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They ranked the 25 and under talent on all the NFL teams and the Packers came up 24th. Houston is #1. Other north teams are Detroit (9th), Minnesota (16) and Chicago (27).
Packers:
No team seems to hit higher peaks or lower valleys than the Packers, who alternate busts (A.J. Hawk) with franchise-caliber players (Greg Jennings) during draft weekends. They had eight picks in Rounds 1-3 in 2007-2008, though, and their eventual haul appears to be tight end Jermichael Finley and whoever wins the wide receiver battle between James Jones and Jordy Nelson. A team that currently relies on well-aged tackles Chad Clifton (34) and Mark Tauscher (33) undoubtedly hopes to see signs of development from second-year man T.J. Lang and 2010 first-round pick Bryan Bulaga this year; with the historical injury woes of Clifton and Tauscher, the young guys may need to hold their own at some point this year. Combining that with another great year from linebacker Clay Matthews would help push the Packers well up these charts.
and #1 Houston
Not only are the Texans at the top of our rankings, but they could be even further ahead of the pack if we included players who are currently 25 and turn 26 before September 1. That would allow us to add star middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans to the Texans' haul. Even without him, though, the Texans are downright spoiled for talent. No one can match their one-two punch of Mario Williams and Brian Cushing, the best young players at their respective positions in the NFL. Add Ryans into the mix, and the Texans have three guys in their starting 11 who should be starting in the Pro Bowl every year. They're that good.
Those three players aren't the only talents on defense, either. Defensive tackle Amobi Okoye has been inconsistent as a pro, but consider that he's just 23; Okoye is more than six months younger than Ndamukong Suh, who hasn't played a pro down. Safety Bernard Pollard was gifted by the Chiefs and immediately shored up the team's biggest weakness. The versatile Connor Barwin had 4.5 sacks in limited time last year. Zac Diles benefited from playing alongside two elite linebackers, but held his own in coverage on the weak side. The team may start second-year corner Glover Quin across from rookie Kareem Jackson and would not regret it. The Texans go deep. Throw in their troika of young running backs, led by Steve Slaton, and Houston is an organization at the peak of its developmental work. General manager Rick Smith doesn't get much attention nationwide, but since he took over for Charlie Casserly in 2006, it's hard to find anyone who's identified and acquired young talent as well as Smith has.
Considering we have a pretty young team and we're supposedly Super Bowl contenders, this seems to be a pretty rough ranking. That said, I don't know I agree or disagree. Part of their justification for Houston's ranking is Mario Williams and Cushing being the top players at their positions. By the end of the season I think we may be saying the same thing about Matthews and Finley. Raji is poised to have a big season too. I like Nelson quite a bit. We'll see what we have in Burnett. I don't know. I like our future.
