NBBrewFan

So if I give you a shopping cart and 30 seconds to fill it with anything in a grocery store and you can take it home for free are you going to run to the bottled water section and fill it with the 2 gallon jugs they run through a RO/deionizer or are you going to run to the meat department and fill it with steaks or seafood? Sure, every team got better from the draft because they added something for free, but there are plenty of ways to evaluate how a team did with the capital they had.

I like Dan Brugler's draft manual ("The Beast") and like his analysis. What this tells you is how much emotion plays into these grades, because by his own rankings the Packers drafted 5 of the top 100. That's 5% compared to an expected of about 3%. Looking at it another way, as they had 5 picks in the top 100 and they picked 5 players in the top 100 then they got exactly what they should have. So how does that get you a 27th out of 32 ranking? On top of that they often drafted players later than Brugler predicted. The very fact they picked Rasheed Walker in the 7th with a Brugler 3rd/4th round projection and Enagbare in the 5th with a 2nd/3rd projection (using his own draft info) were fantastic value. Brugler's writeup of both is very positive. It doesn't compute by the numbers and he is clearly downgrading the draft because he didn't like the trade, but you can still not like the trade and realize the Packers got exactly what they should have or better. The average of 18 writers puts the Packers at 15 out of 32. I think that's about right for a media that consistently hates the Packers drafts yet somehow the team keeps adding talent (all-Pro in several instances) year after year.

Thanks, I saw that last night and was going to post it. So the Packers are pretty much right in the middle of the "pack" (above average). What's that team sitting at 29th out of 32? Still a summary of opinion, but where there's smoke there's fire.

Good points Nate. While I don't really dislike the Bears draft (like the Patriots or Commanders), I do think the Bears had the worst draft of the other 3 NFC North teams (I can't be impartial on the Packers). The Vikings could very well be the worst if either Williams or Watson become studs, but we have at least a year or 2 to get a sense if that's the case. And not having Matt Nagy as the coach could be worth a win or two.

Lots of good comments so far. I'll point out/highlight a few things that are important for me. As far as I know, Bauer never denied the injuries the women (both) received and that he committed. His "defense" has been that they agreed to it. I don't know the statistics, but I am guessing that about 1 person in 1,000 agrees that physical harm and pain are important parts of their "sexual" experiences. Anger has no role in consensual sexual experiences (all jokes aside). Most of us teach our children through our words and actions that this is unacceptable and has no role in a loving relationship or even one-time encounter. There's already too much anger and abuse outside the bedroom to in any way condone/tolerate it in the bedroom. I think he actually should have received a lifetime ban. Unfortunately, he does have some significant issues that he needs to deal with when he needs to inflict pain on his sexual partner either for pleasure or for reaching his "peak". This is not an anger management issue, this is the need for inflicting pain to achieve sexual arousal. I will bring out the old cliche that he is an example to our children. He is and anything, but the maximum penalty, is justified in this instance,. His idea of a sexual relationship should be in textbooks as deviant behavior (excuse me if it is as I never read that textbook) and not in any way should he benefit in his current profession from these activities. And this shouldn't be held up to other instances for equity in punishment as each case is unique and most of the others have vastly different circumstances. It's part of the game that those in different positions have different standards to uphold and punishments for breaking those standards. That's the way it is and, as was mentioned, we aren't discussing freedom we are discussing earnings and livelihood. As a parent this is one of the evils that keeps us up at night worrying about. My wife and I have raised 5 kids (2 daughters) and we hope and pray that we set an example where they would never get into a situation like a meet-up with someone like Trevor Bauer (or our sons believing that behavior is acceptable). Thankfully he's so open about his pathology that most women would just pass him by, but let's not pretend he was "outed" by his accusers, his social media posting and "honey trapping" behavior was out in the open. And it sucks for him that he was so outspoken in his previous criticism of the Commissioner while he was out there openly advertising his interest and participation in this reprehensible behavior.

I just did a back of the envelope based on 6 less games against the central teams (for Twins and Brewers). If you assume they will be playing 0.500 teams for those 24 games (the average team) compared to a 0.420 central and the Brewers are a 90 win team or 0.556 then (if I did this correctly) they would go from 16-8 against the NL central in those 24 games (on average) while they would likely go 14-10 against an average team. About 2 wins for those 24 games. It's more complicated than that, but I would be surprised if the overall effect is more than 3 wins.

You mean for scoring categories like TD, REC and YARDS? Are you a random person? Are you basing your evaluation on a fit to a "scheme", which in many ways is much more arbitrary than a consensus player ranking (not just some random 1 person). I may be more negative about "scheme" as I immediately get the vision of Mike Pettine and his inability to adjust his scheme to the players he's got or the situation he's in. The only scheme Pettine has is the one where he gets teams to think he's a defensive coordinator. Back to random opinions, sure rankings have their inherent issues, but they are at least a starting point and the bottom line is that we won't know for a few years whether the Cubs, eh Bears, picked the right guys. I believe both of those players are developmental and Fields might be in a body cast before they can prevent him from getting crushed. I'm also a firm believer in building your DL and OL lines then work out from their and throwing your 2 top picks at DBs while ignoring the talent at DL and OL well that's not going to grade well from this random person.

Well next year the schedule changes to a more "balanced" approach so we'll have a change in level of competition that if all things remain equal (pitching/hitting) would likely lead to fewer wins for the Brewers (and the Cards). I'd be interested to see the impact the 2 schedules (this year, next year and beyond) have on the strength of schedule for the Brewers. Maybe 2-3 win drop?

He corrected it to FOURTH-worst. So Bear nation is now celebrating! FWIW, they need to keep Justin Fields off his behind and every one of their 2 OL picks were ranked worse than every one of the Packers 3 OL picks. So I guess they drafted to lose 30-10 instead of 37-10. Three more drafts and they might be able to get to a 0.500 record then start again with a new QB. D'Oh Bears.

Why were you trying to sit on the customer?

I don't really care what the "grades" are for the Packers draft as for most "reviewers" it's just a rehash of why or why not a team followed their prospect board, but this one really makes me smile: Conor Orr, Sports Illustrated: A grade I’ll use this space to continue my rant from Thursday. It befuddles me that we depict Aaron Rodgers as this Wizard of Oz-ian character sitting behind the curtain bellowing about the team’s lack of wide receiver talent. Rodgers has been incredibly blessed throughout his career to work with a bevy of talented wideouts supplied to him by the Packers’ front office. Their process has expertly identified high-upside players in the second round and beyond. So when Green Bay took their Davante Adams haul and used it toward patching up the defense, why would he be upset? Wyatt is going to add a fascinating upfield interior pressure component to the Packers defense. A true run disruptor, he’ll help Green Bay become less reliant on their exceptional linebacker play. And, lo and behold, they still end up with Watson, who, in the FCS, looked a little like the 6’ 5” kid on the 9-year-old AAU team, completely dominant in an effortless sort of way. The Packers have succeeded with this big-bodied receiver profile before.

I really like the Bucks chances in game 1.

Can we add trying to win the internet to the red box of no-nos? Sometimes the back and forth arguing sucks the life out of these threads as the negative posts. The Brewers just won their 5th game with an offense that has turned it around and they are up 3 games in the NL Central. Shut up and enjoy it.

So did one of them have a bad start on the 26th, one on the 25th, 24th.... Why June 27th? I'm sure you don't know. I always find the random line in the sand odd.

I'm not sure this is the best way for Cousins to impress CC that he should be in higher leverage situations.

Kicking the Cubs reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: “To crush the Cubbies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women.” – Conan the Brewerfan

What do you think of Urenas, Milner and Boxberger?

Absolutely. I like how he's the only one left of the big 4 and he's stuck on a team that will be lucky to have a winning record in 5 years.

and the Pirates?

Gomes is catching tonight

Lightning and Thunder inside and outside the Park!

Would you take the over or under on whether more UDFAs make the Patriots final roster compared to draft picks?

I'm guessing being in the top 5 hasn't happened in the last 20 years, but that is awesome.

I hope a 3 run first is a wooden stake to the heart of the Cubs.

Double dipping for the MVS Replacement (Doubs & Touri)? And a future DA replacement (Watson)?