2024 NFL Draft - five picks in the first three rounds (seven in four! [probably])

[TroyD92]

Outside of the obvious guys that the Packers wont draft (Caleb Willians, MVHJ) some guys I like.

Safety:
Kam Kinchens - Projected 1st round/early 2nd
Andrew Mukuba - Projected early 2nd
James Williams - Projected late 2nd/early 3rd

Seems like the safety class is pretty light on run defender safety types. Kinchens seems like a monster (saw he was hurt last week), Mukuba has a ton of potential and James Williams really fits the Packers player profile.

Center:
Sedrick Van Pran - Projected mid 2nd / 3rd
Bryce Foster - Projected late 3rd / early 4th
Zach Frasier - Projected 3rd / 4th

Not sure what the average is for draftable centers in a given draft, but these three seems to be the only ones slated for early/mid rounds. Feel like center is a position the Packers will prioritize so would expect one of our seconds being used (if Myers continues to be as bad as he has been). Van Pran seems to fit the scheme and is the highest graded interior oline according to PFF. Foster seems to be the best athlete out of the group. Frasier grades out pretty similarly to both, but maybe not quite the technician that Van Pran is and not the athlete Foster is.

Guard:
Javion Cohen- Projected 2nd
Cooper Beebe - Projected 3rd
Dylan McMahon - Projected 4th/5th
Layden Robinson - Projected 5th
Christian Haynes - Projected 7th/UDFA
Zak Zinter - Projected 7th/UDFA

Pretty hard group to really make sense of. I could be wrong but I think there's a lot of college tackles that end up moving inside in the NFL so could very well muck up a lot of stuff. Feel like the Packers generally prefer getting guards later in the draft and with Jenkins already on the left side not sure if this is going to be a early round priority. Curious if they'll be looking for a guy with a lot of projectable traits in the backend of the draft.

[Turk Nowitzki]

If we had just drafted Creed Humphrey at #62 instead of Myers in 2021 we would be fully cooking on the o-line. Chiefs immediately took him at #63 and it's pretty clear that at this point we chose incorrectly.

[Ron Swanson]

Eh, a 2nd round pick is about as good as a 1st-round pick anyways considering our draft history. I choose optimism.

[ReasonablySober]

New PPF mock dropped. Has the Packers picking #11

11. GREEN BAY PACKERS: OT AMARIUS MIMS, GEORGIA
Record: 2-2
Player ADP (via MDS): 28.2
Player Big Board Rank: 31
With offensive tackle David Bakhtiari being placed on injured reserve, and with him missing a lot of time due to injury over the past three seasons, it feels like a trench pick could be coming for the Packers. Mims is raw — and currently missing time due to injury himself — but he’s an insanely talented athlete for an offensive tackle at 6-foot-7 and 340 pounds.

I can't argue against going offensive line in round one. That said, it would sting to see Bowers go #9 and Coleman go #10.

[ReasonablySober]

Hey, good news is the Packers have the easiest SOS of any team at 2-3. Currently in the 8th spot. Arizona looks like they have fight in them. Chicago might have figured some stuff out and Minnesota won't stay this bad.

Draft watch is heating up, boys!

[Treebeard]

Broncos might be in the running for the bottom too.

[ReasonablySober]

Broncos might be in the running for the bottom too.

If the Packers lose to the Broncos, certainly possible in Denver, then tank watch is officially on. Following six games:

Vikings (division game, who knows)
Rams (suddenly look good)
@Steelers (their D is going to feast)
Chargers (who knows)
@Lions (they'll kill us)
Chiefs (LOL)

Season could easily be over by then.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Tackle is a huge huge need early next draft.

I don't think Walker is a starter and Tom might be better inside upgrading either Meyers or Runyan.
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[ReasonablySober]

Tackle is a huge huge need early next draft.

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It's the right draft if you have a hole at OT. But I wouldn't take one if

Caleb Williams
Marvin Harrison Jr
Shedeur Sanders
Brock Bowers
Drake Maye
Dallas Turner

are available.

[Treebeard]

The Pack needs Safety's too, but could that filled via FA? To me, it seems like all teams are desperately looking for good OLinemen, so draft seems more likely there than FA.

[Ron Swanson]

Williams is for sure the only QB worth a Top-10 pick for me. Not sold at all on Drake Maye and he's off my draft board unless Love just looks like Zach Wilson these last 10-12 weeks.

[ReasonablySober]

Walter Football has a new mock up.

1 - Chicago - Caleb Williams - QB
2 - Chicago - Laiatu Latu - DE
3 - Denver - Drake Maye - QB
4 - Minnesota - Quinn Ewers - QB
5 - New England - Marvin Harrison Jr. - WR
6 - New York Giants - Keon Coleman - WR
7 - Arizona - Jared Verse - DE
8 - Green Bay - Amarius Mims - OT

Hard to argue against OT at the moment. I'm hoping Walker and Tom make this decision tougher by the end of the year.

Bowers would be my pick.

#42 - Green Bay - Chico Bennett Jr. - DE
#50 - Green Bay - Kamren Kinchens - S

Sure, though Kitchens is always getting hurt and I'd be worried about his health.

[Treebeard]

Given that they need to reload more than one Oline spot and maybe both Safeties, plus pick up an RB or two, any virtue in trading back with the first for another 2nd and change? I realize its miles too early for that, but its' a slow day.....

[ReasonablySober]

Given that they need to reload more than one Oline spot and maybe both Safeties, plus pick up an RB or two, any virtue in trading back with the first for another 2nd and change? I realize its miles too early for that, but its' a slow day.....

Yea, I'd say there's only two situations where I wouldn't be open to trading back and that's if they're in a position to grab Caleb or Harrison Jr. If we're picking in the middle of the top ten I'd have a hard time passing on Bowers too. He's not Harrison Jr. but he'd be WR1 on a lot of teams and definitely in Green Bay.

There are gonna be so many OTs and QBs taken in the top half round one.

QB
Williams
Maye
McCarthy
Penix
Sanders
Nix
Ewers

OT
Fashanu
Latham
Mims
Alt
Suamatia
Guyton

I think they all go in round one.

[Brewster]

Let's just tank and get a top 5 pick. I haven't seen Packers draft a top five pick since AJ Hawk.

[Matches Malone]

I'm starting to become infatuated with Drake Maye's arm talent. The guy can just rip it

[ReasonablySober]

ESPN on Caleb's best fits:

Which NFL teams could be in play for Williams -- and where is his best fit?
The Carolina Panthers are the last winless team in the NFL but traded their first-rounder in March to the Chicago Bears to be able to select Young in the 2023 draft. Chicago is projected to pick at Nos. 1 and 6, and ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) is giving the Bears a 39.4% chance to land the top selection between their two first-rounders. That would set up a tough decision on the future of Justin Fields, who is playing for his job this season. When asked what they would do in that spot, two area scouts not affiliated with the Bears said they would trade Fields and draft Williams.

"I'm not even a proponent of tanking," an AFC East scout said, "but I'd be trying to lose as many games as possible to land this dude -- and I'd trade Fields the day the league year opened for a fourth-round pick and say sorry it didn't work out."

Other teams in the mix to end up at No. 1 include the Denver Broncos (16.3%), Arizona Cardinals (16.2%), New York Giants (13.4%), New England Patriots (5.9%), Washington Commanders (3.1%), Las Vegas Raiders (1.9%), Green Bay Packers (1.0%) and Minnesota Vikings (0.9%), and at least a few of them have iffy quarterback situations:

It's easy to love the idea of Williams landing with Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson and former teammate Jordan Addison in Minnesota, with Kirk Cousins playing on the final year of his deal.

Denver is invested in Wilson, who has played better this season -- but he's also turning 35. The defensive woes are pressing, and if Wilson were designated as a post-June 1 cut next spring and released before the third day of the league year, the Broncos would be eating $35.4 million in dead money in 2024 and $49.6 million in 2025. A trade would hit Denver with $68 million in dead money, either all in 2024 or spread out over two seasons, depending on whether the deal happened before June 1.

Arizona (which also has two first-rounders) was a popular preseason mock draft destination for Williams, and many guessed the Cards would effectively tank for Williams to replace Murray. With a new general manager, new coach and Murray's inconsistent play, it's still a possibility, even though the team has outplayed expectations in the early going. Trading Murray -- who is still not playing while he recovers from a torn ACL in his left knee -- would cost $46.2 million in dead money on the 2024 cap. Designating him as a post-June 1 release would trigger cap hits of $48.3 million in 2024 and $33.2 million in 2025, per ESPN's Dan Graziano. It's worth noting that in both the Denver and Arizona cases that an incoming rookie-deal QB would soften the dead-money blow.

The best true fit for Williams would depend on movement in the coaching ranks, but his unique style as a creator and improviser makes him a fit anywhere -- as long as the team isn't looking for a pocket passer. The Patriots would seem like a bad fit on paper, but offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien has had success with Deshaun Watson in a similar stylistic approach.

"I'm telling you, unless you have a quarterback that you know is the guy, the first pick will be Williams," an NFC scouting director said. "You don't pass him up. This is a once-in-a-generation prospect."

Packers should be tanking.

[MickeyDavis]

If you lose to the Raiders and Broncos back to back the season is done and you absolutely tank. I'm not sure how they would do that. They aren't going to bench Love for Clifford. I guess some of the guys could have "injuries". The worst thing is to win 2-3 meaningless games down the stretch and go from top 5 to 10-15. I wouldn't automatically give up on Love after one season starting but if one of the top QB's is in our reach you have to do it.

[MVP2110]

If you lose to the Raiders and Broncos back to back the season is done and you absolutely tank. I'm not sure how they would do that. They aren't going to bench Love for Clifford. I guess some of the guys could have "injuries". The worst thing is to win 2-3 meaningless games down the stretch and go from top 5 to 10-15. I wouldn't automatically give up on Love after one season starting but if one of the top QB's is in our reach you have to do it.

You can trade several vets who won't be on the next competitive team like Preston, Jones, Campbell, Nixon, Rasul, Ford. You could even push that to guys like Clark, Jaire, Gary, & Jenkins who will be pushing 3rd contracts at that point.

[ReasonablySober]

They have two more games before the deadline. If they somehow lose both then, absolutely, you gotta move Preston, Jones, and Rasul. They won't get more than late round picks but there's no sense keeping them around.