PackersRS
Cheesehead
Now, I'm not going to pretend I know or have the slightest idea of what the heck Ted Thompson will do on draft day. It's easier to predict who's going to win the SB next year now than do that.
I'm here to make a case for drafting the best OL available when we pick.
There are tiers of OL.
The first one consists of Russel Okung. Alone.
In the second one there's Antonhy Davis, Trent Williams, Bryan Bulaga, Charles Brown, Bruce Campbell and the only not OT in Mike Iupati. All of them have flaws, some are better at pass protect, some in the running game, some are more ready to play, some have more upside... But all in all, they make for one big tier.
The third tier is made of Maurkice Pouncey, Selvish Capers, Vladmir Ducasse, Kyle Colloway, Jon Asamoah and Jared Veldheeh. All of them aren't ready to start yet, have big flaws in their game, but have very good upside.
The thing is, the second tier won't go past the top 10 of the 2nd round. We simply won't get a player that'll help us this year, if we don't get an OL with our first rounder.
However, other positions, like OLB, CB, S, ILB, DE and RB are much deeper.
The dropoff from their first tiers to the second and third tiers isn't that deep, and we can get some solid contributors with our 4th or 5th rounder.
We can get guys like Corey Wootton, Reshad Jones, Perish Cox or Koa Misi with our 2nd rounder.
There's a big discussion between who's a 2nd rounder, a 3rd or a 4th rounder.
I've heard Perish Cox listed as someone's 3rd best CB, and going in the early 2nd, to not being even in the top 5, and going in the late 3rd.
The same can be said of Tyson Alualu, of Chad Jones (though his range probably won't drop from the early 3rd round), and so on.
In those positions, there're a clear top tier, and then a huge 2nd tier, with a lot of different opinions about each player.
S: There's Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, Taylor Mays (though I think he's a 3rd rounder), and then there's a lot of names, like Nate Allen, Chad Jones, Reshad Jones, Darrell Stuckey, Morgan Burnett and Myron Rolle.
CB: It's even worse. There's Joe Haden atop everybody's list, and then a complete caos of opinions. You could find gems like Cox, Donovan Warren, Brandon Ghee, Dominique Franks, Javier Arenas and such as far as the late 3rd round.
OLB: There isn't a guy slated to go even in the top 25. The first one, projected as a 3-4 OLB, is Brandon Graham, but Jerry Huges, Koa Misi, Ricky Sapp and Sergio Kindle are slated to go from 2nd to early 3rd round.
The dropoff to Jason Worilds, Eric Norwood and such is bigger, but OLB isn't that big of a need, considering how Brad jones played.
ILB: There's only Rolando McClain in the 1st tier, but he's a surefire top 10 pick. Brandon Spikes ranges from the top 20 to the early 3rd round. Plus, there's a lot of quality out there, up to the 4th round with Pat Angerer, Darril Washington from TCU could be picked in the 3rd round. The ILB position in the draft is usually overlooked, unless it's a gamechanger, with amazing physical tools and comprehension of offenses.
DE: There's Suh atop the entire draft, there's Odrick that projects as an DE going in the first, but there's quality in almost every round. Wootton is 2nd, Carrington could be 2nd or 3rd, same as Mike Neal, Tyson Alualu could be a 3rd or 4th rounder...
RB: Since this is the least needed position, we could find the change of pace back in the 3rd with McCluster, McNight, or get a big guy like Toby Gerhard. The only trully elite guy is C.J. Spiller. Jahvid Best, Jonathan Dwyer and Ryan Matthews are the guys considered as possible franchise backs, and their range is the late second. But we don't need that position.
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The point of this thread is, we can get guys that will contribute right away, and possibly be solutions to our team in the other positions with the rest of our picks.
But if we don't use our 1st rounder on an OL, chances are pretty slim we'll fix the OL this year through the draft.
I'm not affirming this will happen, as there're allways the T.J. Langs of the 4th round and Tom Brady of the 6th to prove otherwise, but those are extreme rarities.
This draft is filled with S, CB, ILB, OLB and KR, luckily for us. But it's not with OL. The class is deep in the OL, but will run out very fast.
I'm here to make a case for drafting the best OL available when we pick.
There are tiers of OL.
The first one consists of Russel Okung. Alone.
In the second one there's Antonhy Davis, Trent Williams, Bryan Bulaga, Charles Brown, Bruce Campbell and the only not OT in Mike Iupati. All of them have flaws, some are better at pass protect, some in the running game, some are more ready to play, some have more upside... But all in all, they make for one big tier.
The third tier is made of Maurkice Pouncey, Selvish Capers, Vladmir Ducasse, Kyle Colloway, Jon Asamoah and Jared Veldheeh. All of them aren't ready to start yet, have big flaws in their game, but have very good upside.
The thing is, the second tier won't go past the top 10 of the 2nd round. We simply won't get a player that'll help us this year, if we don't get an OL with our first rounder.
However, other positions, like OLB, CB, S, ILB, DE and RB are much deeper.
The dropoff from their first tiers to the second and third tiers isn't that deep, and we can get some solid contributors with our 4th or 5th rounder.
We can get guys like Corey Wootton, Reshad Jones, Perish Cox or Koa Misi with our 2nd rounder.
There's a big discussion between who's a 2nd rounder, a 3rd or a 4th rounder.
I've heard Perish Cox listed as someone's 3rd best CB, and going in the early 2nd, to not being even in the top 5, and going in the late 3rd.
The same can be said of Tyson Alualu, of Chad Jones (though his range probably won't drop from the early 3rd round), and so on.
In those positions, there're a clear top tier, and then a huge 2nd tier, with a lot of different opinions about each player.
S: There's Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, Taylor Mays (though I think he's a 3rd rounder), and then there's a lot of names, like Nate Allen, Chad Jones, Reshad Jones, Darrell Stuckey, Morgan Burnett and Myron Rolle.
CB: It's even worse. There's Joe Haden atop everybody's list, and then a complete caos of opinions. You could find gems like Cox, Donovan Warren, Brandon Ghee, Dominique Franks, Javier Arenas and such as far as the late 3rd round.
OLB: There isn't a guy slated to go even in the top 25. The first one, projected as a 3-4 OLB, is Brandon Graham, but Jerry Huges, Koa Misi, Ricky Sapp and Sergio Kindle are slated to go from 2nd to early 3rd round.
The dropoff to Jason Worilds, Eric Norwood and such is bigger, but OLB isn't that big of a need, considering how Brad jones played.
ILB: There's only Rolando McClain in the 1st tier, but he's a surefire top 10 pick. Brandon Spikes ranges from the top 20 to the early 3rd round. Plus, there's a lot of quality out there, up to the 4th round with Pat Angerer, Darril Washington from TCU could be picked in the 3rd round. The ILB position in the draft is usually overlooked, unless it's a gamechanger, with amazing physical tools and comprehension of offenses.
DE: There's Suh atop the entire draft, there's Odrick that projects as an DE going in the first, but there's quality in almost every round. Wootton is 2nd, Carrington could be 2nd or 3rd, same as Mike Neal, Tyson Alualu could be a 3rd or 4th rounder...
RB: Since this is the least needed position, we could find the change of pace back in the 3rd with McCluster, McNight, or get a big guy like Toby Gerhard. The only trully elite guy is C.J. Spiller. Jahvid Best, Jonathan Dwyer and Ryan Matthews are the guys considered as possible franchise backs, and their range is the late second. But we don't need that position.
-
The point of this thread is, we can get guys that will contribute right away, and possibly be solutions to our team in the other positions with the rest of our picks.
But if we don't use our 1st rounder on an OL, chances are pretty slim we'll fix the OL this year through the draft.
I'm not affirming this will happen, as there're allways the T.J. Langs of the 4th round and Tom Brady of the 6th to prove otherwise, but those are extreme rarities.
This draft is filled with S, CB, ILB, OLB and KR, luckily for us. But it's not with OL. The class is deep in the OL, but will run out very fast.
