2020 NFL Draft Discussion

[Jaegybomb]

15 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

What's the thoughts on AJ Epenesa?  I know he's not a great athlete, but he plays like a great football player.  Of late he's been sliding in mocks and could be an option for the Packers.  I'd probably take him if he's there at #30 .. long athlete who might be a perfect fit for 5T in GB.  

Absolutely amazing tape but he's a technician so I worry about moving him inside and having him start over.

[MaximusGluteus]

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Edited April 6, 2020 by MaximusGluteus

[Starr2Max]

This is my most recent draft.  PFN was VERY kind in the early rounds in the two I did.  In both, Justin Jefferson was available at 30!  I probably shouldn't have taken him because I consider it highly unlikely - but you gotta do what you gotta do.  At 62 on the first one Baun was gone but Chinn was available.  The later rounds looked pretty similar.

 

 

	30.	Justin Jefferson WR LSU
	62.	Zack Baun OLB Wisconsin
	94.	Ben Bartch OT St. John's
	136.	Ke’Shawn Vaughn RB Vanderbilt
	175.	McTelvin Agim DT Arkansas
	192.	Michael Ojemudia CB Iowa
	208.	Malcolm Perry RB Navy
	209.	Danny Pinter G Ball State
	236.	Cole McDonald QB Hawaii
	242.	D.J. Wonnum DE South Carolina

Edited April 6, 2020 by Starr2Max

[{Family Ghost}]

Okay .. this attempt at TDN went the way I would like to see during the real draft.  It's going to be very hard to hit every need with a top talent, but I tried my best.  My philosphy is to go with bigs early, but I had to pull the trigger on a WR in round two.  It seems like by the end of the 3rd you probably aren't going to find a ton of impact early on.  

 

30  A.J. Epenesa, EDGE Iowa -- Excellent player with less than excellent athletic testing numbers.  I think he'd fit in well at 5T next to Kenny Clark.  

62  Brandon Aiyuk, WR Arizona St. -- Gamebreaking wideout .. quicker twitch guy that we really lack.  It might be a stretch that he falls this far.

94  Ben Bartch, OT St. John -- Good developmental tackle prospect in the late 3rd.

136  Harrison Hand, CB Temple  -- Good size and solid speed corner prospect.  I wouldn't be surprised if Gute went with a corner earlier than this.

175  Patrick Taylor Jr., RB Memphis -- An intriguing big back with some versatility

192  Justin Strnad, LB Wake Forest -- I failed to get an upper echelon linebacker .. very packers like.  They probably won't take on real high anyway,

208  Trevon Hill, EDGE Miami -- Edge prospect with some talent to work with

209  Jared Pinkney, TE Vanderbilt -- Described as a solid #2 TE with some blocking skills

236  James Proche, WR SMU -- I really like this guy a lot .. great hands .. real productive .. fast.  

242  Reggie Corbin, RB Illinois -- Hit several homeruns with the Illini this past season .. good football player.

Edited April 6, 2020 by {Family Ghost}

[Brit Pack]

I don't get the drafting of RBs this year. They won't see the field we still have Jones and J.Williams. We re-signed Ervin and we have still have D.Williams. If we keep none of this lot for next year then that is the time to draft their replacements, as RBs are so plug and play, we don't need to sit them for a year. Drafting a RB this year will just eat up a draft pick and a roster space, just simply not worth it.

[Nick_gb]

4 minutes ago, Brit Pack said:

I don't get the drafting of RBs this year. They won't see the field we still have Jones and J.Williams. We re-signed Ervin and we have still have D.Williams. If we keep none of this lot for next year then that is the time to draft their replacements, as RBs are so plug and play, we don't need to sit them for a year. Drafting a RB this year will just eat up a draft pick and a roster space, just simply not worth it.

Deep running back class and gives them time to learn the system/blocking requirements as well as gives us an idea going into 2021 if we don't resign Jones of whether or not we need to address that position in the draft next year when it's possibly not as stacked as this class. Jmo.

[OneTwoSixFive]

16 minutes ago, Nick_gb said:

Deep running back class and gives them time to learn the system/blocking requirements as well as gives us an idea going into 2021 if we don't resign Jones of whether or not we need to address that position in the draft next year when it's possibly not as stacked as this class. Jmo.

That's about what I think. I don't expect a premium pick spent at RB, but I would actually be surprised if the Packers didn't use a later pick (a 5th/6th/7th) there. If a draftee made the final roster, he would probably be largely a ST player in the first year. This looks like a decent draft year for RBs.

[Brit Pack]

That only works for me  if you are convinced that Dexter Williams is garbage and you are already planning on life without Jones. Otherwise we are having potentially 5 spots for RBs on our roster and that is without a fullback.

[OneTwoSixFive]

1 hour ago, Brit Pack said:

That only works for me  if you are convinced that Dexter Williams is garbage and you are already planning on life without Jones.

Yes, I think both these things happen (ie Dexter and A.J are not part of the team after 2020).

[Brit Pack]

We could have $50m -$60m in cap space next year. Interesting to see what we are willing to commit to our players.

Bhak I'm torn on, great player not sure I like giving 3rd contracts out. if we extended him now to add another two years at $14m a year I could live with it.

I'm guessing Kenny wants minimum $16m a season.

Kevin King again I'm torn on, is he worth a $14m a year contract? I'm guessing that is what he is after, something similar to what Bradberry or Waynes signed this offseason.

Then there is Jones, there is talk he wants an extension. If he takes something similar to Austin Ekeler $6m - $7m I would do it. 

If we could keep Williams at around $3m a season I would do it. Linsley I'm less bothered about. 

Anyway depends how we view our own and whether they are giving any home discounts. I have a feeling they would want to retain all of them if the cash is there as it seems it is.

 

[Rainmaker90]

I got a question for you all. There’s people out there who want a ‘speed demon ‘ for WR. They say we already have two huge WRs in Funchess and Lazard. But why is it a bad thing to add another ? 
 

Let’s say we add Michael Pittman for example .

We’d then have

Funchess at 6 4

Lazard at 6 5

Pittman at 6 4

There’s not Too many 6 ft starting caliber corners in the league and there’s certainly not many if any teams who have two starters 6ft. 
 

That’s a massive advantage .  

 

[MantyWrestler]

13 hours ago, MaximusGluteus said:

People are so worried about his "bad" combine, but Za'Darius Smith's was worse and I'd say he turned out alright.  The thing that really dragged down Epenesa's RAS was his 40 time, but he's a power Edge guy, so who the **** cares?  His bench press wasn't good either, but how many times a guy can bench 225 lbs is NOT indicative of how strong he actually is.  I promise you Michael Turk, who did 25 reps, is NOT stronger than A.J. Epenesa, who did 17 reps, or Za'Darius Smith, who did 23.

He's a big power Edge player that would fit Pettine's system just fine.  He could play Edge or work at 5T, just like Z does.

For comparison, here are the RAS cards for Z and Epenesa:

 

Those scores, by the way, are for DE.  Plug in those same numbers for Epenesa as an IDL, and it looks like this:

Not, so bad, eh?

Interesting though that we would move Epenesa inside to IDL and Z. Smith moves further outside to OLB/Edge. 

Also, correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Smith play around 260 now, down from 275? We be asking Epenesa to go the other way. 

Not saying it can’t work but is this really apples to apples for what we’d be expecting out of them?

[OneTwoSixFive]

49 minutes ago, Rainmaker90 said:

I got a question for you all. There’s people out there who want a ‘speed demon ‘ for WR. They say we already have two huge WRs in Funchess and Lazard. But why is it a bad thing to add another ? 
 

Let’s say we add Michael Pittman for example .

We’d then have

Funchess at 6 4

Lazard at 6 5

Pittman at 6 4

There’s not Too many 6 ft starting caliber corners in the league and there’s certainly not many if any teams who have two starters 6ft. 
 

That’s a massive advantage .  

 

I'd say being (as McCarthy would say) multiple, helps the team.

I don't want to see all the receivers winning the same way, because it limits what you can do. If you don't have a speed guy then the defense can cheat up since they don't fear the receiver blowing past them with a deep ball. Now big receivers might give defenders pause, but not so they have to back off a step or two to avoid being beaten deep. Anyway, big receivers and Rodgers are not a perfect combination, since he can be risk-averse when it comes to tossing balls up for a receiver to out-jump a defender. Receivers can win with agility or craftiness or speed or size or strength...........or a combination of those. I'd like to see as many ways to win as possible, on the team.

Edited April 6, 2020 by OneTwoSixFive

[MantyWrestler]

5 minutes ago, OneTwoSixFive said:

I'd say being (as McCarthy would say) multiple, helps the team.

I don't want to see all the receivers winning the same way, because it limits what you can do. If you don't have a speed guy then the defense can cheat up since they don't fear the receiver blowing past them with a deep ball. Now big receivers might give defenders pause, but not so they have to back off a step or two to avoid being beaten deep. Anyway, big receivers and Rodgers are not a perfect combination, since he can be risk-averse when it comes to tossing balls up for a receiver to out-jump a defender. Receivers can win with agility or craftiness or speed or size or strength...........or a combination of those. I'd like to see as many was many ways to win as possible, on the team.

We also have MVS and EQ who both have better speed that this guys and are 6-3 and 6-5? Respectfully.  You could add a guy like Claypool who is as big or bigger than Funches and as fast as MVS. 

[{Family Ghost}]

3 minutes ago, MantyWrestler said:

Interesting though that we would move Epenesa inside to IDL and Z. Smith moves further outside to OLB/Edge. 

Also, correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Smith play around 260 now, down from 275? We be asking Epenesa to go the other way. 

Not saying it can’t work but is this really apples to apples for what we’d be expecting out of them?

Epenesa can play inside or out .. he did it at Iowa.  He's probably play inside more than out in GB, but both he and Z are versatile enough to log snaps at various positions. Epenesa is excellent versus the run, has the frame to be a perfect fit at 5T.