By now you’ve seen the stats, the scouting reports and the comments about the Green Bay Packers 2021 draft picks.
Of the nine players drafted, only two were so-called “skill position” players, and one of those was a seventh round flyer on a running back who will be third string.
This means last year’s late round OL picks, Simon Stepaniak and Jake Hanson, along with UDFA Yosh Nijman, will face a battle to retain their place on the team, especially when Bakhtiari returns.
Green Bay has long held to a height standard for its receivers, but coach LaFleur obviously wants an exception he can line up all over the field with focus on the slot.
Chandon Sullivan is the returning starter at nickel back, but In the first round, Gutekunst passed up defensive line and offensive tackle prospects to take cornerback Eric Stokes.
Then, in round five, Green Bay moved to bolster the secondary even further by taking small school DB Shemar Jean-Charles.
Despite D-line being a major need, the Green Bay GM refused to reach for a prospect in the first four rounds, settling for massive Tedarrell Slaton of Florida in round five, a value at that tier.
Gutekunst did say after the draft he would like to have addressed ILB in earlier rounds but the board did not fall that way.
Sound familiar? Yes, the Packers see Hill as another Jamaal Williams. I have a feeling this is going to be the most pleasant surprise of the 2021 draft.
What is the common thread among Eric Stokes, Amari Rodgers, Shemar Jean-Charles, Isaiah McDuffie and Kylin Hill? The answer is speed and athleticism, two of the qualities that make a good special teams player.
In a year when teams could not get much in-person contact with prospects because of Covid protocols, it was clear the Packers leaned toward proven big school programs with a history of success.
I haven’t checked the pass protection but if he puts the same kind of commitment to push back blitzers than to break tackles, Hill could get a big role in the running back rotation.
Kylie Hill, is one of the more interesting players almost not drafted because he was projected to go as early as day two.
The RB is the 7th, Kylin Hill, is a STEAL.
I’m sure Humphrey could, too, so it must come down to something in Meyers they just liked better .
He doesn’t need to play a lot, and he doesn’t need to get the ball much when he’s on the field, but that sweep/motion action does a lot to make defenses shift and make mistakes.
Between Jean-Charles and Stokes, I think Hollman and Jackson will need to be much improved to make this roster.
As you say, it’s what these draft classes are doing a couple years down the road–not two days after the closing pick–that matters.
Myers was my guy and you will know if he is a solid choice by the end of his first game as a Starter.
Add in his love for STs, and he could prove to be a very positive influence on this Packers team.
I happen to have more appreciation for OT Royce Newman, OT Cole Van Lanen, and the selection of ILB Isaiah McDuffy, the latter being a perfect addition to STs on coverage units, and for short yardage run stop.
As this team continues to transition to a balanced offense pass pro may become less important for the RBs.
I don’t think this defense will ever be great until they find another high level DL and a more dynamic ILB, but they at least are getting to competent now.
You could just decide to let Love take his lumps and clean house next year, but then I think you risk creating a lot of bad habits or even wrecking his career.
I have to go back to Ryan Pickett and Jenkins era to find a real commitment to the D-line.
Surtain II on the outside? Baron Browning at ILB? Did DEN draft Seth Williams for us, or are we going to get a Jerry Jeudy or a Courtland Sutton at WR…? Safety seemed a glaring ommission to me in this draft by GB.
I love AR with the Packers and have been a staunch supporter of him here, but he really went scorched earth on draft day.
Would love to know TGR’s thoughts on how something like this could work, as cap stuff is not my strength.
THEN that the Packers would flip the 2 1s they get from Denver with Jordan Love and an additional high Packers pick to the Texans for Deshaun Watson.
I laughed at that one…mostly because I thought it would be hilarious for the Bears–given the Trubisky pick and their own inability to get Watson earlier–to have to play Watson twice per year for the next 10 years…and for the rest of the NFCN to have to continue seeing Packers teams with HOF caliber passers.
Yeah, we’ll see all kinds of crazy stuff flying around on this for the next month or so.
In this day and age, much will be forgiven, even animal abuse, but not the type of thing he is accused of.
Personally I am hoping the Pack and AR can get this resolved such that AR stays and makes a serious run at several Super Bowls.
I appreciate that, Guam, and have said about all I wish to say on it.
Given that, I do have immense confidence in Jordan Love, and, coupled with an insanely powerful running game, a strong D, and LaFleur’s guidance, think the Packers could do something special, regardless of what some others might think.
Regardless of where Rodgers goes, the Packers should get a great return in trade, and would be freed from certain cap hell.
I probably have a little more hope than you do, but this could certainly go lots of different ways.
In that sense, I think he played it relatively safe and will be rewarded with a series of solid starters and support pieces.
If only Gutekunst would have got him Randy Moss maybe we wouldn’t see this immature behavior – oh wait – that was the history that seems to be repeating.
Matt LaFeur knows QBs and was heavily involved in last year’s choices.
Hearing Mel Kiper say he thought the Packers drafted about a round too early on many of their picks left me thinking, “well, no shit Mel, we’re ALWAYS picking at the back of any given round!” Totally agree with you there!!! Even funnier, Amari Rodgers was #2 on Mel’s Best Available when we took Myers at 62.
I also have a ton of confidence in LaFleur and Love, who had the strongest arm of last year’s draft class, and was described as a mix of AR and Mahomes.
But did these needs stand out to everybody? If they did, the last few drafts were a mistake.
The CB, DT, and Hill the RB are all good value and should improve what we have.
I watched LBs, OTs, Safeties and yes D-lineman that could have helped come off the board 10 and 12 picks ahead of our spot.
I think one of the things that we’ve been spoiled about not having to worry about in recent years is the OL.
He needed to make sure Jenkins is available to play wherever camp battles say he’s needed…and they decided C wasn’t going to be that spot.
Jenkins and Turner look like they can man either position, but this team is lacking in what you’d call “true OTs”.
I wonder if Nijman is further along in his development than we know and could serve as that swing tackle.
It’s good that they think Myers can play C or G, and I’ve seen that Newman is thought to be able to play RT or G and Van Lanen has some T/G flexibility as well, so Gutey keeps adding guys with flexibility for Stenavich to mold.
I think that speaks volumes about what the Packers think they already have at OT on the roster .
My hunch had been that the Packers pick position aligned well with a top-tier, proven, college C, and rather than projecting a player to the right side, they took the closest thing to a pro-ready guy they could get.
I’ll say this: if the Packers thought Nijman would be good enough to make the 53 and play there if called upon this season, they wouldn’t have taken two G/T in the mid-rounds.
I would question Nijman as well, but either Nijman or Runyon will have to be ready early this year as I would not care to see Newman or Van Lanen at RT if either Turner or Jenkins are hurt.
Could be Van Lanen will be a brute as a G, but I agree in that I don’t think he’s someone you want being a regular at T.
Yosh Nijman held lottery picks Ferrell, Allen, Burns, Wilkins and Lawrence to ZERO sacks during his 3 years at VT.
There hasn’t been any talk about him from Gutey, just like there was no talk about our WRs in last year’s scenario at that position.
LaFleur says he takes this seriously, and only now will we begin to see how good he is at player development, year 3.
It seems Green Bay always has UDFA making the team to fill in oline spots due to starters going down.
Just read another analyst of hit versus misses and the Vikes was a big hit and the packers a big miss.
“How did the Packers’ OL do last year? Were they any good? Oh no, they were playing musical chairs all year long.
yes, the OL line was great, one of the best in the league in 2020.
Kylin Hill was a remarkable addition to the Packers, and his former OC, Luke Getsy, is our current QB coach.
I don’t really get where everyone says the Packers don’t have weapons? They have weapons.
He played OT in college, and if Bakhtiari can’t start the season, Turner will likely be the LT, meaning they need a starting RT.
They have a guy who is a slot guy who can be the jet motion guy.
They do not want anymore Scotty Millers running past our CB’s for a TD in the final seconds of the first half.
He was a 5th round pick so we can’t expect him to be a big contributor his rookie year.
See who could have been taken at CB, C, and WR, if Gute had only changed the order of picks, meaning maybe taking Rondel Moore 1st.
Great article, not living in WI I struggle to find packer news, cheesheadtv is a revelation.
So this endless search for depth seems somewhat wasteful and comes at expense of improving other areas of the team….
I’m not dismissing the addition of Slaton, but I think we could have used an additional lineman that was maybe a little more active and versatile in an earlier round, or if not…gasp…and inside linebacker.
So while soaring optimism is generally the rule of the day after the draft, a more balanced approach is probably needed to ground any expectation of greatness here.
I disagree with your take on the OL…it is not infatuation to draft three OL players in a class deep in them after losing 3 starters, prior starters…Linsley, Wagner, Taylor.
The infatuation is one second round pick, one fourth round pick and four sixth round picks.
I believe Gutekunst went into his first draft 2018 trying desperately to fix some of the glaring mistakes in Ted Thompson’s last years at the helm, and OL kind of got away from him, and most of us, in terms of depth.
Ted took no OL in 2015, traded up for Jason Spriggs at 48 in 2016, adding OT Kyle Murphy in R6.
Last year he worked to upgrade interior OL, this year, he added OT plus a starter to take over for Linsley.
Wishing we could have added Jabril Cox and Alim McNeill, my two biggest draft crushes for the Packers, but, I like who they got.