craig

This is my hesitancy. We can like the measurables, and the highlights. But how many good LBers are dumb? Can he think and process fast enough to be good? How many plays are decided by mistakes, whose frequency is not measured into RAS. I'm not saying he's dumb or won't be smart or instinctive enough to play. But I do admit I'm kinda nervous about it.

This is a really significant point. Having depth at safety is great, but creating depth/options at nickel is also super helpful. With Johnson and Nixon, we kinda now have a pool of six guys between the safeties and nickel. Hopefully well situated to cover injury contingencies.

Listened to interview with Sam Seale, the west-coast scout. The other scouts seem to love him and have a lot of respect for his input. Seale seemed very positive about Williams, his athleticism, speed, tackling. Time will tell. But Seale and Gute have gotten a lot of scouting evals right. That they traded up to get him, that also speaks to their scouting. You don't trade up if you don't want the guy, or if you feel that he's no better than fit than a handful of other guys. Again only time will tell whether Seale and Gute and Packers scouted it well. They traded up for Amari Rodgers, too, so it's not like they are invincible. But I'm sure hoping they had good reason to value him for our offense.

I'll be really curious to see whether Hafley blitzes much or at all. Obviously Barry didn't like to blitz much, or Pettine either. No coordinator does, really, since blitzing comes with risks. So if you're winning without blitzing, why risk it. But yeah, it sure seems like some blitz-capacity is baked into all of these guys. Cooper, yes. Williams, yes. Hopper, yes. Bullard, yes. I like the notion of having a bunch of guys who have the capacity, so that if various guys are crowding the line, almost any might have the capacity for the surprise blitz.

Yeah, the ball-security is just so impactful. I almost feel like especially so in close games where a back is straining to get an extra yard. Obviously Jones fumbled some, particularly in some of the key games (Tampa, San Fran playoff losses). Hopefully Marshawn will limit them to an acceptable level.

In Gute's press conference, he notes that their research data had not found a correlation between hand size and fumble rate. So he didn't seem to perceive it as inevitable that Lloyd's hand size would necessarily be a long-term un-fixable source of fumbles.

That seems to have been a huge priority on every defensive guy they drafted.

Time will tell, but I'm on the IGWT train. These are smart, thoughtful guys who put a lot of work into their board. When there is an unexpected decision, I want to try to understand their thinking. They might mis-scout and mis-judge. But their is logic within their decision-making. Gute's comments were helpful. He made reference to Hopper as a guy who "stops guys". Seems to me that MLF does not let guys practice tackling, so adding a guy who already is a good tackler and stops guys seems very appealing. Gute represented Hopper as being fast. Speed obviously seemed to be a priority at ILB. Gute represented Hopper as being physical. Talked about him as being a leader and being a serious guy. So given the scouting perceptions that Gute and his scouts had, I don't see why their valuation of him was inherently illogical. Time will tell, of course, if they scouted badly and maybe he's none of those things they think he is. But yeah, I'm hoping that what they thought they saw is real, and that he'll be a good player for us.

Who was it who talked about a 4.6-speed CB as a potential FRP? I don't get why anybody thought a corner with his lack of speed might project that favorably. I'm guessing media scouts don't have the GPS tracking and stuff like that. But probably real teams with GPA would probably have known even before the season that he was too slow to be a high-round prospect?

6'3" for Monk. Short for other line spots. But at Center, Linsley was 6'3", EDS 6'2".

In site I'm looking at, Monk is 96th percentile for 10-yard, 1st potential for wing-span. ≤10th percentile in height, arm-length, and wing-span.

Three happy Packers are Stokes, Rhyan, and Newman.

Gute was asked about the pass-receiving. Said he showed good hands in practice, senior bowl and combine. So, even though the offense didn't throw to him a lot, the scouting reflects good hands. Said ability to run routes, not having done that much, you don't really know, and that's something he'll need to learn. "Best football ahead of him" is a standard Gute line. Some posters have noted Lloyd's age, and I think in concept with older picks maybe there isn't as much untapped upside left. But Gute projects "best football ahead" for Lloyd. I think that applies in all three areas where Lloyd hasn't proven excellence yet: pass receiving/route-running pass-blocking ball-security.

Yeah, will be interesting how some of those careers compare. Younger is definitely my tie-breaker, so Gute choosing the older guys means the players weren't tie in their scouting. Time will tell who's right. Obviously at this stage, after the recent draft success, I default to IGWT. Personally I liked Lloyd better than Wright. Wright was a big-play blazer. But I'm not sure who well that would translate to the Packers, where all of our linemen are pass-block first and none are powerful run-blockers. I see Lloyd as more shifty and elusive in tight spaces, which seems more normal for the Packers' run-blocking. So yeah, I like the Lloyd pick over Wright, myself. But will be super interesting to look back 3-4 years out and see how their careers have gone.

I like the pick, and trust Gute. I think quick, shifty, and balanced is the way. And with Jacobs and Dillon in hand, he can kinda redshirt as needed to learn the pro game, if needed.