Round One - Lukas Van Ness

[M-C-G]

Van Ness looks like the most New England Patriots LB ever. Not the pick I would have made, but I think there was a pretty decent market for him out there.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Most of the problems with Gary revolved around his post-selection demeanor if I recall. Ability wasn't in question.

Yes, and some of the takes made me embarrassed to be a Packers fan. Or, I guess, a human.

Wait were people actually serious about that crying thing? I always thought that was just a running joke.

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[TroyD92]

Most of the problems with Gary revolved around his post-selection demeanor if I recall. Ability wasn't in question.

Yes, and some of the takes made me embarrassed to be a Packers fan. Or, I guess, a human.

Wait were people actually serious about that crying thing? I always thought that was just a running joke.

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No they were very serious. Also lots of discussion about his Dyslexia being a problem...

[Treebeard]

There was also some doubts raised about Gary's limited production on field at Michigan. Kinda similar to some of the grumbling about Van Ness. The squawking about the crying and dyslexia was embarassing

[TroyD92]

Listening to Andy Herman live stream and apparently Van Ness had two fg blocks as well.

[CWoodfan]

Has any NFL franchise ever devoted so many resources (12 of last 13 1st round draft picks and 7 of 8 under Gootey as well as virtually all notable veteran free agent signings) to one side of the team and gotten so little out of it as he Packers have on the defensive side of the ball over the past 11 years?

[Treebeard]

Listening to Andy Herman live stream and apparently Van Ness had two fg blocks as well.

Bisaccia is probably having dreams of his own modern day version of Ted "the Mad Stork" Hendrickson.

[LikeABosh]

Listening to Andy Herman live stream and apparently Van Ness had two fg blocks as well.

He had two punt blocks in the same game

[XtremeDunkz]

I still take pride in being right about Gary from day 1. I know less about this kid but you can never go wrong looking for a stud pass rusher.

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[Ayt]

I don't watch a ton of CFB anymore, but I've seen enough to know a monster when I see one. Guys who are physically built like him (*easily* carrying 270+) who play with motor and can bend and start and stop and operate in space and just **** manhandle giants are super unusual. It's surprising to me he wasn't more highly regarded. I always laugh at the idea that there's some super steep learning curve with guys who are physically dominant, like playing defensive line is **** subtle and complicated.

Seems high floor high ceiling to me.

I didn't put much time into looking at prospects in the 1st, but basically ignored WR and TE because I didn't think they'd take someone from those positions because they are quite deep in this draft, particularly TE. Van Ness was the guy that jumped out at me as a possibility because he is such a freak at a premium position. You really only get the chance to draft guys like this in the top half of the 1st round, much like how we had the shot at Gary.

He's young and raw, but he could easily end up being a **** monster.

[Finn]

Watch on YouTube

[zmanishere11]

I feel better about this pick in the scheme of the entire draft after we grabbed Reed and the two TE's. Reed specifically as he's that shifty slot guy who can actually return punts / kicks as well - exactly what we needed.

[midranger]

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/mediaviewer

[humanrefutation]

Rittenberg shares thoughts from B1G scouts on LVN. Take them for whatever they're worth.

Rittenberg: The reaction to Iowa's Lukas Van Ness going at No. 13 from Big Ten coaches I talked to this weekend suggests the Packers reached a bit. Green Bay has done well with defensive players from the Big Ten, and Van Ness clearly has upside as a pass-rusher, recording 13.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss the past two seasons. But he also played on a defense filled with reliable standouts, including Campbell, third-round draft pick Riley Moss, fellow linemen Noah Shannon and Joe Evans, and others. He won't have the same security with the Packers' defense, which struggled for much of the 2022 season. Green Bay could have added defensive backs Christian Gonzalez or Emmanuel Forbes, or an interior force like Calijah Kancey. They took a bit of a gamble on Van Ness. We'll see if it pays off.

[M-C-G]

Rittenberg shares thoughts from B1G scouts on LVN. Take them for whatever they're worth.

Rittenberg: The reaction to Iowa's Lukas Van Ness going at No. 13 from Big Ten coaches I talked to this weekend suggests the Packers reached a bit. Green Bay has done well with defensive players from the Big Ten, and Van Ness clearly has upside as a pass-rusher, recording 13.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss the past two seasons. But he also played on a defense filled with reliable standouts, including Campbell, third-round draft pick Riley Moss, fellow linemen Noah Shannon and Joe Evans, and others. He won't have the same security with the Packers' defense, which struggled for much of the 2022 season. Green Bay could have added defensive backs Christian Gonzalez or Emmanuel Forbes, or an interior force like Calijah Kancey. They took a bit of a gamble on Van Ness. We'll see if it pays off.

I think this is a universal take on most 1st round picks. People for it and people that don't see it.

One thing that surprised me about LVN that 'pundits' cited was not being a starter, but then you look at if he had a starter number of snaps and the answer was yes. I don't know, but worse case, I think we have a nice piece of clay to mold and our staff showed me they could make it work with another Big Ten edge that people felt was overdrafted. So we will see.

[LUKE23]

To me this pick mimics the Gary pick in almost every facet. Not only their position, their size, their combine numbers, but how many viewed the pick as a reach based on questions of production. I don't know, if this kid has a motor, I just have a hard time seeing him fail with that size/speed/agility combination. He may not be what he's going to be year 1, same as Gary, but how he ends up as a player is all that matters.

I wanted JSN but always had Van Ness high on my board.

[Mags FTW]

Rittenberg shares thoughts from B1G scouts on LVN. Take them for whatever they're worth.

Rittenberg: The reaction to Iowa's Lukas Van Ness going at No. 13 from Big Ten coaches I talked to this weekend suggests the Packers reached a bit. Green Bay has done well with defensive players from the Big Ten, and Van Ness clearly has upside as a pass-rusher, recording 13.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss the past two seasons. But he also played on a defense filled with reliable standouts, including Campbell, third-round draft pick Riley Moss, fellow linemen Noah Shannon and Joe Evans, and others. He won't have the same security with the Packers' defense, which struggled for much of the 2022 season. Green Bay could have added defensive backs Christian Gonzalez or Emmanuel Forbes, or an interior force like Calijah Kancey. They took a bit of a gamble on Van Ness. We'll see if it pays off.

I don't get this criticism. The talent around him didn't help LVN bull rush people like Skoronski into the Phantom Zone.

[Ron Swanson]

I couldn't care less about the "he didn't start" thing at this point.

I don't get this criticism. The talent around him didn't help LVN bull rush people like Skoronski into the Phantom Zone.

This. It's like some people go out of their way to convince their eyes that what they're seeing is wrong, and that's the absolute inverse analysis that the statistics crowd too often falls into but needs to get away from. Besides, I don't know what says productive better than a guy who had 14-sacks and 19 TFL in 26 career games as a "back up".

[Matches Malone]

Yeah, the not starting thing is definitely low-hanging fruit to try and nitpick the selection. The fact is his snap count was up there with the rest of the starters and his production across the line was just as good if not better than some of the upperclassmen. I remember people bringing up Clay Matthews not starting and he turned out fine.

[Frank Nova]

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No wonder they call him Hercules.. He seems freakishly strong.