Matt Breen

Draft is going to be fun this year.

Karlaftis is one of those guys who might drop to us. Probably not - but you never know. A few guys always drop. Just never know which ones. I've seen him mocked to the Packers a bit.

I've seen the Packers linked to Boye Mafe, and edge defender from Minnesota. He had a really good Senior Bowl and looked great at the combine (ran a 4.53 40 yard dash). He's a fast, explosive pass rusher - with high potential. He's still got a lot to learn - and has been just average in other areas of the game. Originally he was seen as more of a 2nd round guy - but his combine really helped push him up - possibly into the 1st round - due to his promise of being a premium pass rusher.

Yeah, definitely helped himself.

With Rodgers onboard and the expected tagging of Adams, time for draft fun. Here's my rundown for our 1st rounder: 1) I do not expect the team to pick a QB or RB due to lack of need and the talent at position. 2) I don't think we will pick a TE as the talent isn't worth our 1st rounder. 3) I don't think the team picks a corner due to the investment in Stokes and Alexander - but if the value is there, sure. 4) There will be a group of players that most likely be unavailable by the time we pick. These are the guys who never - or almost never - fall to the Packers in current mock drafts. Here's that list: - Evan Neal, OT - Aidan Hutchinson, Edge - Kayvon Thibodeaux, Edge - Derek Stingley Jr., CB - Ikem Ekwonu, OT - Kyle Hamilton, S - Ahmad Gardner, CB - Jordan Davis, DL 5) This leaves us with a swath of players who might be available when we pick. No doubt other players will rise, and some of these guys fall. I've included guys who have appeared on multiple mock drafts. I think I got the main ones, but there may be others. No matter, here's a starting list. WR - Garrett Wilson, Ohio St. - Jameson Williams, Alabama - Drake London, USC - Chris Olave, Ohio St. - Treylon Burks, Arkansas - Jahan Dotson, Penn St. OL - Trevor Penning, OT, N. Iowa - Bernhard Raimann, OT, Central Michigan - Charles Cross, OT, Miss St. - Zion Johnson, OG, Boston College - Tyler Linderbaum, C, Iowa - Kenyon Green, OG, Texas A&M EDGE/DL - George Karlaftis, Edge, Purdue - Devonte Wyatt, DL, Georgia - Travon Walker, DL, Georgia - Jermaine Johnson, Edge, Florida St. - David Ojabo, Edge, Michigan - Boye Mafe, edge, Minnesota - Travis Jones, DT, Connecticut LB - Devin Lloyd, Utah - Nakobe Dean, Georgia DBs - Trent McDuffie, CB, Washington - Daxton Hill, S, Michigan - Andrew Booth Jr., CB - Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida

I read one guy (I think with The Athletic) saying they expected Chenel to blow away some people with his strength. Most mocks have him going in the 3rd-4th round. But someone might fall in love with the guy. He's a beast. Chenal weighed in at 250 pounds - which is lighter than with Wisconsin (he was around 260-265). Scouts seem to think the lighter weight will do him better in the pros to improve his speed and movement. As you said, he did well. One take: Leo Chenal, Wisconsin: At 6-2 and 250 pounds, Chenal running 4.53 was awesome. He looks thick on film and not necessarily that fast. But that number will stick to his draft profile. He's a thumping downhill type who we now know has some speed in his arsenal. Those jumps were tremendous too, and frankly, a bit shocking. Good for him. He had the highest vertical jump of the main LBs in attendance. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2022-nfl-scouting-combine-montana-states-troy-andersen-wisconsins-leo-chenal-shine-in-linebacker-workouts/

That seems to be the case this year. I don't know that the QB class is good enough for Houston to take one 3rd overall, but it might make a lot of sense for Houston to move up from #37 to #28 and leapfrog DET (who has #32 and #34) to get one. Same with Washington at #42, they may want to leapfrog DET and HOU. A trade that might make a lot of sense is for GB and HOU to swap picks #28 and #37, with GB and HOU swapping 3rd round picks (#92 and #68) and HOU adding one or two of their 6th round picks. If GB can move up to #68, perhaps one of those top 60 guys will still be there or GB can give up a day 3 pick to move up into the top 60 giving GB three of those 15-60 picks. A trade with WAS might be GB's #28 and #171 for WAS #42 and #73. That being said, those teams may want to leapfrog TB at #27 too because they will be looking for a QB. But if TB grabs one, that may increase the demand to get whoever is left at #28. QBs are weird this year. Most rankings put the top ones no higher than #20 or so on draft boards. And that's being generous. However, QBs tend to rise up in drafts (though not always). It only takes one team to fall in love with a guy. The Packers should want the QBs to do well at the combine and in workouts. Drive them into the first round - push down players we can use.

Most mocks have the Packers going after WR or Edge/DL guys. Part of this is need. Part of this is that there's a lot of depth in those positions. Also, there's a solid Top 5 tier of WRs - Garrett Wilson, Treylon Burks, Drake London, Jameson Williams and Chris Olave. But another guy showing up at the end of the 1st round (and in some mocks for the Packers) is WR Jahan Dotson from Penn State.

In addition to QB and TE, the other position that might not get picked in the first round is running back. The Athletic recently released their Top 100 prospects. Top QB was #31 (although there were four quarterbacks between 31-41 - so borderline first rounders each). Top RB was at #41. Top TE was at #60. A note - this was their rankings - not a mock draft. So nothing on need of the team anything like that.

The interesting thing is that of those five WRs - they end up all over the place on Mock Drafts. In at least one mock, each guy falls to the Packers (of course, in several mocks all the WRs are gone). Looking at scouting reports of the WRs, we would do well to get any of them. One interesting thing to watch for the quarterbacks. Some mocks have several in the first round - some have none. The more QBs that rise up, the more chance we get a better player (unless we want a QB - which would cause a lot of heads to explode if we picked one in the 1st round). Still lots of time for things to shake out. Going to be fun.

Any thoughts on the top WRs? Any favorites? I'm interested in opinions of players who could potentially fall to us (or we could trade up for). I've listed the five WRs that show up as first rounders in mock drafts (there are more than these five - just these guys are pretty much in all the mocks). The interesting thing is that they are all over the map. With this many WRs available, it's possible one (or more) could fall to us. Any thoughts on these guys? Preferences? Who to avoid? Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas Drake London, WR, USC Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State I feel we really need an infusion of talent at WR spot - even if we bring back Adams and Rodgers. It doesn't have to be in the first round - but if the value is there, I'd be happy to see them make the leap.

WR, TE, DL, OL - lots of options. Obviously, we have to see what happens with Rodgers. After that, there will be other chips - Adams, Campbell, Douglas, Tonyan, MVS, Lazard. But it all starts with Rodgers.

NFL Draft is a little over two months away, so I thought we should start a thread for it. The Packers pick 28th in the 1st round. The team does not have a 6th round pick this year, but they have an extra 7th (from Chicago), and are projected to receive comp 4th and 7th rounders.

Excellent show. Kinda went off the rails Season 4 when they fired Dan Harmon, but Season 5 and 6 were pretty great again, even though they weirdly retired Chevy Chase's character. Chase kind of did that to himself. No one liked him. And then when he was asked to do some scenes toward the end of the season - he just refused - and left the set. Never came back. Everyone just kind of washed their hands of him at that point.

You want to talk about worker shortage, the teaching profession is in dire need of bodies... So much so, that they will hire almost anyone with a degree. We all knew it was going to happen after ACT 10 was triggered, but I don't think anyone saw it coming to this degree. My school used to have 40-50 applicants for job openings, now we are lucky to get 5. There is no reason for anyone to go into a profession that is high in uncompensated hours, disrespected openly, pays like crap, reduced benefits (depending on what district you work in, benefits are all over the map) and is a tough damn job mentally, especially since the pandemic hit in 2020. Burnout is happening at a severely accelerated rate. It's real, not just stuff you read, it's happening. I don't see what can be done in the near future to correct the problem, but the first step needs to be higher pay. Money always talks. I'm retiring at the end of this school year, thankfully. If I was in my 20's or 30's and was teaching currently, there isn't a chance in hell I would be able to stick with this job until retirement. So many are teaching for 3-5 years, then bailing. It just isn't worth it. I am 57, and have three friends who are teachers who have retired in the last year. Just fed up with it all. My sister-in-law is eligible to retire, but she stayed this year. Still loves the work. But she probably won't last more than another year or two.

I'm guessing that it's a combination of both of those things. And a lot of companies simply aren't nimble enough or willing enough to do what it takes to keep things running smoothly. The tight labor market is very real - at least in some sectors. Maybe not all of them - but a lot of them. A huge issue that a lot of people don't talk about it is the number of people who have retired in 2022/21. These are - generally - people 55+. Many still had a lot of good years left in them in the job market - but for a variety of reasons, they said 'enough.' As a 57 year old, I know many of these people. And it's contributed to a lot of open jobs, and a great market for job seekers.

Britbox and Acorn have a lot of good mysteries. The longer form than most US procedurals really adds something. My wife have really liked Britbox. She loves 'cozy' mysteries. Poirot, Father Brown, Death in Paradise, etc. - perfect 'fun' murder stories.

I watched Jungle Cruise this past weekend with my wife. It was fun. Sort of a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean, the Mummy, and Indiana Jones. Yes, it was silly. So many historical inaccuracies. But whatever. The leads were really likable (the Rock and Emily Blount), and things kept moving along.

If anyone has Britbox - really, really recommend Shetland. Great murder mystery show.

Yeah, this was really fun.

This would be awesome. I haven't had cable or anything for 5-6 years. I miss watching the Brewers - but such is life. Important games I can go to a friend's or a bar or wherever. I live with it.

Back in the prospect days, I was a big fan of Norris. Thought he could be a really good starter. I saw a few games of his, and when he was on, he looked great. Obviously, things haven't panned out of the guy. He's had some injuries, and not to mention thyroid cancer a few years. He looked pretty good last year - strictly pitching out of the pen. This year's numbers haven't been good - but as noted, his FIP is decent - so he's probably had some bad luck.

Just finished the 2nd season of Peaky Blinders on Netflix. Enjoyed a great deal.

I love Archer. And she was phenomenal. The guy who voiced her husband - Ron Cadillac on the show - was her real-life husband - Ron Leibman. He died only about a year ago. Most people will remember him as Rachel's obnoxious father on Friends.

Season one and two were done by Syfy season 3-5 is done by Amazon. Season 3 and 5 are my favorite seasons I didn't like season 4 as much as the others and season 2 can drag a bit here and there. That's cool. I loved the world-building and crazy fun points of view the story provided. Kudos to the script writers for weaving in so many compelling story lines. Looking forward to more. And I don't mind a little slow burn on a story. As long as the payoff is worth it.