Packers Defensive Lineman Drafted since Wolf

[ND72]

I was thinking about this through the day. I saw a thread on the '96 Super Bowl team on JSO, and started thinking about our DL players since Ron Wolf took over. So I thought I'd post every DL player we've drafted since 1992, and try to see WHY our '96 Super Bowl team was all Free Agents, and why our DL was SO bad even just 2 years ago. So here you go, every DL player drafted by us in the last 15 years.

Ron Wolf
1992
Round 9 - Shazzon Bradley NT Tennessee

1993
Round 7 - Robert Kuberski DT Navy

1994
Round 4 - Gabe Wilkins DE Gardner-Webb

1995
Round 3 - Darius Holland DT Colorado

1996
Round 7 - Keith McKenzie DE Ball State

1997
Round 4 - Jermaine Smith DT Georgia

1998
Round 1 - Vonnie Holliday DT North Carolina
Round 3 - Jonathan Brown DE Tennessee

1999
Round 3 - Cletidus Hunt DT Kentucky State

2000
Round 3 - Steve Warren NT Nebraska
Round 5 - Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila DE San Diego State

2001
Round 1 - Jamal Reynolds DE Florida State

Mike Sherman
2002
Round 5 - Aaron Kampman DE Iowa

2003
Round 3 - Kenny Peterson DE Ohio State
Round 5 - James Lee NT Oregon State

2004
Round 3 - Donnell Washington DT Clemson
Round 6 - Corey Williams DT Arkansas State

Ted Thompson
2005
Round 6 - Mike Montgomery DE Texas A&M

2006
Round 6 - Johnny Jolly DT Texas A&M
Round 7 - Dave Tollefson DE N.W. Missouri

2007
Round 1 - Justin Harrell DT Tennessee



I think it's kind of funny if you look at it. In the Wolf era, we had White, Dotson, Brown, Jones (all eventually) and even Jurko in there a lil bit. But Wolf obviously never put a premium on Defensive Lineman during his time except a few guys once those big guys were gone. And then what you see from Sherman, is a HUGE need for Defensive Lineman because Wolf didn't give him a good talent pool. But I think overall in the Wolf/Sherman Era....REAL lack of drafting Defensive Line talent. Vonnie Holliday was pretty much the only "gem" of the group, besides the steal in Kampman, and even KGB.

[BallHawk]

Whenever I see the name "Jamal Reynolds" I have a sudden urge to put a gun to my head.

[Bretsky]

Whenever I see the name "Jamal Reynolds" I have a sudden urge to put a gun to my head.

Jamal Reynolds
Fraudy Ferguson
Torrence Marshall

ALL IN SAME YEAR

And we gave up Hasslebeck to move up to get Reynolds to boot.

[woodbuck27]

Good analysis and observation.

The battle is won in the trenchs.

[Joemailman]

Once Wolf knew for sure what he had in Favre, protecting Favre became a top priority. From 1993-2000, Wolf drafted 3 OL on the 1st round (Aaron Taylor, Ross Verba, John Michels), Chad Clifton on the 2nd round, and Earl Dotson and Mike Flanagan on the 3rd round. OL was definitely a higher priority than DL.

[mraynrand]

Wolf assembled his D-line with Free Agents.

Sherman assembled his D line with draft choices and rookie FAs. Last years starting D-line (the most successful lineup) included Williams, Kampman, and Jenkins (Sherman rookie FA).

Thompson's success will be determined largely by Harrell, and by how long Pickett stays healthy and effective. Montgomery hasn't shown much, but why should he? Very few 6th round picks are outstanding DEs. Other guys may contribute as pass rushers, such as Hunter - but he's a long shot too.

[woodbuck27]

Wolf assembled his D-line with Free Agents.

Sherman assembled his D line with draft choices and rookie FAs. Last years starting D-line (the most successful lineup) included Williams, Kampman, and Jenkins (Sherman rookie FA).

Thompson's success will be determined largely by Harrell, and by how long Pickett stays healthy and effective. Montgomery hasn't shown much, but why should he? Very few 6th round picks are outstanding DEs. Other guys may contribute as pass rushers, such as Hunter - but he's a long shot too.

I sure hope that Ryan Pickett comes in this season in shape and ready to advance himself. I thought he had a slow start last year.

The new system,surroundings and that car accident all playing a role in his start in 2006.

[wist43]

Re: Packers Defensive Lineman Drafted since Wolf

I was thinking about this through the day. I saw a thread on the '96 Super Bowl team on JSO, and started thinking about our DL players since Ron Wolf took over. So I thought I'd post every DL player we've drafted since 1992, and try to see WHY our '96 Super Bowl team was all Free Agents, and why our DL was SO bad even just 2 years ago. So here you go, every DL player drafted by us in the last 15 years.

Ron Wolf
1992
Round 9 - Shazzon Bradley NT Tennessee

1993
Round 7 - Robert Kuberski DT Navy

1994
Round 4 - Gabe Wilkins DE Gardner-Webb

1995
Round 3 - Darius Holland DT Colorado

1996
Round 7 - Keith McKenzie DE Ball State

1997
Round 4 - Jermaine Smith DT Georgia

1998
Round 1 - Vonnie Holliday DT North Carolina
Round 3 - Jonathan Brown DE Tennessee

1999
Round 3 - Cletidus Hunt DT Kentucky State

2000
Round 3 - Steve Warren NT Nebraska
Round 5 - Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila DE San Diego State

2001
Round 1 - Jamal Reynolds DE Florida State

Mike Sherman
2002
Round 5 - Aaron Kampman DE Iowa

2003
Round 3 - Kenny Peterson DE Ohio State
Round 5 - James Lee NT Oregon State

2004
Round 3 - Donnell Washington DT Clemson
Round 6 - Corey Williams DT Arkansas State

Ted Thompson
2005
Round 6 - Mike Montgomery DE Texas A&M

2006
Round 6 - Johnny Jolly DT Texas A&M
Round 7 - Dave Tollefson DE N.W. Missouri

2007
Round 1 - Justin Harrell DT Tennessee



I think it's kind of funny if you look at it. In the Wolf era, we had White, Dotson, Brown, Jones (all eventually) and even Jurko in there a lil bit. But Wolf obviously never put a premium on Defensive Lineman during his time except a few guys once those big guys were gone. And then what you see from Sherman, is a HUGE need for Defensive Lineman because Wolf didn't give him a good talent pool. But I think overall in the Wolf/Sherman Era....REAL lack of drafting Defensive Line talent. Vonnie Holliday was pretty much the only "gem" of the group, besides the steal in Kampman, and even KGB.

Lot's of misses on that list...

While the Packers have generally been good talent evaluators on the offensive side, they have been just the opposite on the defensive side - until TT arrived... he at least seems to have a little bit of a clue of what a good defensive player looks like.

Despite the fact that I don't like the Packers defensive scheme, if they continue to draft on that side of the ball and hit on a few more good players, they can at least raise the level of play on that side of the ball to a little better than average. The passive scheme will prevent them from ever being a scary unit.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Lots of misses. To be fair, they only drafted two guys in the first two rounds (Holliday and Reynolds). Reynolds was a need pick and a colossal bust. Holliday has had a good career. I thought it was the norm that DL were busts more than other picks in round 1, but it turns out that research shows the DL are actually relatively safe picks. I think besides LB and S, they have the best percentage of hits in an article I read recently.

[mraynrand]

I think I saw the same thing Harv. QB, RB, and WR are the biggest risks in the first round, right?

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think I saw the same thing Harv. QB, RB, and WR are the biggest risks in the first round, right?

I don't remember the exact details. The two things that stood out were that safety is considerably "safer" than any other position and that DL actually was much "safer" than I thought.

[mraynrand]

Re: Packers Defensive Lineman Drafted since Wolf

While the Packers have generally been good talent evaluators on the offensive side, they have been just the opposite on the defensive side - until TT arrived... he at least seems to have a little bit of a clue of what a good defensive player looks like.

So you're saying that 3/6 for Sherman was no good? (I'm counting Jenkins as a rookie FA). Two decent starters in Jenkins and Williams and one Pro bowler in three years. Seems pretty decent to me.

[wist43]

Kampman developed and Williams is ok... that hardly makes them savants.

Their record over the years is pretty dismal... The SB years??? Every starter on that line was a FA - maybe Wolfe recognized the organizations shortcomings in evaluating DL.

Hopefully Harrell will work out... the only thing that makes him a question mark though is his injury history. Talent wise, I think Harrell has a chance to be pretty good.

[mraynrand]

I was considering Sherman's three years - he was 3/6 (or 2/5) not counting Jenkins. He did as much or more in the draft in 3 years (for D-linemen) as Wolf did during his entire time in GB. Of course, Wolf used FA extensively, including a lot of stop-gap guys, like Russel, Thiery, etc. I can't remember who brought in Flanagan, but I think that was Wolf too. Wolf struggled drafting the D-line and D overall. Sherman did a pretty crappy job of drafting overall, mostly because of defensive misses in 2004. But it seems to me that people have magnified the mistakes of Washington, Peterson, and Lee over the successes of Kampman, Williams and Jenkins.

[Fritz]

Interesting topic. Looks like Wolf did not put much stock into drafting on the d-line in early rounds.

Bretsky, that 2001 draft also featured 4th rounder Bill Ferrario.

That whole draft may go down as one of the worst ever in Packer history. Remember too that the Seahawks got Steve Hutchinson, pro bowl guard, with that 16th overall pick.