to him a lot in Green Bay! lol

Here's every touch from the national champ game... not just highlights. He makes open field tacklers look like fools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NeqNEApgU

I never saw that kind of lateral quickness from Ingram. Ingram was much of an entitled NFL player's son with a little extra weight on him. We watch most Bama games around here and I wanted nothing to do with Ingram and everything to do with Lacy... it's not a "oh wow we got a Bama back" thing.

And I know you were just as frustrated as I was last year with how many times we'd have a running back just completely miss a hole or a cutback lane. I just don't see it here and I definitely don't see any similarities with Mark Ingram. None at all besides they both wore Crimson.

[rbaloha1]

We got 1 front seven player - Jones. The other guys are either camp fodder, special teams guys, or lateral replacements, in othe words, no improvement.

Is the muslim guy gonna supplant Newhouse?? Is EDS still our starting C?? Is MM going to stick with only those 3 running plays??

Lacy and Franklin might be improvements on Benson and Harris, but with all those other problems, how much did we really improve?? The RB's weren't entirely lateral moves, but the benefit to the team is marginal.

Now if the muslim guy is a player, then we're making some progress - but - have you seen that guy?? He has the strangest build I think I've ever seen on a human being

The muslim guy is all legs, fairly long arms, and a torso about 1/2 the size of a normal human. The guys true calling might be circus freak - really a strangely built guy.

The Iranian guy's build looks squished from the video. He should start pronto or it is a bad selection.

[mission]

It is a fair assessment about Lacy and Green. Green ran in parking lots at Hawaii.

It's not close. Green highlight videos show holes 10 yards wide... Lacy almost single-handily cost Manti Te'o millions of dollars in dropping draft stock. Exposed him.

True Alabama had a great offensive line, but he faced NFL quality players in 8/9 man boxes in the best conference in the country. While we don't have the line, having Aaron Rodgers will definitely mean he'll never see 8 in the box. That's a wash IMO.

[mission]

Who's the muslim guy? Bukkake?

[Gunakor]

The other idiotic thing he did was drafting 2 RB's that are almost clones of 2 players he already has on the roster (Benson and Harris).

Benson isn't on our roster. He hasn't been since February. And even if he and Lacy are clones, Lacy is almost a decade younger. If the two were exactly the same on the field I'd still rather have Lacy simply because Lacy is a rookie with room to improve while Benson is what he is and isn't getting any better at this point.

[mission]

Just for fun here are Trent Richardson's Alabama stats: 540 3130 5.8 35
Lacy still has him by 1 ypc. I do think TR is a better pro prospect, but the offensive line thing allows us to compare these pretty honestly. Hoge's "waste" comment had more to do with wasting Lacy's potential in a passing attack than wasting the Packers #61 draft pick on a special talent.

[3irty1]

We got 1 front seven player - Jones. The other guys are either camp fodder, special teams guys, or lateral replacements, in othe words, no improvement.

Is the muslim guy gonna supplant Newhouse?? Is EDS still our starting C?? Is MM going to stick with only those 3 running plays??

Lacy and Franklin might be improvements on Benson and Harris, but with all those other problems, how much did we really improve?? The RB's weren't entirely lateral moves, but the benefit to the team is marginal.

Now if the muslim guy is a player, then we're making some progress - but - have you seen that guy?? He has the strangest build I think I've ever seen on a human being

The muslim guy is all legs, fairly long arms, and a torso about 1/2 the size of a normal human. The guys true calling might be circus freak - really a strangely built guy.

Boyd is certainly going to see enough snaps to matter on the DL and is just the 2-gap tree stump we need to do dirty work for us. That's a very exciting pick in this fit.

On the OL, on or both of these guys can make a difference. I doubt either is more likely than Sherrod to supplant Newhouse but Bakhtiar certainly could. I don't have a problem with Bakhtiar's build, just that to me it doesn't seem like his strengths as an athlete don't seem to match his strengths as a football player. Physically with his feet and mobility you'd think he'd be a nice fit for the ZBS but he seems to overreach and play out of control when blocking at the 2nd level. He was pretty highly regarded predraft, 2nd or 3rd round pick so getting him in the 4th seems like good value especially with the premium that was on the position.

Tretter will be a factor this year IMO because I think he's a center. He's got the perfect build for it and with his tight end background you know he's got the hands required. Last year McCarthy went with Saturday because of how good he was between the ears, Tretter is an Ivy League player and every coach who gets a chance mentions how bright he is. I don't think EDS is a liability at center but it would be pretty awesome to get a bigger stronger guy in there who can do more at the 2nd level.

Even if both of those guys are just competing at G/T McCarthy mentioned in his presser yesterday that Lang can play center so if either of these guys can play anywhere, we'll have a way to get them on the field.