Scout's Inc Top 200 Players in NFL

[LUKE23]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/ ... r-rankings

Insider so can't post it all. Personally, taking this year and future into account, Rodgers is #1 for me and there is nobody I even think about trading him for. For this season, I'm fine with Brady #1, and that is what the ranking is based off.

Top 5:

1. Brady
2. Manning
3. Revis
4. Peterson
5. Rodgers

Packers in top 200:

5. Rodgers
19. Matthews
40. Jennings
44. Woodson
58. Finley
61. Williams
66. Sitton
84. Raji
130. Collins
190. Clifton

Overall I disagree with a ton of the rankings, but it really isn't an easy task.

[emunney]

The top 5 should be all QBs, imo.

[LUKE23]

The top 5 should be all QBs, imo.

Agreed. It seems to put talent in over worth for the rankings though. If we're just talking talent, hell, Peterson might be #1.

[MickeyDavis]

I wouldn't rank Finley anywhere until he plays a full season.

[emunney]

The top 5 should be all QBs, imo.

Agreed. It seems to put talent in over worth for the rankings though. If we're just talking talent, hell, Peterson might be #1.

Or Suh, that ungodly freak.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

On average, each team should have 2 guys in the top 64. We have 6 plus number 66. Though, I do think exposure from our super bowl has inflated this team's worth. I think we are good but not that good. Our oline has been average, our dline is extremely thin, we may have lost more than we thought in Brandon Jackson.

[LUKE23]

On average, each team should have 2 guys in the top 64. We have 6 plus number 66. Though, I do think exposure from our super bowl has inflated this team's worth. I think we are good but not that good. Our oline has been average, our dline is extremely thin, we may have lost more than we thought in Brandon Jackson.

When there are around 1,700 players being debated league-wide, I think a top 200 ranking is pretty tough. The only guy I had a problem with being in there was Clifton, but I also think Shields should have been in as well. I don't see anyone on the list as being overvalued, in fact, I'd have Rodgers and Matthews, our top two guys, higher than they are listed. Probably Raji too.

Regarding OL and DL, I have a lot of faith the OL will be better than last year. One because I think Clifton will be healthier with a lot of time off and very limited practice time. Two, Bulaga looks completely different than year one. Three, Lang is a lot more physical than Colledge. It's not a great line, but serviceable.

The DL depends on Neal. If he can play a full season, the line is no worse than last year, possibly even better. Jenkins was a good pass rusher last year, but not good against the run, and was nicked up constantly (not that Neal hasn't).

Jackson is junk. If Green can give 75% of the pass pro he can, he's much, much more valuable.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Jackson is junk. If Green can give 75% of the pass pro he can, he's much, much more valuable.

Jackson may have been junk as a running back on first or second down, but I fear for the first time Rodgers gets blindsided because Green can't handle an oncoming LB.

[Flames24Rulz]

Raji's too low and Finley's too high.

[LUKE23]

Jackson may have been junk as a running back on first or second down, but I fear for the first time Rodgers gets blindsided because Green can't handle an oncoming LB.

It may happen, it may not. I applaud the Packers for looking for a high ceiling player on 3rd down, instead of keeping a guy for his pass blocking when he can't really do anything else well. It's the same mentality, to me, as not being happy with Colledge just because he was solid in pass protection, they went for Lang, who is more physical but may or may not be as good in pass protection. But if he is, he's without question the better OL.

Jackson could pass protect, but that alone is not worth enough to garner a roster spot. I will not miss him.

[emunney]

I thought Jackson was a pretty good screen player. Green is obviously a much more dynamic runner, but Jackson was somewhat more than just a blitz pickup specialist.

[LUKE23]

They had a statistic on this that I'd like to find, but they tracked the percentage of the time Jackson had big runs or catches. It was an amazingly low percentage. Career he's 7.7 YPR and 3.8 YPC. He just has really no big play ability.

Found it:

In four seasons, Jackson’s body of work wasn’t bad. Jackson had 110 receptions for 844 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, he totaled 1,329 yards on 347 rushes with seven scores. But in 481 total touches — including the postseason — Jackson amounted only seven plays of 20 yards or more. A 1.4 percent big-play rate is hardly the explosiveness a team seeks out of its third-down back.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/128155838.html

[emunney]

Not explosive, but not junk either.

[Ayt]

Raji is way too low. As for Finley, there is nothing wrong with his ranking. You just add the caveat that he's an injury risk.

I'd be curious to see where they have him ranked overall amongst TEs. Could someone with insider list where the TEs rank?

[Mags FTW]

If each team had roughly an equal amount, they would all have about 6. The Packers have 10.

Ted F'n Thompson

[Ayt]

If each team had roughly an equal amount, they would all have about 6. The Packers have 10.

Ted F'n Thompson

In my opinion, we have a top 5 player at QB, WR, TE, OG, NT/DT, CB, and FS.

TT only likes talentless overachievers because they remind him of himself.

[El Duderino]

Raji's too low and Finley's too high.

Yea, Raji is pretty much alone in his abilities as a 3-4 nose tackles. The vast majority of 3-4 nose tackles are strictly 1st/2nd down players to plug the middle vs the run, but offer very little vs the pass. Raji though was on the field last year for an astounding 85 percent of the snaps last year because he's a pass rushing threat also, and he has fabulous stamina for a man his size. Raji is an elite defensive player and after Rodgers/Matthews, he's IMO the third most important player on the Packers roster. If he went down with a major injury, our defense would take a massive hit.

[El Duderino]

If each team had roughly an equal amount, they would all have about 6. The Packers have 10.

Ted F'n Thompson

In my opinion, we have a top 5 player at QB, WR, TE, OG, NT/DT, CB, and FS.

TT only likes talentless overachievers because they remind him of himself.

Woodson is probably to old to still be a top 5 corner, but if he does play at an elite level this year, we could have two top 5 corners in Tramon and Chuck. I for now at least consider Williams a surefire top 5 corner and our best corner. If Shields can build on last year instead of staying the same or regressing a bit which wouldn't be shocking either way, he could possibly become a top 10 corner himself this year. The physical gifts certainly are there.

Of all sports, football is crazy in the aspect of how undrafted free agents can sometimes become elite players, you just don't see that in other pro sports. If say Shields over the next year or two develops into a top 10 corner, we'll have a pair of top 10 young corners and both of them will have cost the Packers not even a single draft pick. That's incredible when you think of all the money spent on scouting across the NFL.

Obviously, there was some luck involved for Ted when it comes to both Williams and Shields. For example, if another team had offered Shields a measly extra 5,000-10,000 more than the Packers offered, he's not with us, but the bottom line is he is a Packer and super talented. Tramon was waived twice, including once by Ted. Crazy. We got both for basically nothing, yet as important as corners are today, teams regularly draft 4-7 of them in the first round each year and in most cases, teams would be thrilled if they developed into a Tramon Williams.

[Ayt]

A very good friend of mine is a huge Bears fan and a huge Canes fan (his Dad is a Miami alum) and he hates talking about Shields because (from what I understand) it basically came down to Chicago or GB for Shields. Shields chose us because he thought he had the best chance to play early for us which makes sense when you think back to our CB depth chart entering last season. All he really needed to do was beat out Bush and a guy in Lee that was always hurt. Smart move, Sammy.

I agree with how crazy the NFL is when it comes to the draft in general and UDFA's. I think that really shows how important coaching can be. Great coordinators are important when it comes to scheming to take advantage of any advantages an offensive or defensive unit might have over an opponent. Scheming to basically give yourself good odds on every snap (to use a type of poker analogy) is extremely important and is also one of the most misunderstood aspects when it comes to fans, IMO (you've posted about how questioning playcalls constantly is a little ridiculous given the limited info we have as fans). I see MM as basically our offensive coordinator, so we have two excellent architects in MM and Capers when it comes to scheming for games. That being said, I think the coaches underneath those guys are hugely important. I don't see any way we have the success we've had with late rounders and UDFA's if we didn't have top flight positional coaches.

You can basically go across the board on defense with Trgovac on the DL, Greene and Moss at LB, and Whitt and Perry in the secondary. We have possibly the most impressive defensive coaching staff in the NFL when you put Capers at the top of that. MM deserves major props for finding and hiring all those guys.

On the offense side, I'm not enamored with Campen. In his defense, I will say we haven't done him any favors. When he started we were a ZBS team with smallish OL, and we've gradually transitioned to a more traditional scheme in recent seasons. TT also hasn't done a very good job of giving him young players to work with until recent seasons either, IMO. Other than that, I have a large amount of respect for our offensive coaches. I think Bennett did a brilliant job last year. I know Starks gave him a huge amount of credit in getting him ready to play. Philbin is our OC, which may not seem like an important position with MM calling the plays, but if you watch interviews with Philbin on a weekly basis you realize he has a very sharp offensive mind. He's a very intelligent person. Clements is great as a QB coach. AR gives him a huge amount of credit for his success. I think highly of Fontenot. McAdoo does a great job with out TEs.

The head coaches, DCs, and OCs get the big money, but exceptional positional coaches are invaluable in the NFL, IMO. That makes it extremely unique compared to the NBA and MLB. I think it is obvious that assistants have the least amount of impact in the NBA. In MLB, minor league coaches can certainly help to shape players, but I think it is too a much lesser degree than the NFL. When looking at our current assistant coaches, I see a ton of guys that are going to do big things in this league as their careers progress. That is particularly true on the defensive side of the ball.

I remember a great interview last year with Woodson where he was very frank about his doubts when Joe Whitt became our CB coach in 2009. Whitt is younger than Wood and didn't ever play CB. He walked on at Auburn as a WR but his collegiate career was ended by an injury. He went from a quality control position in 2008 to CBs coach in an offseason when almost all of our defensive coaches were fired. I can't find the video now, but you could see that Woodson had a huge amount of respect for Whitt, and you could tell it was all earned because Wood was not at all convinced Whitt could handle the job in the beginning. He actually even flat out said he had a huge amount of respect for Whitt and you could tell he meant it after talking about how much he doubted him early in his coaching career. If a guy can have that type of impression on Woodson, it isn't hard to imagine the type of respect he could command from younger CBs.

I wish I could find the video, because it was a great interview with Woodson. He sounded like an old coach talking about a great young coach that really impressed him despite some initial doubts which is pretty funny since he's technically playing under Whitt. Watching interviews with Woodson now is really interesting because he had a terrible reputation somehow in the middle part of his career yet he's one of the smartest DBs I've ever seen and he's a very thoughtful person in general. I've always been impressed with how honest and how reasonable he is in interviews. Woodson will make an incredible coach some day if he goes that route. I hope he does it in GB, because the guy is a legend in my book. It could be decades before we see a CB as smart and as complete as Woodson (and I mean overall in the NFL, not just in GB). I think he'd obviously make a great CB/secondary coach, but I bet he could be a great DC if he really devoted himself to it.

I couldn't find the interview vid, but here is an article about Whitt and the secondary with some quotes from Wood that touch on what I stated above:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/115387279.html

[Ayt]

^^^^TLDR