Ted, Gute, and the Third Round

[Fritz]

Well, it sure looks like Gutekunst is carrying on the Ted Thompson tradition of completely blowing the third round. Let's take a look first at some of Ted's more infamous third-round picks going back:

'14 Kyri Thornton
'15 Ty Montgomery
'17 Montravious Adams
'07 Aaron Rouse
'11 Alex Green
'06 Abdul Hodge

Sure, there's cherry-picking, as James Jones and Jermichael Finley were both third rounders. But it's mostly an "ugh" round. Now let's see how Gutekunst is following in his mentor's footsteps:

'18 Oren Burks
'19 Jace Sternberger
'20 Josiah Deguara
'21Amari Rodgers
'22 Sean Rhyan

I suppose the jury is still out on Rodgers and for sure on Rhyan, and maybe Deguara can be a little better, but it's not a pretty list.

So who's worse in the third round, Ted or Gutes? And why do they both seem to have more flops in that round, versus the fourth round, which often produces possible gems like Zach Tom or Romeo Doubs or Jamaal Williams or JC Tretter or Mike Daniels? Or am I cherry-picking and really the quality of those rounds is not that different for either GM?

Discuss.

[Joemailman]

It's too early to tell with Gute. Deguara and AmRod could turn out to be effective role players. Rhyan had a disappointing camp, but the Packers have drafted other O-linemen who went on to be outstanding players despite struggling as rookies. That said, the fact that TT drafted James Jones, Finley and Burnett in the 3rd round gives him the edge. Gute needs to hit on some picks.

It's a mystery to me why a team that is so good drafting in the 4th and 5th rounds has struggled so much in the 3rd.

[texaspackerbacker]

Shit happens. There's a lot of luck involved in draft and development. The fact that third round is bad and maybe second and fourth good is coincidence.

[bobblehead]

TT gets a slight edge with the 2 guys who were actually players and Ty Montgomery is still in the league at the age of 29 which is pretty good for a RB.

[bobblehead]

Or were we voting on who was worse? Then its Gutes so far as all those guys blow.

[run pMc]

Since 2000

Steve Warren - 2000
Rhawoh Jue - 2001
Torrance Marshall - 2001
Marques Anderson - 2002
Kenny Peterson - 2003
Joey Thomas - 2004
Donnell Washington - 2004
BJ Sander - 2004
* no R3 in 2005 *
Abdul Hodge - 2006
Jason Spitz - 2006
James Jones - 2007
Aaron Rouse - 2007
Jermichael Finley - 2008
* no R3 in 2009 *
Morgan Burnett - 2010
Alex Green - 2011
* no R3 in 2012 *
* no R3 in 2013 *
Khyri Thornton - 2014
Richard Rodgers - 2014
Ty Montgomery - 2015
Kyler Fackrell - 2016
Montravious Adams - 2017
Oren Burks - 2018
Jace Sternberger - 2019
Josiah Deguara - 2020
Amari Rodgers - 2021
Sean Rhyan - 2022

Yuck.
The best players in there were those picked from 2006-2010: Spitz, Jones, Finley, Burnett. Abdul Hodge had some knee issues going back to a bad injury at Iowa (where he's now coaching).

[Joemailman]

Both DeGuara and AmRod were drafted, it would seem, to be valuable role players on offense. There is a question whether guys like that should be drafted as early as the 3rd round. Sean Rhyan at least was drafted with the expectation that he would be an every down player.

[run pMc]

I think Rhyan should be ok. He has to get a little stronger and adjust to the pro game but he doesn't have to start. GB has been able to develop good O-Linemen with less talent, there's nothing to say he can't show something by year-end.

I'm not sold on Amari Rodgers, but I think there are ways they can use him to some benefit. He's still young enough where you have to try and develop him. I actually think Ty Montgomery would have been perfect for MLF's offense in the Deebo (and probably Amari) role. That ship sailed long ago, though.

Deguara was drafted a round (or two) too early but the MLF offense values players like him differently. He also was drafted in the COVID year and had the ACL injury, so his development was stunted a little bit. He started to come on a bit at the end of last year and I think as an H-back type he's ok.

What is it they say -- you have to give a draft class 3 years before really judging it?

[call_me_ishmael]

Remember the summer of Abdul Hodge where he looked f'n amazing? What happened with that?

[Joemailman]

Remember the summer of Abdul Hodge where he looked f'n amazing? What happened with that?

Bad knees. Excellent player. His body failed him.

[Fritz]

I think that is partially true, Joe, but I recollect that he was also struggling in pass coverage - maybe it was his knees and he couldn't keep up, but I don't think he was fast enough to cover people very well. I was rooting for the guy, but my memory is that he - as you said - had bad health - but that also he could play the run great but not the pass. I don't recall him, as Ish does, as being amazing in camp. He had promise, but I'm not sure his pass coverage was good enough. But maybe that was the knees.

[call_me_ishmael]

He was a phenom for that one summer in preseason. He was a total beast. I don't remember if that was on JSO or here but people LOVED him, myself included. He was a surprise cut the next year IIRC.

[Fritz]

I was big fan, I was really rooting for the guy. I thought he could be one of those big-hitter types, and the Pack needed that. They had decent linebackers, like Nick Barnett, but they weren't big hitters. Everybody needs that bag-of-cement guy in the middle of the defense.