CheezWizHed

I won't be moving anytime soon... hanging on to my 2.25% mortgage.

I think the main difference between Enagbare and LVN is that Enagbare's development is maxed and LVN still has ceiling he could achieve. Doesn't mean he will reach it... just that there is an opportunity. This is a very good point that isn't totally clear.

I'm not sure how that is "optimistic"... Upside simply means unrealized potential (which is what his draft profile, RAS, and TC performances have shown). Then I pointed out the injuries (even if I spelled it wrong in the OP). It isn't like I said he was going to gain 500 yards this year. I didn't even claim he'd stay healthy. My final comment about a backup RB being easier find was more along the expectation if/when Lloyd is injured we'd probably go find someone then...rather than bring in a FA now. I think $13.7M is probably pretty close to the low-end market for a starting edge player; next FA year will probably exceed it. I agree that they will try to get an extension first, but I'd guess they will keep him either way.

I'm pretty surprised that we didn't go after the usual T/G (tackle in college, G/T tweener in pros) player in the draft or UDFAs. That doesn't really give us much for development at T. Morgan/Tom - Starters Kinnard - Backup - maxxed out as a player. Belton - could be an RT if needed. Development players: Glover - Third year, so probably his last chance to show growth. Cooper - 2025 UDFA - High RAS player who played LT in college. Banks - 2025 UDFA - Tall, but light. Probably not a candidate at LT (never played there in college). RT/G. I suppose they didn't find the right fit in the draft and perhaps no one in the UDFA market was better than Cooper/Banks?

To think about where a FA fits, I figured a review of the depth chart makes sense: QB (2): Love, Ridder, McCord, Drones - Seems like we don't have much of a backup this year. RB (3): Jacobs, Lloyd, Brooks, Strong, Martinez, Nixon - Lloyd brings upside and injures... Not much depth there, but I'm guessing there are good candidates at cut-down if needed. WR (6): Watson, Reed, Golden, Williams, Melton, Moore, Keeney-James, Nayor, Sheppard, Sturdivant - Three strong contributors. Williams could be interesting this year. I think they have some good development candidates too in JKJ and Sturdivant. Moore is probably KR/PR only. TE (3): Kraft, Musgrave, Whyle, Dabney, Swinson, Falayi , Maryland - Dabney might have a bit of upside as a blocking/recieving TE, but we could use more two-way TEs, especially with Kraft coming off his injury. OL (10): Tom, Morgan, Belton, Banks, Rhyan, Kinnard, Glover, Williams, Burton, Jennings, Monk, Barnhart, Barrett, Gesky, Banks, Cooper - Kennard as our main T backup with an inexperienced Morgan and injured Tom at the Ts with Glover as the "development" candidate doesn't feel great, but I don't think it will improve. Zero experienced guard depth either, but I like William's upside. DL(6): Wyatt, Hargrave, Brooks, Brinson, McClellan, Stackhouse, Ford, Riley, Campbell, Crumedy, Ester. - This looks very solid now. Plus, Riley probably starts on the PUP if you need another body later. Plus, LVN probably rushes the passer from one of these positions in nickel or dime defenses. OLB(5): Parsons, LVN, Sorrell, Oliver, DDS, Cox, Mosby, Barnett. Decent talent here, but very inexperienced. If there is someone available, this might be helpful given Parsons is out for at least 4 games to start the season. MLB (5): Cooper, Franklin, McDuffie, Hopper, Niemann, Welch, Quinn - Solid 5. Would love to see Hopper (upside) displace McDuffie (solid steady performer) this year. Not much for PS development. Welch is a decent Neimann insurance policy. CB (6): Nixon, St-Juste, Cisse, Valentine, Jackson, Hadden, Bartholomew. I think everyone would like more of an upgrade here, but you pretty much have to get rid of Nixon or Valentine to justify and addition here. S (4): McKinney, Williams, Bullard, Oladapo, Baldwin, Simpson, Perry, Kenion - Solid top 4. The last DB spot probably comes down between Hadden and whichever S is best on ST. So my biggest post Draft needs: Backup QB Aaron Rodgers - just kidding! Tyrod Taylor could do a pretty good Malik impression Wouldn't surprise me if they do another post TC addition (trade or waiver). Backup G Greg Van Roten - Not sure if he'd take a backup G position, but if not, there are a ton of other experienced Gs that could easily take Jennings' spot. Experienced OLB Haason Reddick, Von Miller - VonMiller could be very interesting across from Parsons come the playoffs. Blocking TE but still a reception threat (i.e. Marcedes Lewis clone) David Njoku - might be too $$, but now (post-draft) he might be reasonable. Darren Waller - Not the blocking TE I suggest, but a long time Packer target. CB upgrade for Nixon/Valentine Marshon Lattimore - again it might take a bunch of $$, but even a one year deal might be worth it. Sneed - injury prone the last two years, but solid with KC. Diggs - Unless he thought he was going to get a big deal, I assume the Packer's interest has passed.

I think this is a great deal for the Packers. Reed has had injury issues, but his upside is much higher than Doubs, IMO and just signed for less.

AI generated... I thought about removing the title and the labels, but bah...

Of course, it came out a day later who the "secret" was. So all it did was draw more attention than just bringint him in normally.

I was rooting for Pounds too... but the last 7th round pick was 2 picks from the end of the draft, so we really only gave up having exclusive rights to one UDFA.

I was annoyed to see two 7th round picks used to move up in the 6th for a kicker... but then I remembered that 7th round picks are pretty much the same as an UDFA. Interesting that they seemed to be OK with Brandon, but they made it clear there will be a TC battle.

Banks has been an average-ish for the 49ers. He started very poorly for the Pack, but finished better. I would suspect him to be "OK" as long as he is healthy. The Morgan/Walker thing was challenging. Coaches miscast Morgan as the flexible T/G type, and I don't think he did well at G. Meanwhile, Walker steps into the LT role and does well with it initially. In 2024, he was pretty good, which made it hard to replace him until Walker really struggled in 2025. A weird situation that I put on the coaches more than the player.

CB Jackson - I was just looking at the best CBs left, but I already posted my guess (likely story I know). Well, we certainly got taller at CB... hopefully it is better too.

6th Round: OT Pounds, QB Nussmeier, WR Caldwell?

As for all the churn about the OL, I'll add: LT: I think Morgan played pretty even with Walker in TC (maybe a tad better), but not enough to displace him as a starter. Then Walker ended up playing worse than he did the prior year. I'm not expecting Morgan to be an All-Pro, but I think LT is his best position. I don't suspect any drop off from Walker with some potential upside. LG: Banks has a history of two things: average RG play and injuries. By the end of the season, his play was solid. We will need depth to replace him in injury but like him or not... he is a starter quality player. C: Rhyan was put in a bad situation last year and did "OK". He certainly needs to improve...and I guess we will see if he can do that. I wouldn't have given him a 3 year contract, but that will give him the first shot. It was more telling that Monk never got a look there last year. We just got our backup. RG: Belton was thrown in the middle of the season without playing G before. He was playing very well by the end of the season. I suspect he will be much better this year. RT: Tom is the best player we have on the OL, so health is the only question here. Kinnard did OK as a backup. Another development player would make me feel better. Rhyan is the player I'm most concerned about. I think the left side will be solid, while the right side could be excellent.

For not having a 1st round pick (and without playing a snap), I'm pretty happy about how things have been going. Seems like we are finding players of high value for each of our picks at positions of need.

Well, they just picked two players that will probably start on defense. It is unlikely an OL picked will start... so it seems like they feel those are bigger needs. They still have more picks tomorrow. I'll eat my hat if they don't draft one OL if not two.

Chris McClellan with 34" arms and 11" hands. Big dude.

Singing from the same hymnal

Or not..

Hopefully the juice is worth the squeeze... Orange you glad for all the puns that we can make here?

You have Murray and McCarthy at QB... people in MN are still talking about how to find a QB.

Excellent. Cisse was on my short list of "if these aren't there, trade down". I didn't see any mocks or sims where he lasted that far.

When he signed it, there were many questions about if he would still go to AAA for some time or start in MLB. When he started in MLB, he was hitting poorly for 2 months and people (myself included) questioned if he needed to go down. I said they will be at the same development spot this fall if Made stays at AA for the year; even the same age.

I wonder if Aaron Rodgers reached out to Matthew Stafford today since both got Favred! But ironically, Bart Starr was the last QB who won the MVP and have his team pick a QB in round 1 of the next year's draft...