Official 2024 NFL Draft Thread

[Fritz]

Why? It's totally stupid.

Maybe that IS why.

[run pMc]

I appreciate apb being the silly contrarian.

To think OL and DL lacks extreme strength, technique, agility, etc and that there’s not a huge difference in quality is one of the silliest things I’ve ever read.

Best player available - ideally one that you need.

100% Agree.
I appreciate some of the attempts at humor, but to suggest OL or DL are not worthy of premium picks is downright crazy.

Ask LAR how they felt about drafting Aaron Donald in R1, or KC about their Super Bowl fortunes without Chris Jones.
While you're at it, ask KC feels about having lost both starting OT and getting absolutely ransacked by Tampa Bay's DL in Super Bowl LV. Ask CIN and Joe Burrow how they felt about getting sacked 7 times by LAR in Super Bowl LVI. Talent and depth matters on the OL and DL.

[texaspackerbacker]

I don't agree with everything APB says even in this part of the forum, but he makes far more sense than the ya'all clique of posters.

D Line, yeah at times a top draft pick there is warranted, just not this year considering the quality the Packers already have there. O Line? NEVER! It's the skill positions, particularly QB that determine success on offense, and the past three decades or more of Packer football demonstrate that. Any perception of high quality O Line play was the result of Favre, Rodgers, and as of last year, Love. The line was porous but the QBs succeeded anyway, and the team was great most of that past three decades. It's only a little less obvious with the running game. It succeeded because of the greatness of the passing game as well as having decent RBs. The key was and always will be a pass first offense with fast RBs as a change of pass to that passing game.

Some will ignorantly say "you can't do it without an O Line". Duh. You need to have somebody playing O Line, taking up space at least. But do you need greatness in the O Line? Hell no. And if you do have greatness, will there be success without a quality QB and excellent RBs and receivers? Also hell no. Sure, if you get some lemon like Marshall House playing, it can screw things up. But not much above that level/mediocrity - as the Packers have consistently had, whether ya'all admit it or not, and things will be just fine, as they have been for most of the past 30+ years in Green Bay. Thus, O Line is NOT worthy of "premium picks".

[Fosco33]

If it’s just taking up space and no technique - then why not just use UDFAs.

I’d argue a LT is one of the most important positions on the team.

[bobblehead]

I like apb when he's being a bit goofy, but I actually think he is serious here. Wrong, but serious.

[run pMc]

BTW, Marshall Newhouse was not a "lemon". He played 10 seasons in the league and

started at left tackle for 13 games during 2011 season when the Packers went 15–1. Newhouse continued as the Packers' starting left tackle for all 16 regular season games and 2 playoff games in 2012

per the Internet.

He played in 133 games and started 81 on them. For a R5 pick, that's pretty darn good.

What you're calling a lemon is actually a league-average 'C to C+' player at worst. That you think he wasn't very good shows what you consider average to be. Lining up 5 UDFAs to basically be fat, slow and unathletic shock absorbers won't protect a QB against a good pass rush, and it sure won't open holes for a run game. It would actually be worse than 5 Newhouses. It would be as bad if not worse than 5 Jake Hansons or Royce Newmans.

You can absolutely find value at OL in Day 3, but league wide those guys are much more likely to be subpar or outright failures. GB has been above average in developing OL players for a few decades now, and some here clearly underappreciate that.

[texaspackerbacker]

He played like a lemon for the Packers. Your stats pretty much demonstrate what I'm saying about O Line quality not being very important, and mediocrity being good enough. Hanson also I would put in the lemon category. Newman maybe. It's hard to figure why he went from at least adequate his first year to noticeably bad after that. Why not put 5 UDFAs there? You probably could as a worst case and still get by. If you did that, though, you'd probably get a couple of Hanson or House types, bad enough that it actually did have a bad effect. Mediocrity, however, as we have generally had over the years (and hell yeah, I include ya'all's sacred cow in that) is plenty good enough.

edit: yeah, Newhouse - he was so forgettable that I forgot his name.

[Arctic Fox]

Kool Aid McKinstry #1 Pick

[Joemailman]

Kool Aid McKinstry #1 Pick

Very possible. I've felt for a while that the top player on the Packers board at 25 will either be a CB or an OT. Cooper DeJean, Nate Wiggins and Kool Aid are all possibilities.

[smuggler]

McKinstry is a good "oh shit" pick, because it quite looks as if the best player available will not be at a position of much need. Ideally, a worthy o-line prospect falls into our laps. I don't see the good corners coming down to us. If we draft Wiggins, I am going to have serious doubts that the team actually intends to run more man-to-man on defense.

Interior O-line, LB, and safety are not first round positions.

[run pMc]

He played like a lemon for the Packers. Your stats pretty much demonstrate what I'm saying about O Line quality not being very important, and mediocrity being good enough.

Um... no, a lemon is not mediocrity. Newhouse was an average NFL player, that's not a lemon. You can get away with 2 of those guys on your OL, but if all you have is mediocrity across the board you're going to have an offense that can be easily exploited by a good pass rush, or one that is unable to run against many teams. in 2011 they had Sitton, Wells, Lang and Bulaga on the line - Newhouse was the least of the group. In 2012 it was the same group except Wells left and they signed a washed up Jeff Saturday. They went from 15-1 to 11-5... coincidence perhaps, but losing good OL hurts an offense.

Right now, Myers is basically mediocrity at C, Rhyan could be a liability. Tom and Jenkins are pretty good and Walker is improving. Nothing wrong with trying to get a LOT better at OL.

Moreover, who are you playing if Myers sprains his MCL? What if Tom hurts his shoulder? They have NO depth. Drafting a guy in R6 who is a year or two from seeing the field is not an option unless you want to get Jordan Love killed.

[run pMc]

Very possible. I've felt for a while that the top player on the Packers board at 25 will either be a CB or an OT. Cooper DeJean, Nate Wiggins and Kool Aid are all possibilities.

Agree.
I've heard so many different things about Kool-Aid that IDK what to think. (He's supposedly a lazy player.) As coach who wants to teach and develop players Hafley is going to want a CB he can mold into 'his guy'.

I like Wiggins but that weight at the combine is scary (173?) and likely disqualifies him. GB wants their CB's around 190.

[bobblehead]

I think the OL is top heavy with less talent available on day 3 than CB. I really want an OL (even interior) in round one, then we can grab a guy like max melton at the back end of 2.

[The Shadow]

Has anyone noticed that Cooper DeJean bears a bit of a resemblance to Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer?

[texaspackerbacker]

Um... no, a lemon is not mediocrity. Newhouse was an average NFL player, that's not a lemon. You can get away with 2 of those guys on your OL, but if all you have is mediocrity across the board you're going to have an offense that can be easily exploited by a good pass rush, or one that is unable to run against many teams. in 2011 they had Sitton, Wells, Lang and Bulaga on the line - Newhouse was the least of the group. In 2012 it was the same group except Wells left and they signed a washed up Jeff Saturday. They went from 15-1 to 11-5... coincidence perhaps, but losing good OL hurts an offense.

Right now, Myers is basically mediocrity at C, Rhyan could be a liability. Tom and Jenkins are pretty good and Walker is improving. Nothing wrong with trying to get a LOT better at OL.

Moreover, who are you playing if Myers sprains his MCL? What if Tom hurts his shoulder? They have NO depth. Drafting a guy in R6 who is a year or two from seeing the field is not an option unless you want to get Jordan Love killed.

What I said was that Newhouse played like a lemon for the Packers, and I doubt many would dispute that. If he rose to the level of mediocre with other teams, good for him hahahaha. You said a team can get away with having two Newhouse level guys in their O Line? Do you mean post-Packer mediocre Newhouse or Packer lemon Newhouse? I've been saying all along you can get by with 4 or 5 mediocre O Linemen - the Packers have been that for most of the Favre/Rodgers/Love era. Saturday was indeed a total lemon with the Packers. I never had a very high opinion of Wells, and I wouldn't rate Bulaga or Lang any better than mediocre. Sitton was pretty good in his best years. All of them, however, seemed better than they were because of the great QBs we've had who could escape the pass rush. Bottom line IMO is that we don't need to use a high draft pick for O Line - probably ever. 3rd at the highest, more likely 4th or 5th is about right, That's where we got ya'all's sacred cow who I saw as ok, maybe a little above mediocre but not much even in his prime.