Grade the 2020 Packers Draft

[PintSizedBox10]

“______ would’ve been available in the ______ round.”

No credibility when you post stuff like this. You have no damn clue. That’s why GM’s have their draft boards. I’ll go ahead and trust an nfl front office over internet message board member.

If they really knew so much every team in the NFL would be successful. Clearly that isn't the case - see the Chicago Bears.

[paulpressey25]

Don't have an opinion on this thing, other than I think the Packers did a lot last year with smoke and mirrors, and they evidently feel the same way. i.e. they aren't 1-2 players away.

I will find it interesting to see how this class pans out vis a vis our armchair GM's. There seems to be a near unanimous panning of the Packers picks here. Not just as to positional need, but overall talent of the guys selected.

We'll learn if you guys are smart or the Packers braintrust is. I really can't form an opinion at the moment either way.

[Xanadu]

So like everyone else I hated this draft so much.
Having said that I am donning my green and gold glasses and finding things to like.
This draft really comes down to Love. If he works out in 3 to 4 years ala Rodgers the draft is a A.
Since that's a long way off and we should be competing for Superbowl the pick is hard to like.
Looking at the silver lining. I love the idea I read somewhere of using Dillon as a deep back. Have Aaron Jones replace Tyler Ervin in the swing back role. After reading and watching Dillon I have fallen in love. His knocks seem to be he is a short yardage back only. But after watching him I couldn't disagree more. To me he looks like a discount AP. Has surprisingly good break away speed and sheds arm tackles easily. Violent runner who has good vision imo. Did we reach for him in 2nd sure but I can live with it.
The FB in 3rd was really my breaking point. But he has some great hands and could be a matchup nightmare. He needs to be a amazing lead blocker to be viable though. Not sure if he has that but he better be pancaking guys.
The MLB we took seems like a violent hitter. Wants to take guys heads off which we desperately lacked last year. Hope he brings some toughness to the team.

[Profound23]

Don't have an opinion on this thing, other than I think the Packers did a lot last year with smoke and mirrors, and they evidently feel the same way. i.e. they aren't 1-2 players away.

I will find it interesting to see how this class pans out vis a vis our armchair GM's. There seems to be a near unanimous panning of the Packers picks here. Not just as to positional need, but overall talent of the guys selected.

We'll learn if you guys are smart or the Packers braintrust is. I really can't form an opinion at the moment either way.

Good post...I really can't hate this draft because I wanted to draft Love and I didn't know anything about Dillon or Deguara. I hope Love is as good as I think he can be and at least one of the other two are worth their picks.

But I agree we won a lot of games on luck.....and maybe they see that as well.

[Bernman]

Yeah, I was serious when I said at the time I wanted the Packers to be the worst team to ever win the Super Bowl. It was fluky to sport anywhere near their record and make the Championship game.

That doesn't mean they couldn't have made multiple moves in both the draft and fa to get there. But it never should have been their attitude that they were 1-2 players away, and if that was going to be their driver, it would have been the wrong approach.

Making the 2nd and 3rd round picks that they did weren't seemingly justified by thinking long-term because those players weren't value on paper. Still could have drafted them a couple rounds later.

[jakecronus8]

“______ would’ve been available in the ______ round.”

No credibility when you post stuff like this. You have no damn clue. That’s why GM’s have their draft boards. I’ll go ahead and trust an nfl front office over internet message board member.

You can disagree with any pick you want. To say someone would’ve been available later is just blind speculation.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Yeah, I was serious when I said at the time I wanted the Packers to be the worst team to ever win the Super Bowl. It was fluky to sport anywhere near their record and make the Championship game.

That doesn't mean they couldn't have made multiple moves in both the draft and fa to get there. But it never should have been their attitude that they were 1-2 players away, and if that was going to be their driver, it would have been the wrong approach.

Making the 2nd and 3rd round picks that they did weren't seemingly justified by thinking long-term because those players weren't value on paper. Still could have drafted them a couple rounds later.

Yeah I'm kind of confused by some saying the 2nd and 3rd guys were future type picks because both those guys are going to play plenty this year. I personally wish they would have been MORE future oriented at one of those spots and grabbed a T who probably wouldn't play this year, it's a more premium position and I'd like a premium prospect to take Wagners job in a year. Hell even a wr probably contributes less than a RB because it's a harder position to learn.

I agree with Jake on avoiding saying player x would have been there in a particular round but I would say I just prefer to draft RBs and HBacks later.

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[Profound23]

“______ would’ve been available in the ______ round.”

No credibility when you post stuff like this. You have no damn clue. That’s why GM’s have their draft boards. I’ll go ahead and trust an nfl front office over internet message board member.

You can disagree with any pick you want. To say someone would’ve been available later is just blind speculation.

Imagine the Raiders taking Clay over Heyward-Bey at 7 in 2009....everyone would have killed them. However, a few years later they would look like geniuses. Now imagine them taking DHB because they can just trade up in the bottom of the first for Clay and the Packers jump in front of their trade partner.

So I get that point....all it takes is one team drafting the player you covet before you can get them. Look at NE, traded down away from Jordan Love thinking they could be slick and trade back into the bottom of the 1st and get Love with all those teams that didn't need a qb. Now they got an extra 3rd, but if Love ends up being a HOF was it worth it?

The one thing I like about this draft is they got their guys. If their guys suck there won't be any excuses of "well they drafted for need." If Love, Dillon, and Deguara are all busts then Gute will be fired very soon barring some miracle 2021 offseason.

[CWoodfan]

If the goal was to make a 13-3 team that went to the NFC Championship game in 2019 better in 2020, I don't know how the draft could be given anything other than a D.

The 1st round is where a team is most likely to select an impact player and in taking Love, who by all accounts is NOT ready to play QB in the NFL in 2020, the Packers took a player whose impact will not be known until likely 2022 at the earliest.

On top of that, the 4th round pick was traded away in order to select Love.

I also believe the lack of a 4th round pick contributed to Dillon and Daguara both possibly being picked a round higher than they would have otherwise.

As far as Dillon goes, RB was not seen as a huge need for 2020, but with Aaron Jones in the last year of his contract it was a sneaky need beyond next season. If he produces as well as 5th round pick Jones has, Dillon will be seen as a good selection.

With respect to Degaura, he is projected to be an H-Back. Now, in my decades of watching the NFL, I cannot recall anyone getting to excited about an H-Back and if Degaura becomes the best H-Back that ever played in the league I still don't think he'd be considered a difference maker. I mean him no disrespect, but I just don't see the value of drafting an H-Back in round 3.

The round 5-7 draftees are the usual hope and a prayer players and I don't see anyone getting too worked up pro or con about these selections.

In the end, this draft will be judged almost entirely on the success of Jordan Love, or the lack thereof.

If Love turns into an effective, long-term starter, even those scratching their heads about the wisdom of choosing a QB in round 1 when you've just signed your starting QB to an expensive extension that has four years to run will be forced to concede it was a good draft.

But unless and until Love does prove a success, there will be considerable doubt about this draft both among Packer fans and the greater NFL community.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Should be noted there's a very good chance Love actually does matter at some point in the next two years. Rodgers hasn't exactly been an iron man and older QBs in general get hurt. The pack could very well need him to win a few games and save a season.

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[DrWood]

“______ would’ve been available in the ______ round.”

No credibility when you post stuff like this. You have no damn clue. That’s why GM’s have their draft boards. I’ll go ahead and trust an nfl front office over internet message board member.

You can disagree with any pick you want. To say someone would’ve been available later is just blind speculation.

I'd suggest the opposite is true:
if all the draft guru sites (including NFL.com) has the guy listed as more than one round later than where's he's picked, it's BAD speculation to think he'd be gone.

what REALLY irks me is when a guy is a REACH and NOT in a position of need. That's insane.

[DrWood]

This summarizes several pundits views of the packers draft: https://www.foxsports.com/wisconsin/story/green-bay-packers-2020-nfl-draft-grades-jordan-love-aaron-rodgers-042620

[Jollay]

Still baffled by people hung up on the 4th.

You continue to look at the pick in a vacuum. Trading up affected the other stuff we were going to do, at least according to BG.

Quote: "Asked if he attempted to move up during the second round to take a receiver – like Baylor’s Denzel Mims, who had been linked to the Packers before the draft – Gutekunst said the price tag to move up was too high after the team surrendered its fourth-round pick to go up and take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love at No. 26 overall on Thursday night."

So, the lack of the 4th may have specifically cost us getting a receiver as well. At a minimum it was still a player when we had other needs. No, it's not the end of the world, but it's certainly fair game to second guess.

I don't know if I believe anything BG said, post-draft though, in fairness.

I also read up on the Spriggs debacle pre-draft, where we punted a fourth to trade up and get him based on glowing reviews by Gute. I mean, small price to pay for our tackle of the future, but it doesn't always turn out that way...

[Wisky4life]

Overall I think Gute had a select few guys he wanted and panicked to go and grab them early. It wasn't necessarily BPA but he reached for a few. Should have taken Queen in first and trade back up for his QB in early 2nd. It is a risk but would have looked better.

Queen 1st
Love 2nd
WR or someone else? 3rd
Deguara (TE) in 5th?
Then his run of the mill guys after

[Ron Swanson]

In order for this to be considered a success love needs to be a pro bowler down the line, dillon has to be Derrick Henry and not closer to Ron Dayne. The te hback has to be a solid contributor. The first three picks are crucial. They may have reached for each of those and have to hit on them,

The back of the draft was solid. We're able to add depth.

What if Jordan Love is the next Patrick Mahomes and the 3 OL in the 6th form his line? It doesn't depend on any specific pick.

Mahomes is also playing for a HOF coach, with elite targets in Hill, and Kelce.

Let’s pump the breaks on the outlandish what if comparisons.



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I mean, Tyreke Hill was a 5th round pick and Kelce was a 3rd round pick....

And no, I'm not expecting Love to be Mahomes, but we of all fanbases should know how you can find difference makers in any round of the draft.

[Treebeard]

Should be noted there's a very good chance Love actually does matter at some point in the next two years. Rodgers hasn't exactly been an iron man and older QBs in general get hurt. The pack could very well need him to win a few games and save a season.

I do agree that it's more plausible for the 2021 version of Rogers than the 2010 edition to go down with injury. He's been beaten up pretty well over the years: concussions, knee, clavicles, shoulders, fingers, etc. It's not like he's a creaky old grandpa, but it does take longer to recuperate as you age. The mileage does add up.

That risk of injury to Rogers is potentially a plus in Love's favor, but expecting much from him year one is shaky. The standard description for Love is physically gifted, but decision challenged. Even if he's a quick study, it's still going to take him time. Apparently, he's a sharp guy, but surrounded with dubious talent and coaching to this point, so there's some bad patterns to overcome.

I would have rather they took the QB next year, but that's moot now. A big dilemma for Love and the Pack is how do you best work on developing his decision skills with the Covid practice limitations of indeterminate length?

[jimmybones]

Mahomes is also playing for a HOF coach, with elite targets in Hill, and Kelce.

Let’s pump the breaks on the outlandish what if comparisons.



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Envisioning a pick hitting is literally no different than saying "this draft sucked, all wasted picks, F"

I guess it's the narrative of two extremes that I just roll my eyes at. "He'll be a 10 year starter, or he'll be a bust". What if he turns into a Dalton lol

The FO must've loved him so that's good enough for me. i just hate that we'll most likely be wasting his rookie deal,

That's fair, the most likely scenario is somewhere in between the two extremes. One thing I like to do when analyzing picks and a draft on the whole is to try to envision what was the front office thinking when they made the pick. No GM bats 100 on picks, no "expert" does, no fan does.

In my opinion, if you don't think Love or Dillon or Deguara have the talent to be major players then that's a fair criticism. But to say we didn't need that position or we took them a round too early is dumb. All that matters to me, especially with those first 3 guys, is do they HIT because if they do, NO ONE will be here 3 years from now "yeah, they are stars but we could have waited a round later to grab them." Or "yeah, he's a franchise QB, but dude, we sacrificed a 4th round pick for him.".....what?!

[M-C-G]

One thing with Dillon, FOUR RB were taken between our second and third round pick. Guys like Evans and Vaughn were routinely mocked in the same range as Dillon based on about a thousand mocks that I did. So i think there was a general surge of RB being selected that pushed them all up a round or two.

I don’t think he would have been there if we waited a round. Could make the argument to trade back but that is no guarantee he would be there.

As for Josiah seems obvious they have plans for him and probably would have been there in the fourth, but six TEs were taken between where he was picked and our pick in the fourth.

So again, if he is your guy, I guess get him. It was interesting seeing that NE I believe traded up to get a TE after we took him. He seems like a classic Bill Belicheck draft pick.


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[M-C-G]

Overall I think Gute had a select few guys he wanted and panicked to go and grab them early. It wasn't necessarily BPA but he reached for a few. Should have taken Queen in first and trade back up for his QB in early 2nd. It is a risk but would have looked better.

Queen 1st
Love 2nd
WR or someone else? 3rd
Deguara (TE) in 5th?
Then his run of the mill guys after

With Rodgers contract extension, getting your developmental QB in the first is important in that it gives you that fifth year team option. Worse case scenario would be develop a high round pick QB for three years, Rodgers retires the pick blows up and immediately have to give him a monster extension.

This way, if Rodgers plays two more years here, then you have three years of window with cost controlled QB, a huge advantage assuming Love pans out.

[Ron Swanson]

Idk, most playoff teams are 1-2 guys away from being serious SB contenders, but rarely if ever are those 1-2 guys rookies. Which is why I never really base my draft grades on any sort of production that I think these guys will provide in Year 1.