2018 Packers Draft Selections and Discussion

[CheezWizHed]

R1.14¹

R1.18²: Jaire Alexander - CB Louisville

R1.27^1,2

R2.45: Josh Jackson - CB Iowa

R3.76 ²

R3.88:³Oren Burks - ILB Vanderbilt

R4.101³

R4.133: J'mon Moore - WR Missouri

R5.138: Cole Madison - G/T Washington St.

R5.147^1,3

R5.172: JK Scott - P Alabama

R5.174: Marquez Valdes-Scantling - WR South Florida

R6.186²

R6.207: Equanimeous St. Brown - WR Notre Dame

R7.232: James Looney - DE California

R7.239: Hunter Bradley - LS, Mississippi St.

R7.248²: Kendall Donnerson - OLB Southeast Missouri St.

 

Reported UDFA signings:

Jacob Alsadek, G, Arizona

Parris Bennett, ILB Syracuse

Tim Boyle, QB, Eastern Kentucky

Austin Davis, C, Duke

Damon Gibson, TE/WR Minnesota—Moorhead

Raven Greene, S, James Madison

Naashon Hughes, OLB, Texas

C.J. Johnson, ILB, East Texas Baptist

Tyler Lancaster, DL, Northwestern

Alex Light, OL Richmond

Kyle Meadows, Kentucky

Filipo Mokofisi, DL, Utah

Marcus Porter, ILB, Fairmont State

Kevin Rader, TE, Youngstown State

Chris Seisay, CB, Portland State

Conor Sheehy

 

¹Packers trade pick #14 to New Orleans for picks #27, #147, and the Saint's 2019 1st round pick.

²Packers trade picks #27, #76 and #186 to Seattle for the Seahawk's #18 and #248 picks.

³Packers trade picks #101 and #147 to Carolina for the Panther's #88 pick.

[CheezWizHed]

I'll document the draft selections here. Feel free to discuss them here also.

[PeaveyFury]

Alexander it is!

[patrickgpe]

Alexander is a great pick and if there wasn’t an injury concern he wouldn’t have been around at 18. I wanted josh Jackson or Landry, but since they weren’t taken in the top 30, maybe there was a reason neither were the packers pick

 

Completely fleeced the saints, love that trade.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I like the trade no matter what. If Brees is hurt or if the Saints regress significantly (he is 39) it could be incredible value.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I like the trade no matter what. If Brees is hurt or if the Saints regress significantly (he is 39) it could be incredible value.

 

Agreed. This is a move Thompson NEVER makes. But I love it. Not only is it a potential stud for next year, it is currency for a potential pick-for-player trade THIS year. It's the kind of move forward-thinking teams make. Rodgers wants to play 6-7 more years at least. Making crazy moves to go "ALL IN" for 2018 would be dumb.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I also don't really care about Alexander's supposed lack of size. Two of the Packers best three corners (Woodson, Shields, Williams) of the last decade were under 6', and this team badly needs an infusion of speed on both sides of the ball.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I also don't really care about Alexander's supposed lack of size. Two of the Packers best three corners (Woodson, Shields, Williams) of the last decade were under 6', and this team badly needs an infusion of speed on both sides of the ball.

 

The idiots on Packers Twitter calling him TBuck 2.0 make me want to break something. I thought 14 would have been a little high for Alexander, but he does have special ability, and his measureables were very comparable to Ward. He is very physical, which is the exact opposite of Buckley. People also forget that while Buckley was never a star, he played 15 seasons and was a very solid CB for most of that time. His failure and departure from GB wasn't nearly all his fault.

 

The Packers managed to pick up a Top 3 CB and pick up a 2019 1st rounder. That's a huge win.

[CheezWizHed]

I don't know if its completely off to call him TBuck 2.0. There are a lot of similarities. While they called him a physical tackler last night on the coverage (and showed the requisite tackling clip to back it up), most of the scouting reports state that he doesn't like taking on blocks and isn't all that willing to tackle.

 

And its not all about height, its about the size of his body. He is rather slight without a lot of opportunity to bulk up. TBuck is a worthy comparison. Doesn't mean that it was a bad pick, but it's certainly a concern.

 

I still like the pick (and especially trading down for him). I would've been more upset with Hughes, who is a short and slow CB. At least Alexander has speed.

 

That and now we can get a jersey with my son's name on it (without ordering it special).

[FVBrewerFan]

TBuck was a good corner, so I don't take that as a negative comment. He had a tough start in GB due to rule changes right when he started his career. (No hands on receiver AT ALL for a couple years.) Once he adjusted to that he had a rather long career. Do I hope Alexander is better though? Of course!

 

He's also a converted WR, so who knows maybe they try him out there too at some point.

[CheezWizHed]

I don't now about "good", but certainly much maligned in GB and probably better than thought of. It didn't help that they passed on Troy Vincent out of UW that became an all-pro CB.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

This guy is fast. Blazing fast, not quite at the level of Shields but basically nobody is that fast.

 

He's your slot corner and that has been an achilles of the Packers defense for a long time. The Packers know his deficiencies and I'm guessing that they know he's not going to be in a position in this scheme where he's asked to tackle at the line of scrimmage or fight off blocks.

 

Pettine likes having a wiry guy and a smaller shifty guy, now he has both, at least from a measurables standpoint, we still don't know for sure if either one can actually play.

 

It should mark the end of trying to cover Cole Beasleys of the league with Morgan Burnett or LaDarius Gunter. It's speed on speed at a position that has really hurt the Packers a lot. Davon House can't run at all at this point.

 

The more I research the pick the more I like it. If he can contribute and stay healthy it should mean that we aren't giving opponent's a mismatch by forcing Williams or a safety to cover guys they can't run with. The rest of the secondary gets to stay in their comfort zone.

 

The Packers don't win the Super Bowl in 2010 without Shields playing the slot. It gives you so much versatility when you have a speed guy in that role.

[JohnBriggs12]

Now if they can get Nick Nelson in round 5, they'll be set at corner.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Now if they can get Nick Nelson in round 5, they'll be set at corner.

 

Wisconsin homerism aside, Nelson would be a terrific value in the 5th.

[homer]

I took a quick look at various publications to see what they thought of GB's moves/draft and it was almost universally praised:

 

- USA Today lists Pack as one of their "winners" of the draft

 

- NFL.com gives Pack an "A"

 

- SBnation gives Pack an "A-"

 

- Sporting News gives Pack an "A"

(although it should be mentioned that they thought Pack and Vikings were nuts for passing on the CB from Iowa)

 

- Even salty, bitter Pete Prisco gives the Pack an "A"

 

Lowest grade I found:

- SI gives Pack a B+

 

Also, it seems the Chargers pick of Derwin James was universally lauded even more than the Packers pick. My guess is the Packers had three or four guys they liked at 14 then when the Saints offered that 1st rounder they decided to make that trade and immediately started trying to get back into the mid teens.

[homer]

Now if they can get Nick Nelson in round 5, they'll be set at corner.

 

Wisconsin homerism aside, Nelson would be a terrific value in the 5th.

 

I think he'll go earlier than the 5th. I'd be ecstatic if he lasted that long.

[wildcat83]

I like Drew Brees, but I am going to hope that 50 year old ACL tears the first time he plants on a drop back this summer.... It's like playing the lottery, he's been durable, but we are an injury away from picking top 10 next year. Their defense is much improved, but I don't think they can survive without Brees running the offense.

[homer]

I like Drew Brees, but I am going to hope that 50 year old ACL tears the first time he plants on a drop back this summer.... It's like playing the lottery, he's been durable, but we are an injury away from picking top 10 next year. Their defense is much improved, but I don't think they can survive without Brees running the offense.

 

Yeah I don't see Taysom Hill or Tom Savage leading them to anything but a Wild Card at best.

[BillScottCanRake]

Buckley was over-drafted and didn't really come close to living up to expectations associated with being drafted 5th, especially in Green Bay. He was never going to be the next Dion Sanders or Jim Thorpe, and he wasn't as good ad Troy Vincent was.

 

That said, I think calling him good is fair. He played in 209 games, started 131 and had 50 career interceptions. His 50 career interceptions, 793 interception return yards, 6 pick-6s and 8 non-offensive touchdowns are all top-35 all time.

 

I don't think he was as good as those numbers may alone suggest, but he was good enough to play long enough to have a productive career.

 

With regard to the Alexander pick, I think Gutekunst did a nice job. Moving back (and then back up) accomplished a few things:

 

• Picking Alexander at 18 instead of 14 allowed the Packers to meet a need while probably still taking the highest rated player on their board. BPA meets need.
  
• Trading back allowed them to add a valuable 2019 pick. It's been a decade since the Packers had 2 firsts, and even if they are both in the 20s they will have a lot of options.
  
• He able to leverage having so many 2018 picks to move back to the mid-first round.

 

I'm excited to see how he manages the remainder of the draft, but so far I like what I am seeing.

[young guns]

Not nit picking, but they traded back I to the first to grab Matthews, so I'm wondering when was the last time they went into a draft with 2 firsts?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Buckley certainly was a better football player than AJ Hawk, who was also drafted 5th and drew about 1/10th the ire.

[CheezWizHed]

Playing one-one-one as a CB on the outside and getting burnt often will do that to a person. He made some great plays too, but its hard to forget the bad ones when its so obvious.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yeah, that is the reason for it, but I got pretty tired of watching AJ Hawk trail tight ends too.

[BillScottCanRake]

Not nit picking, but they traded back I to the first to grab Matthews, so I'm wondering when was the last time they went into a draft with 2 firsts?

 

Good question.

 

Here are the most recent times the Packers selected two players in the first.

 

2009 (Raji/Matthews)

#9: Raji was the Packers pick

#26: Matthews; pick was received from Pats during a draft-day trade.

 

1993 (Wayne Simmons/George Teague)

#15: Simmons was the Packers pick

#29 Teague; pick came from Dallas, probably draft-day but I don't know for sure.

 

1990 (Tony Bennett/Darrell Thompson)

#18: Bennett; pick came from Cleveland (plus Herman Fontenot) in a 1989 trade

#19: Thompson was the Packers pick.

 

1978 (James Lofton/John Anderson)

# 6: Lofton was the Packers pick

# 26: Anderson pick from the Raiders; trade was made prior to the 1977 season

 

1977 (Mike Butler/Ezra Johnson)

# 9: Butler was the Packers pick

#28: Johnson pick was from Oakland as part of the Ted Hendricks trade

 

So, it looks like in 1990, 1978 and 1977 the Packers went into the draft with two firsts and used them to pick players. I don't know when they had two picks and used them to move up or acquire players. I want to say it happened during the Wolf/Sherman/Thompson era, but I can't recall the details.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Not nit picking, but they traded back I to the first to grab Matthews, so I'm wondering when was the last time they went into a draft with 2 firsts?

 

Good question.

 

Here are the most recent times the Packers selected two players in the first.

 

2009 (Raji/Matthews)

#9: Raji was the Packers pick

#26: Matthews; pick was received from Pats during a draft-day trade.

 

1993 (Wayne Simmons/George Teague)

#15: Simmons was the Packers pick

#29 Teague; pick came from Dallas, probably draft-day but I don't know for sure.

 

1990 (Tony Bennett/Darrell Thompson)

#18: Bennett; pick came from Cleveland (plus Herman Fontenot) in a 1989 trade

#19: Thompson was the Packers pick.

 

1978 (James Lofton/John Anderson)

# 6: Lofton was the Packers pick

# 26: Anderson pick from the Raiders; trade was made prior to the 1977 season

 

1977 (Mike Butler/Ezra Johnson)

# 9: Butler was the Packers pick

#28: Johnson pick was from Oakland as part of the Ted Hendricks trade

 

So, it looks like in 1990, 1978 and 1977 the Packers went into the draft with two firsts and used them to pick players. I don't know when they had two picks and used them to move up or acquire players. I want to say it happened during the Wolf/Sherman/Thompson era, but I can't recall the details.

 

They had two 1sts going into the 1992 draft, but traded the second one (which came from Philly in 1991) for Favre. Of course, the #5 pick was used on Buckley.