2023 Packers draft discussion

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I think I see why the Packers aren't getting any exciting UDFAs - last year 27 players got over $100k in guaranteed bonus/salary.  Being up against the cap restricts how much if any part of a UDFAs salary they can guarantee.

And of the ~$7M in net cap available (factoring in rookie draft pick bonuses/salary), I'd rather allocate that to enticing Amos to come back than guaranteeing $100k in salary to a couple of UDFA.

Not to mention the Packers drafting 13 players in the draft this year and likely wanting to keep most all of them on the roster/practice squad.

[Joseph Zarr]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I think I see why the Packers aren't getting any exciting UDFAs - last year 27 players got over $100k in guaranteed bonus/salary.  Being up against the cap restricts how much if any part of a UDFAs salary they can guarantee.

And of the ~$7M in net cap available (factoring in rookie draft pick bonuses/salary), I'd rather allocate that to enticing Amos to come back than guaranteeing $100k in salary to a couple of UDFA.

Not to mention many many of these current UDFA's I've seen (mainly on Aaron Wilson's Twitter) are getting $175-260K guaranteed. There's no way the Pack are competing with that - and, perhaps that's why they coveted acquiring those late round draft picks? The highest I've seen the Pack dole out, so far, is $9K guaranteed.

[CheezWizHed]

9 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Not to mention many many of these current UDFA's I've seen (mainly on Aaron Wilson's Twitter) are getting $175-260K guaranteed. There's no way the Pack are competing with that - and, perhaps that's why they coveted acquiring those late round draft picks? The highest I've seen the Pack dole out, so far, is $9K guaranteed.

$260k is higher than a 6th round pick.  That is odd on multiple fronts... how many UDFAs actually make a dent in the NFL (yes, we have a list of players like Sam Shields, Tramon Williams, and Allen Lazard) but they represent such a small portion.  And if you didn't think the guy was worth a 6th/7th round pick... why pay for it now? I guess "buying" another 6th/7th round pick.  

Not to mention that many UDFAs take more than one stop to succeed (Williams and Lazard were waiver wire pickups). 

[CheezWizHed]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:24 PM, CheezWizHed said:

Eventually on run D.  His weakest point was his strength... (at last on his combine numbers). I'm hoping he had a bad day.  In the 8th percentile for single gap DEs (including Bosa and P-Smith): https://www.mockdraftable.com/player/lukas-van-ness

I was contemplating the disparity between LVN's strength numbers at the combine and his obvious power in his game tape.  I guess the simple answer is that he has grown a lot in a few short years and his arms/chest haven't quite caught up.  Thus his game tape is probably more a result of lower body power.  

So when his upper body strength does catch up to his lower body, which is probably one of the easier things to "fix" in the NFL....wow, pretty high potential. 

[igor67]

I was thinking of it in terms of potential, but the huge power speed numbers in the lower body are so big, that he almost has to have more potential to develop upper body burst as well. Or possibly the tests themselves were somehow under measuring his upper body. Which would be weird, but overall all signs point to there being more capability.

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

$260k is higher than a 6th round pick.  That is odd on multiple fronts... how many UDFAs actually make a dent in the NFL (yes, we have a list of players like Sam Shields, Tramon Williams, and Allen Lazard) but they represent such a small portion.  And if you didn't think the guy was worth a 6th/7th round pick... why pay for it now? I guess "buying" another 6th/7th round pick.  

Not to mention that many UDFAs take more than one stop to succeed (Williams and Lazard were waiver wire pickups). 

What is guaranteed is salary.  Teams only get ~$170k each towards UDFA signing bonuses and, historically, that's been the only thing that has been guaranteed.  Of that $260k, it's likely that not more than $50k is signing bonus and the rest is guaranteed salary.  That way it goes against the cap this year if they have cap space.

[Joseph Zarr]

21 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I watched one of their games, I think the bowl game, and he is very agile for a player his size.  Looked very natural standing up on the edge and moved around very well.  He's not explosive or strong, doesn't have a great body type, and needs to spend some time with the strength & conditioning team.

Doubly interesting, perhaps, is this image of metrics:

[MrTPlush]

I’m not a massive fan of Brooks. A tweener guy between outside/inside DL sounds like a dude ready to get owned by NFL OLs. Probably why he was a 6th round pick.

For a 6th rounder though, he is pretty intriguing. Maybe he can carve out a niche role 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

14 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

I’m not a massive fan of Brooks. A tweener guy between outside/inside DL sounds like a dude ready to get owned by NFL OLs. Probably why he was a 6th round pick.

For a 6th rounder though, he is pretty intriguing. Maybe he can carve out a niche role 

Kinda reminds me of Mike Daniels or perhaps pre-weight loss/position change Mike Neal. Both high motor guys with limited athleticism. Daniels certainly carved out a solid career as a undersized disruptor. Neal was also useful, moreso after the position change.

[LouisEly]

On 4/17/2023 at 7:52 PM, LouisEly said:

UDFAs:

Holton Ahlers, QB, East Carolina
Lew Nichols, RB, Central Michigan
Ben Sims, TE, Baylor
Henry Byrd, OT, Princeton
Eric Abojei, OG, Wyoming
Trevor Downing, C, Iowa State
Keytaon Thompson, WR, Virginia
Garrett Maag, WR, North Dakota
Ryan Miller, WR, Furman

The Packers have been awarded Ben Sims, TE, Baylor, on waivers.

[CheezWizHed]

16 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The Packers have been awarded Ben Sims, TE, Baylor, on waivers.

Now highlight the misses. 😝😂

[homer]

On 4/29/2023 at 2:31 PM, patrickgpe said:

This is from my friends at Walter Football

 
Lions acquire No. 45 (Brian Branch) from Packers for Nos. 48 (traded to Buccaneers), 159 (5th)
It's odd that the Lions and Packers engaged in a trade together, but then again, Detroit made a deal with the Vikings a year ago. The Lions won that trade, and they prevailed in this one as well. They had to leap the Patriots to land Brian Branch, who easily could have been drafted in the 20s. Detroit landed a steal in Branch and only gave up a fifth-round pick to do so. The Packers can be praised for picking up an extra fifth-round selection, but they allowed their toughest competition in the division to acquire a talented player - one who will be intercepting No Cookie Jordan Love, no doubt. This is why I'm grading the Packers poorly.

Grade for Lions - A+
Grade for Packers - D

 

This is what drives me nuts about all of the draft converge, the Packers clearly had Reed much higher on their draft board and got him. I wanted Branch too at 45. I just can't get too worked up about any pick, especiailly since most I really only saw a couple times play live at best. 

This is why Walter Football is the legend that he is.

[patrickgpe]

46 minutes ago, homer said:

This is why Walter Football is the legend that he is.

I honestly think "Walter" sold his site a few years ago to a new "Walter". It a lot of hot takery these days. 

[BrewerFan]

9 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

I honestly think "Walter" sold his site a few years ago to a new "Walter". It a lot of hot takery these days. 

I haven't looked at Walter recently, but NFL Draft Buzz HAS to be the worst "scouting" site out there.

They just cut and paste the same answers. If a RB is under 200LB, he's 'questions in pass pro, curls up and tries to dive at blitzers feet,' or something along those lines.

They have ~10 positive attributes, ~10 negative ones and just mix and match. "Stacks CBs with the best of them," is one.