JosephC

Texas Tech QB-Behren Morton is one of the Packer 30 visits. 6-2, 221. 2025 stats = 12 games played, 219 completions, 332 attempts, 2780 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 43 rushing attempts, -113 rushing yards, 0 rushing touchdowns. 2024 = 12 games played, 295 completions, 466 attempts, 3335 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 55 rushing attempts, -22 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown. He was at the combine and showed good arm strength and high velocity throws. At the Texas Tech pro day, he ran the 40 in 4.89 seconds, had a 30.5" vertical and a 9'5" broad jump. Morton has battled injuries throughout his college career, including injuries to his throwing shoulder. He displayed a pretty big arm at the combine, but most of the scouting reports that I've looked as indicate he doesn't show that same arm-strength in game, possibly due to the shoulder injuries. He currently projects as an undrafted player.

This morning I sat down and put together a draft board. Basically compiled lists from respected writers and organizations (I'll count ESPN's ranking at being Scout INC rankings, as ESPN do not merit the term "respected" IMO). There are other consensus lists all over the internet, but IMO pretty much all of them use a bunch of outdated lists, lists from questionable sources, and factor in mock drafts (which I don't like, because if mock drafters are missing on team needs, it really screws things up). This is the top prospect lists I used...Zierlein (NFL.com), Jeremiah (NFL.com), Edholm (NFL.com), Scout INC (ESPN), Rang (Fox Sports), PFF, Ourlads, CBS Sports, End board has a total of 213 players. Here are the rankings for the players that are Packers "30 visits." #79 - Romello Height/EDGE/Texas Tech #80 - Mike Washington Jr./RB/Arkansas #90 - Ted Hurst/WR/Georgia State #188 - Charles Demmings/CB/Stephen F. Austin Not ranked - Jacob Thomas/S/James Madison Not ranked - John Gesky/OG/Illinois Not ranked - TJ Quinn/LB/Lousiville

Prior to the Aaron Banks restructure, they would have had 6.75 million dollar cap hits in 2027 and 2028 if they cut him after this upcoming season with a post-June 1 designation. After the restructure, those numbers are now 9.947 million in 2027 and 16.341 million in 2028 according to Over the Cap. And his 2027 cap number will be 25.447, so even if he is "average," it will be hard to bring him back with a number like that.

Stephen F. Austin CB-Charles Demmings in for a visit. 6-1 1/8, 193 pounds. 2025 = 12 games played, 18 tackles, 4 interceptions, 5 pass breakups. 2024 = 11 games played, 19 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 interception, 10 pass breakups. Combine numbers. 40 time = 4.41, 10 time = 1.55, 42" vertical, 11'0" broad jump. Big and fast and can jump through the roof. Tackling, not so good at that. Currently grading out in the late round five/early round six area. I think he's an interesting guy for a later round pick.

Arkansas RB-Mike Washington Jr. in for a visit. 6-1, 223 pounds 2025 = 12 games played, 167 rushes, 1070 rushing yards, 8 rushing touchdowns, 28 catches, 226 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown. He played for New Mexico State in 2024. 2024 = 12 games played (4 starts), 158 rushes, 713 rushing yards, 8 rushing touchdowns, 9 catches, 74 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown. Washington was a monster at the combine. 4.33 40 time, 1.51 10 time, 39" vertical, 10'8" broad jump. Profile is pretty straight-forward with him. Big, speed guy that can be pretty dynamic once he gets into the open field. But at the same time, he is an indecisive runner that lacks good run vision. Even though Washington appears solid as the third highest graded running back in this class, he currently project right around the area the Packers are picking in round three.

The rookie draft pool for the Packers is $7,955,118. However, when subtracting out players that will get bumped off the roster after the rookies are added, OverTheCap estimates the Packers will only lose about 1.75 million in cap space. Also note that the Packers are about 22 million under the cap. However, since Nate Hobbs was designated a post June 1 cut, there is still an 8 million cap charge currently on the books that gets erased from 2026 and goes onto 2027 once we get to June. So really, the Packers sit about 28 million under the cap after the rookies are added in. I'm guessing they will be looking to stay about 15 million under the cap heading into the season for adding injury replacement players, insurance costs, etc....so I think they would still have about 13 million to spend. If they don't do anything else in free agency, I will have major, major, major questions as to why they restructured Aaron Banks contract, which looks like it could become a very questionable move unless he shows dramatic improvement.

They are going after Wisconsin kids because they don't want to spend significant money in high school recruiting. Will there be an occasional big fish out of Texas that they feel they must have and will throw some money at that guy? Sure. But for the most part, they are going to go cheap with high schoolers and throw more money at transfer players. So they are now going after Wisconsin kids early to try and develop some loyalty, so when a bigger school comes around later they are hoping they will be able to retain them. Also, for positions like the offensive line where they want to use a "high school recruit and develop" type strategy, they are hoping the Wisconsin kids will have the loyalty where they won't look to bail after backing up for two years...even when there is an opening and a promise that they will be a likely starter in year #3. And for a guy like Reiter, there will be plenty of other schools going after him hard later. He's a major get for them now, and he'll be a major retain for them if he is on the roster in the fall. I've been told they were only lukewarm on the Mallinger brothers, and they wouldn't have considered it any sort of major loss of those guys would have gone elsewhere. I've NOT been told this, but two years ago I very much suspect they would not have gone after Dustin Roach at all this early, and would have only had him on the radar as a backup plan late in the process if there was still an opening. And that is not a knock on Roach, who could develop into a very good player. But he's the perfect example of "do we want to tie up resources in a marginal Wisconsin kid like this early, when we probably can get a better player elsewhere at a later date" approach that they seemed to operate under the last couple of years.

ACME Packing Company is reporting that Illinois OG-Josh Gesky is one of the Packer's 30 visits. Listed on Illinois' roster at 6-5, 335 pounds. Redshirted in 2021, played mainly special teams in 2022, started 8 games in 2023 (began at RG, moved to LG) and started 26 games at LG over the last two seasons. He was not invited to the combine and currently projects as an undrafted player. Illinois had their Pro Day on March 12. Gesky was 6-5, down to 310 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.94 second and did 30 reps of 225. Coach Bert says he's the most NFL-ready of any player he's coached in the last few years. Here is the link for more details- https://www.click2houston.com/sports/2026/03/24/illinois-guard-josh-gesky-excels-at-pro-day-strong-interest-from-texans-to-visit-broncos/

Texas Tech OLB-Romello Height is one of the Packers 30 visits. Height went from Auburn to USC to Georgia Tech before landing at Texas Tech in his last college season. He was All-Big 12 first team and finished the season with 14 games played, 38 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, 1 pass breakup, 1 fumble recovery and 2 forced fumbles. Previous season at Georgia Tech: 12 games played, 34 tackles 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles. Combine numbers = 6-2 3/4, 239 pounds, 32 1/4 arms, 9 1/2 hands, 4.64 40, 1.63 10, 39 inch vertical, 10'5" broad jump. He currently projected as a third round pick.

Tom Silverstein is reporting that James Madison safety Jacob Thomas is one of the Packer's 30 visits. He wasn't invited to the combine, currently projects as an undrafted player. James Madison listed him at 6-0 3/4 and 212 pounds. 2025 stats = 14 games played, 71 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, 7 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble. 3 year starter, was second team All-Sun Belt in each of the last two seasons. James Madison posted some of the results from their pro day. Thomas' 40 time = 4.45, vertical jump = 36.5, broad jump = 10'1", 20 shuttle = 4.21, 3-cone = 6.80.

Packerswire is reporting Louisville LB-T.J. Quinn is another player the Packers are bringing in for a 30 visit. A non-combine invitee, Quinn is projected to go undrafted. Louisville had their Pro Day a few days ago, but like last year, media coverage of pro days is now garbage. He's listed at 6-1, 235 on Lousville's website. Third-team All-ACC in 2025. 2025 stats = 13 games played, 95 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, 6 pass breakups 2024 stats = 13 games played, 82 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, Also had 92 tackles in 2023. So a guy that redshirted in 2021, backup in 2022 and then started the next three years.

As of now, Watson, Reed and Wicks are all unrestricted free agents after this year, so it wouldn't be a big surprise if the Packers added one in the draft. Moore will likely see snaps on offense, but they may view him as 95% special teams/5% offense and may already be viewing his contributions on offense as minimal. Personally, with the way things have progressed, I'm pretty doubtful that they will have 10 53-man roster quality offensive linemen in training camp, and if that's the case, thinking they end up with 7 WR and 9 OLineman in week 1 seems like a reasonable projection. I do think Packer fans should have a bit of worry in them that Gutekunst might be sitting back and saying- Offense = Love, Jacobs, Watson, Reed, Golden, Kraft, Morgan, Banks, Rhyan, Belton, Tom Defense = Perkins, Van Ness, Wyatt, Hargrave, Cooper, Franklin, Nixon, Valentine, Bullard, McKinney, Williams "We are set, I can just use the draft for filling the holes we will have after the season." If he goes WR and TE (Kraft, Musgrave, Whyle all unrestricted free agents) with the first couple picks, look for the Packers to have another 9 win season. OL and CB was garbage at the end of last season, and will bad again in 2026.

ACME Packing Company is reporting WR-Ted Hurst/Georgia State is one of the 30 players the Packers are bringing in for a visit. Hurst is 6-3 7/8, 206, 4.42 40, 36.5 vertical and fits the mode of a deep-threat/third-level WR. He is currently projecting in the mid to late round three area. In 2025, he appeared in 12 games and totaled 71-1004-6. In 2024, he played in 12 games and totaled 56-961-9. Prior to that he was at Valdosta State.

Reiter is a big get for them. Even though he's not the #1 rated Wisconsin player by the recruiting media, I've been told by insiders (LOL!) that he was the #1 want for the program...and by a pretty large margin. Take it for what it is worth.

Gutekunst is definitely not a bad drafter. Anybody who thinks that just isn't paying attention. I'm pretty sure I've posted this in the recent past, but I would guess that looking over his entire tenure as the GM in Green Bay (not just the last five years), he would grade out as somewhere between above average to "good." However, if you subtract out the 2022 draft, then that grade would drop significantly, because the 2022 draft was extraordinarily good. Just a few nights I started scrolling through some of the Packers drafts going way, way back, and to say the 2022 draft class is one of the 10 best drafts ever for this franchise would not be a stretch. So you factor that class into a five year window instead of the full tenure, and I would expect the Packers to be top 10 at minimum. Top five....probably. Number one? I don't know enough about all the other teams to say that. I do think the detractors have a legitimate point when they talk about the lack of All-Pro talent. Personally, I'd rather land three solid starters rather than getting one All-Pro type player. But the lack of hitting on this type of talent occasionally in the draft, is that what is keeping this team from jumping to the next level? People might have a point when bringing this up.

Nate Hobbs signs with San Francisco. 1 year, 1.25 million dollar signing bonus, 1.86 million dollar base salary, 50k workout bonus and up to 340k in per-game roster bonuses. So it's a 1 year, 3.5 million dollar contract.

Gutekunst said it two years ago and it is still true today. 4-3 or 3-4, it doesn't matter because this is a 4-2-5 league. I'm much more interested in knowing how much dime personnel Gannon is anticipating using. As I understand it, Hafley hardly ever played dime, but Gannon has a history of using quite a bit of dime personnel.

Time for the AD to step in a hire a coach to move this program forward. Then the basketball team can go 5-15/12-20.

Since the first wave of free agency is over, yesterday I played through a mock draft simulation- https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/mock-draft-simulator Instead of using the team needs listed on that site, I primarily used Dan Parr's updated team needs at NFL.com, and then used Ourlads depth charts for confirmation https://www.nfl.com/news/2026-nfl-draft-order-round-1-needs-for-all-32-teams https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/ When making the Packer's picks, I picked players that I thought Gutekunst would pick. So it's not a scenario of what I would do, but a prediction of what I think the Packers would do. Here were the results- 2-52 = Malachi Lawrence/EDGE/Central Florida 3-84 = Daylen Everette/CB/Georgia 4-120 = Jude Bowry/OT/Boston College 5-160 = Kaleb Elarms-Orr/LB/TCU 6-201 = Micah Morris/OG/Georgia 7-236 = David Gusta/DT/Kentucky 7-255= R.J. Maryland/TE/SMU

Murray is not a top player, but I think he's a legitimate NFL starting QB. Where he ranks on the scale of starting QBs....I'd probably stick him in at something like #20-#23. That said, #20-#23 is a massive improvement over JJ McCarthy. It really sucks as a Packer fan, because the Vikings weren't in a good position to upgrade the QB position this off-season, and they end up having a legitimate starting QB fall into their lap for at a rock bottom price. I think they will be much better even with a mediocre starting QB. McCarthy really held them back last year.

The people that were counting on two third round comp picks and two fourth round comp picks must be extremely disappointed now. Overthecap is projecting the compensatory pick for Walker as a sixth rounder. There is a chance that pick could be a fifth rounder, but a sixth round compensatory pick won't even be in the top 200. To me, bringing back Rhyan for 33 million and then losing Walker at a 10 million price-tag is a major misstep by Gutekunst. It would have been much easier to replace a very mediocre Rhyan with a player from outside the organization, especially with how good rounds two and three look with center candidates in this year's draft.

As incredibly unpopular as this would be, this is the one I would never consider unless it was a virtually improbable two year deal. Snap count percentage by year - 2022 = 46.34%, 2023 = 40.69%, 2024 = 51.20%, 2025 = 39.77%. Two significant injuries. And what is more concerning, those injuries weren't a guy putting his helmet right on his knee or getting a shoulder blown out in a scrum when diving for a loose ball. Those injuries are non-contact injuries. An optimist would write off the first one as a fluke, but it's happened twice with Watson. Watson will be good if he's healthy, but considering the history, a 4 year, 120 million dollar deal with something like 70 million guaranteed looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

I did some checking around (with people I trust) and Hargrave is not a traditional nose tackle. He played that spot last year for the Vikings, but Flores stunt-heavy defense constantly had him on the move. He's not a guy who will be able to take on two blockers and hold up. His 1 year with the 49ers, he played three-technique >90% of the time, and in the two years in Philly when Gannon was the defensive coordinator, he played the three-technique almost exclusively. I think his signing was to add more pass-rush and be additional insurance to go with Wyatt, which is a smart move as Wyatt's yearly snap count percentage has gone from 21.68% to 49.68% to 33.24% to 33.84%. Wyatt was up to 60% of the snaps in the games he appeared in last year, but then got hurt. I still think nose tackle is a significant need and will be addressed in the draft. As I see it, Wyatt, Hargrave, Brooks and very likely Brinson gets them to four defensive tackles. Average breakdown for NFL teams these days seem to be 10 defensive lineman/edge players, 5 off the ball linebackers and 10 defensive backs. So it definitely looks like there is still a spot to add a nose tackle, as Riley and Ford are more journeymen types at this point and Stackhouse was awful last year

If traded, it looks like Sweat's first year cap number for the new team would be about 12.7 million. I have the Packers roughly 29 million under the cap, and assuming that they likely want to have at least 15 million available entering the season...by my estimates they could make the deal money-wise, but it would likely be the last move they could make outside of a couple minimal, non-guaranteed deals later. While there may not be a huge market out there for Sweat, he has posted 37.5 sacks over the last 4 years so there would be a market. I don't think a 2027 4th round pick would be nearly enough to get it done.

I'm surprised by the Hargrave addition. He is 33 years old. I thought Gutekunst would not allow himself to sign a player over 30. I watched a highlight video on youtube, looks like those clips were pretty evenly split between him playing the nose and 3-technique. If anyone reads about his snap breakdown at each spot, please post a link.