LouisEly

And to think that he was RB3 at UW and RB2 at Louisville. I get that part of that was injuries earlier in his career, but he played in every game in 2022. Speaks to my level of frustration with Rudolph/Engram as OC who couldn't figure out how to get Guerendo touches - especially as the jet on jet sweeps. Back in 2016 I mocked Aaron Jones to the Packers (one of my prouder hits) because of two things - his ypc (7.7 in 2016, career 6.3) but more because every year he had a longest run >70 yards (and 3 of 4 years >80 yards). Guerendo has a long of 82, 89, and 73. He doesn't have the wiggle that Aaron Jones does (nobody does, he's one of the shiftiest RBs in history) and doesn't have that immediate burst that Jones does, but if he gets a lane he can and will house you. I remember a couple of months ago the talk that it wasn't a good RB class, hardly any were ranked by the draftniks in the top 100, none in the top 60, blah, blah, blah, and I said (either here or on another forum) that there was a lot more RB talent in this class than the ranking websites recognized. And look at what those guys ran today - three sub 4.4, eight sub 4.5, most of those guys weighed in at 210+, and no Brooks - who is considered by most to be the best RB in the class. Nobody had Guerendo in their top 200 back then. Nobody had Jalen Wright on their board. Few even had Brooks on their board because he was 3rd string in 2022 behind Robinson and Johnson. There's RB talent here. Maybe the position isn't that valuable, but there are plenty of guys who I would be very happy if they were taken by the Packers in the 3rd or 4th (Wright, Brooks, Benson, Lloyd, Tracy, Guerendo). And I like Jaylen Wright a LOT - I wouldn't mind at all if the Pack take him in the 2nd.

This is mostly speculation from the media. I haven't heard any chatter from any coaches saying that. I also think that WLB is kind of like OG which is kind of like relief pitcher - most LB's are better WLBs than MLB/SAM, just like most OL are better OG than OT just like most pitchers are better relievers than starters. And with as much motion and shifting as modern offenses employ, I don't know that there really is a difference between a WLB and a SAM. I'd rather have Walker on the TE - he's big enough and athletic enough to cover TEs, but as I mentioned, with as much motion and shifting as there is it's not going to be easy for any LB to consistently line up over the TE or be a SAM/WILL.

Is optical tracking just going to measure for first downs? If so, not really a big deal, because it's still going to be up to the officials where to spot the ball which is the main issue and what cost the Packers a couple of times last year.

And lo and behold, Preston Smith takes a pay cut, roughly equal to what his cap savings would have been if they cut him. I think that makes it even less likely that they draft a DL as that's another roster spot that's practically guaranteed.

I think that's partly a function of having a really young team. I used to manage a really young team - 1st/2nd/3rd job out of undergrad - and that was their initial complaint. But really young/inexperienced people often don't understand the big picture and why things need to be done a certain way. It's often better to brush them off then to tell them that their ideas are crap.

Back in October I would have said Alt. And I generally agree that he'll be a great player in the league for a long time (barring injury). I would package those picks for him... if it was a position of need. But it's not. Debate the accuracy of PFF grades (I think they're much more accurate for the NFL than college), but PFF had Walker as the 7th best overall grade - LT or RT - from week 9 through 18. Only six tackles graded better than him. That's what we hope Alt would become. I can't give up both 2nds when the only safeties on the roster are a Anthony Johnson, Zayne Anderson, and Bennie Sapp. Unless they sign two starting quality safeties in free agency, I can't wait until late in the 3rd to draft one much less two. I'd package a 3rd to move up a few spots to get Q. Mitchell or DeJean (if the medicals check out), maybe Kool-Aid if he runs well, but that's it.

I don't think I'd bet on drafting a LT early:

You could say that about any position. They only have 53 roster spots, so they have to draw the line at some point before it shorts another position and then what happens if they have injuries at that position? I wouldn't be opposed to a 6th/7th round pick as a potential 53rd man/try to sneak onto the practice squad guy, but I don't think you can keep saying "what if" about injuries/free agents after the season/etc. with only 53 roster spots. At some point the depth has to become the practice squad.

I wouldn't call him a pass-rusher - in 51 career games he only has five sacks. I did an analysis on this a year ago, and very few DL with no seasons with 5+ sacks get picked in the first three rounds. And if they do, they're rarely worth it. Mazi Smith, one of the few exceptions, was widely panned as the Cowboys' 1st round pick last year and looked like just a rotational piece during the season. PFF has Sweat ranked #90, a late 3rd round pick, probably because of the lack of pass rush production.

Noticed that Packers.com has Wooden listed at 273 lbs. I'm thinking that Wooden becomes primarily a DE in the new system and the top backup at DE to Gary/Van Ness. That I think makes it easier to move on from Preston Smith and leaves a potential depth chart of: LDE: Gary, Wooden NT/1i: Clark, Slaton DT/3i: Wyatt, Brooks RDE: Van Ness, Cox/Odumegwu/Day 3 draft pick While moving on from Smith doesn't have much of a cap savings, I think the Packers are looking at it from a cash flow standpoint and whether they want to lay out $12M cash for a backup or if that cash is better spent on a signing bonus for a Love/Clark extension and replacing Smith with a day 3 draft pick if they don't think Cox or Odumegwu are ready/good fit. Cambpell is a little different in that they don't have the depth there now to replace him. He has a smaller roster bonus than Smith at $2.9M, making it less of a risk to keep him on 3/15 and see if they can get an ILB on day 1 or 2 of the draft before cutting him. If they do get an ILB they think can start, they can release him post 6/1 if they need cap room for 2024.

Between his last three years with the Dodgers and his one year with the Cubs, Bellinger had already pocketed $62M. It's not like he missed his one big payday by rolling the dice for a longer deal.

Interesting. Other than Cooper and Paul, looks like mid/late round/UDFA's. I've had a feeling about Paul. His run blocking is bringing down his overall grade, but his pass blocking has been great. 2 sacks and 4 hits over 1,100 pass block snaps over the last two seasons. The Packers care a lot more about pass blocking than run blocking..

One of the things I have wondered about is Cooper DeJean's recovery from the leg injury he suffered late in the season - if he isn't fully recovered, how will that affect his performance on standardized tests and subsequently where he goes in the draft? Looks like he isn't recovered yet and won't test at the combine. Obviously there is still Iowa's pro day (can't find the date) and individual workouts, but this helps increase the chance that he's still there at #25.

Nobody, but he's already started a throwing program. https://brewerfanatic.com/forums/topic/42012-brewers-re-sign-brandon-woodruff-two-year-deal-per-heyman/page/5/#comment-1565874 He has seven months to be ready by 10/1 and he's already throwing. I don't think that the Brewers would give him $2.5M for 2024 if they didn't think that he would be able to pitch at some point during the season.

So, back to the rotation... My take - the Brewers don't need to be set with the rotation right now. Nobody is predicted to run away with the NL Central - every team in the division has question marks. They just need to be within a couple of games of the division lead/wild card in July and then take a few of those 15 prospects that so many of us were considering for the last 5 spots on the top 20 prospect list and acquire a starter for the stretch run to get in the playoffs if one is needed. They don't need Woodruff for the whole season - they just need him to be ready to go by October 1st and get into the playoffs to boost the rotation. What the rotation is on 4/1 isn't critical - it's being in contention in July and what the rotation looks like on 8/1 and 10/1 that matters much more.

Keep in mind, four of the last six have been on the road and one of the two home games was against the #2 ranked team in the country. Every ranked team is losing on the road. Once you get beyond UCONN, Houston, and Purdue, every team has at least five losses on the season. There are top-15 teams with seven losses.

I agree with this... if you're talking about the top 15-20 picks. With the Packers picking at #25, that's getting close to 2nd round territory. If the next Nick Collins, Darren Sharper, or LeRoy Butler is sitting there at #25 I would have no issues with that pick (and to your point about few exceptions, those are just former Packers).

Anything I ever got from Fanatics fell apart within 3 months.

Saturday's game is on BTN! Won't show up under a search for "Wisconsin" or "Badgers", have to search on men's college hockey.

Not only that, but the Brewers want Contreras to DH to keep his bat in the lineup when he needs a break from catching. Debate the semantics of "primary" DH, but between Yelich and Contreras there aren't going to be many PAs at DH available. Certainly not enough to warrant $14M/year for the remainder. I'm really shocked at how many times I hear people say that Yelich isn't going to at the least get a lot of time at DH. I mean, who would you rather have in the OF, Yelich or all three of Frelick/Mitchell/Chourio?

Do we need to bring up the NCAA tournament last year?

The problem is that there is a difference between what teams value and what arbitrators value. Until those are more in sync, the system is not going to work for everyone.

Jeferson QueroTyler BlackJackson ChourioJacob MisiorowskiBrock WilkenDL HallJoey OrtizRobert GasserCarlos F RodriguezLogan HendersonEric Brown JrJosh KnothLuke AdamsMike BoeveCooper PrattEric BitontiLuis LaraOliver DunnDylan O'RaeWes Clarke

I'm looking at a guy right in your neck of the woods in Jack Westover of Washington. Flying under the radar because the WRs get all of the attention but he's caught 77 passes over the last two seasons. Had the 3rd most receptions on the team this past year. If not for an injury during 2021 he would have played in every one of UW's games during his career except for his redshirt freshman year. Also flying under the radar because he is a former walk-on, but he was a walk-on because he played one year of HS football and missed a majority of that season with injury. Was a basketball player, went to one of UW's camps and was so impressive that they offered him as a PWO. Didn't see him on the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine, or Hula rosters, but he was invited to the combine. I watched a few of their games; he looked very athletic and I think he'll test a lot better than people are expecting. Lots of special teams experience.

You asked, "who said that?", and I assumed you were referring to endaround's comment about him being the/a DH so I provided examples of people saying that he would be a DH. Why would I think that you were referring to his words, "WooHoooo!"?