Official 2024 NFL Draft Thread

[red]

Every year I see this said about 50 different players, yet in the history of the draft there has never been 50 players go in the top 25.

Joking aside, my opinion is also that he won't be there at 25, but its my opinion. Wyatt and Kenny Clark being available late in the first stunned me, as did TJ Watt. Guys slip, it happens all the time. I respect your opinion, just don't go full skinbasket and state your opinion as fact.

dejean seems to be a second rounder until someone started talking about him being a good fit in green bay, now he's shot up boards and won't be there when we pick in the first

in about half the drafts people say there is no way the guys we want will be there when we pick. then they end up being there, and we pass on them, and everyone on here starts running for the ledge

the team will draft who they want, when they want. just like every other year, there is nothing we can do about it

[Deputy Nutz]

Iowa plays a really heavy cover 2 base, or 2 read schemes. It's their bread and butter. Dejean is more than solid athlete and because he comes from Iowa he is well versed on technique and how to play football. Without a deep dive this draft is absolutely littered with potential at the cornerback position, so trading up doesn't make a lot of sense. So Gutes will probably trade up.

[Deputy Nutz]

What is nice about this upcoming year for the Packers is that they have quite a bit of depth at the WR position, so unless they fall in love with a mid round pick I can't see them needing to draft a high end player at that position. What I will say is that Gutes will take a receiver in the first 3 picks. The Packers also seem set at TE, which is nice, I could see them taking a a hybrid TE/FB in the mid to late rounds though.

The Packers do need to refortify on the offensive line. Tom could be a fixture at right tackle, and Jenkins is great if he stops getting hurt. Bakhatiari is in a bad position and I can't really fault him as he has done everything he could to get back on the field. Even in this day in age knee injuries can be career enders especially for big men. The Packers are screwed with the cap, so the should just hope this last procedure fixes his knee enough that he can play again. Rasheed Walker wasn't terrible last year and really improved as the year went on, but I don't know if he is a franchise left tackle in this league. I think Josh Myers is overrated and I haven't been really impressed with him sense the Packers drafted him. He gets the job done, mostly. Myers is replaceable. The Packers could easily draft two linemen early, a tackle and an interior lineman and I don't know who would have a problem with that.

Packers need to say thanks to AJ Dillon and move on. He is big and strong but doesn't have the balance and the thunder to move the pile on short yardage. When he is the featured back, he is more valuable than when he is sharing carries, but Aaron Jones is just so much better than him that you wouldn't feature Dillon over Jones. The Packers can go ahead and find a couple of late picks in the draft.

The Packers also don't need to take a corner high. A lot of guys got some prime playing time last year and did some really good things. I get that a new scheme is coming in, and that scheme will probably be more aggressive, blah, blah, blah...., very few defensive schemes in the NFL are different. I think the Packers can live with what they have at corner and supplement in the mid rounds. Obviously it's always going to be a coveted position in the NFL.

Packers need to do a better job protecting the middle of the field in the run game and especially in the pass game. The Safety room has to improve and so does the linebacker room. Walker isn't a great coverage linebacker and I am over Campbell, he needs to be replaced. Walker could be a great addition as a pass rusher and could stay on the field all three downs because of it. He is athletic enough to cover backs and TEs in man coverage but his zone awareness is sub par. Draft a LB early on day 2. Draft Safeties like you don't have any.

Edge, Not sure where the Packer have room to fit a high end player at the edge position. I recognize Preston Smith has some salary cap implications, and he is getting up there in age, but he is probably still the best guy in the room. Gary is the most dynamic for sure, and Van Ness is a first rounder that showed his potential as a rookie. Karl Brooks has showed out as a rookie, and Enagbare is a solid rotation guy. Its almost the same situation for the defensive tackles. Clark is an All Pro type player, Wyatt is a dude, Slayton and Slaton are solid, and Wooden has also shown potential as a rotational type guy as a late round rookie. The Packers would just be adding depth and or future potential if they drafted at either one of these spots.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

S’up, Nutz. Still listening to Coldplay and showing “Rudy” to your players?

Nice posts above.

Dejean looks like Josh Jackson from the YouTube clips I clicked. But fuck it, let’s draft a white corner. They’re rare.

[Deputy Nutz]

Coldplay is terrible, and I ain't Rudy.

[Fritz]

Agreed, Nutzy, that offensive line needs at least two draft picks to come in and compete and at least provide depth.

If it's a deep corner draft, which I've heard it is, then a corner or two in the middle rounds would also make sense, as you suggest.

And then of course a couple of safeties and inside linebackers.....

Defense. Always defense. It never seems to stop.

[Arctic Fox]

I think we need to draft a safety and a cornerback within the first 3 rounds

[Joemailman]

I think we need to draft a safety and a cornerback within the first 3 rounds

And with 5 picks in the 1st 3 rounds, that will likely happen.

[run pMc]

as it stands now, they need bodies at safety, cornerback, off ball LB, RB, and on the OL.

- they have Anthony Johnson Jr., Zayne Anderson and Bennie Sapp III at safety. Enough said.

- they have Jaire, Stokes, Valentine, and two PS guys at CB. Sure they could sign Keisean, but do you want him as your slot corner? Maybe as your CB5, sure, but after seeing him play slot this year they can do better. Over the last two seasons Jaire and Stokes have missed more games than Christian Watson, trusting them to hold up and play well is folly.

- Assuming they dump DeVondre, they have Quay and McDuffie, and I think McDuffie is more super-sub than starter. I keep hearing Quay is a prototype Will, but don't they have to cover? I'm not sure Quay is great at coverage. I can't help but think they also need a glass eating ass kicker in the middle who will absolutely destroy running backs, but that might be my own fatigue at watching Joe Barely run defense.

- Aaron Jones needs a contract adjustment. Aften that they have nobodies. Jones should be a sparkplug RB2 who get 15 touches a game at most. RBs get hurt, and Jones is getting old. I could see them doing what they did when they drafted Williams/Jones/Mays in one draft.

- As for OL, Bahktiari situation is a mess but he's probably gone. That leaves you with little depth at OT. Moving Jenkins has had mixed results, and that means you're putting Newman in. They might have a starting five with Walker-Jenkins-Myers-Rhyan-Tom, but there's no depth behind those guys you'd feel great about starting if an injury strikes... and it will. Someone on the OL is going to miss a game or two. Protecting Jordan Love and improving the run game should be priorities for this team.

- Those are the areas of need, outside those they could certainly pick an EDGE to hold things down until Enagbare is back. Maybe that's Brenton Cox or Keyshawn Banks, but are you going to go with that? Gute will look at BPA, but I'd expect it will be with a preference to position of need. Regardless, another draft that gets knocked out of the park could set this team up for long term success.

[texaspackerbacker]

You're doing a static analysis. A more dynamic analysis would not assume that anybody who isn't signed is gone. They really ought to re-sign Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens as well as Ballentine. Savage is not horrible if the price isn't too high. Ditto that for Dillon, and Emmanuel Wilson is not exactly a nobody.

Bakhtiari being gone is a good thing, and we do have 7 or 8 other O Linemen who have been at least adequate NFL starters plus two that were considered decent enough that they lasted the whole season on the practice squad.

I HOPE they don't draft an O Lineman early. We're pretty solid at Corner, although you can never have too many good Corners. I have a better opinion than a lot of people about the Safetys we have, and drafting one high is a gamble, as that is a position where college quality doesn't always translate to NFL quality. We also are pretty solid at Edge Rusher as well as D Line.

IMO, the greatest needs are ILB and RB, both of which usually aren't good positions to draft in the first round. I'd draft one of each of those in the second and third, though - I'm on record as saying Braelon Allen in the third.

There's also the strong possibility we switch to a 4-3 with Halfley.

So what should we get in the first round? I've always hated the idea of trading down, it always seems like an unlikely scenario, but it's one possibility. What else is there? I guess Edge Rusher or maybe a true 4-3 OLB or maybe another Corner.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Coldplay is terrible, and I ain't Rudy.

Terrible is Cletidus Clark’s game relatively to the frogskins he’s getting from the Packers. Clark ain’t no dominator. He’s closer to Dean Lowry than Chris Jones. The hard-on for Clark continues to baffle me.

Coldplay is awesome. Arguably the best band of the 21st a Century thus far.

[run pMc]

You're doing a static analysis. A more dynamic analysis would not assume that anybody who isn't signed is gone. They really ought to re-sign Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens as well as Ballentine. Savage is not horrible if the price isn't too high. Ditto that for Dillon, and Emmanuel Wilson is not exactly a nobody.

I prefaced my comments with "as it stands now, they need bodies at S, CB, ILB, RB and OL"
that is basically the majority of their shopping list, whether it be via draft, resigning their own, or FA.

I can see a world where they bring back Rudy Ford just to have someone back there. Bringing back Owens and Ballentine are tougher to see. We already know what they are, they don't improve your team. Dillon is a RB3 and Wilson would only come back for competition. Signing vets to minimums will generally cost as much as a last R3/early R4 pick and won't raise the ceiling of your team's potential. You're better off getting younger, cheaper, more years under control with a rookie contract, and with potential for upside.

No they won't do this everywhere, and there is a benefit to having a veteran in the position room, but there isn't a good reason to bring back a lot of these guys (or any of them, really) - you'd be essentially running back a team that eked their way to a 7 seed, and they are chasing a DET team with 4 top 90 picks and 50M in cap space.

[texaspackerbacker]

Here again, run pMc, you're evaluating based on the flawed scheme and likely not very good D coaching in general we had with Barry. I think the personnel we had last year was decent enough - Ford, Owens, Savage, Johnson, etc. at Safety. And Valentine for sure looked like starter quality; Ballentine was at least a quality back up. Keisan should be signed for his returning alone, and he's at least serviceable as a DB. Maybe Jaire got prematurely old, and maybe Stokes is damaged beyond repair, but but probably not in both cases with quality coaching. I'd probably put Corner at or near the top choice for the first round , just because, but not really out of necessity. And like I said, star college Safetys don't translate to being NFL stars in a very high percentage.

I agree with the positioning you mentioned in your first line, just not quantitative like a "need for bodies". A superstar always fits in at the top, but less than that we've already got. Signing somebody like Wingfield - a proven star - would be nice, but probably isn't gonna happen.

We've won a helluva lot of games with Joe Barry's D being a drag on the team, and we have a helluva lot of high drafted seemingly good players. Other than maybe getting a star quality ILB to pair with Quay, I say let's just go with what we've got plus maybe a few mid rounders.

And Dillon and Wilson are very decent in rotation with Aaron Jones. Maybe we've been spoiled to think otherwise. Just the same, a star quality RB, Braelon Allen or otherwise, should be available in the 2nd or 3rd. We should grab one.

And APB, granted, Kenny Clark isn't quote as good as Chris Jones or Aaron Donald, but he's damn close - infinitely better than your comparison to Lowery. I'd really like to see what he can do in a 4 man line with Halfley and surrounded by more quality like we now have than when all we had was pieces of crap like Lowery and Lancaster.

And I hope they at least try to find a better kicker.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Tex, the Packers played a tons of nickel, which basically features a 4-men” line. Cletidus made a play once every blue moon. Sucks against the run. Mediocre at best. And Clark is aging in a game where Father Time likes to fuck with players as they age. What makes you think Clark’s gonna be better in Haf-Fucked’s D?

Check out the stats. Clark is essentially an overpaid version of Dean Lowry. The Packers would be better off cutting Clark and paying a mofo ILB or hip-hip safety 18M/yr via free agency.

[Joemailman]

Tex, the Packers played a tons of nickel, which basically features a 4-men” line. Cletidus made a play once every blue moon. Sucks against the run. Mediocre at best. And Clark is aging in a game where Father Time likes to fuck with players as they age. What makes you think Clark’s gonna be better in Haf-Fucked’s D?

Check out the stats. Clark is essentially an overpaid version of Dean Lowry. The Packers would be better off cutting Clark and paying a mofo ILB or hip-hip safety 18M/yr via free agency.

Clark was 9th among DT's in sacks in 2023. His current contract averages 17.5million, which ranks him 11th among DT's. His cap hit in 2023 ranked 10th among DT's. It is set to be much higher in 2024, but will likely be renegotiated.