My Mock- Building the Best Defense

[LacyIsGood]

Resign:

Kevin King ... 1yr 2m

Dennis Kelly ... 1yr 2m

 

Free Agency:

John Ross WR ... 1 yr- 1m +incentives

~Ross has been a bust so far, but some better coaching and environment could help.  4.22 speed- and instant acceleration to help open things up underneath.  Jet Sweep, gadget guy.

Marquis Goodwin WR ... 1yr- Vet Min

~Veteran speedster who played his best in SF.  Veteran competition in camp, likely PS guy.

JC Tretter IOL ... 2yr- 5m

~Brining back Tretter to be the veteran swing IOL off the bench.

Melvin Ingram  EDGE... 1 yr- 4m

~Veteran edge, much needed

 

NFL Draft: 

Round 1 A: Boye Mafe, EDGE, Minnesota

~Elite athleticism to develop and help bolster the front 7.

Round 1 B: Traded back to 35ish with a 7th rounder for an extra 4th and 6th round pick

2nd Round A: Perrion Winfrey, DL, Oklahoma

~Building the interior pass rush.  

TRADE: Packers trade a 4th to move up from their 51st pick to 40ish, and grab a 7th.

2nd Round B: Christian Watson, WR, North Dakota State

~Watson is raw, but worth the gamble.  Off the charts athleticism.

2nd Round C : TRADED for 3rd and 4th round picks.

3rd round A: Charlie Kolar, TE, Iowa State

~Big TE who can move well.  Really accelerates quickly, and it shows in his 10 yard split comparable to Kelce's.  Should be able to contribute split out wide right away.

3rd round B: Damarri Mathis, CB, Pittsburgh

~Physical corner with impressive college resume.  Projects well to the slot, but ran 4.39 so he could play outside if needed.  Potential move to safety also.

4th round A: Romeo Doubs, WR, Nevada

~Smooth athlete, great body control.  Can return punts as well.

4th round B: Matthew Butler, DL, Tennessee 

~Another DL, good value here.  Similar player to Dean Lowry.  Helps give the Packers a front 7 that will come at opponents in waves like SF last year.

4th round C : Dellarin Turner-Yell, S, Oklahoma

~Rangy safety, who can come down and hit too.  Could be a steal.  Good college resume, and tester well athletically. 4.42

TRADE: Packers doing work on Day 3 and trade a 5th and 6th to sneak back into round 4 and pick up a 7th as well.

4th round D : Brandon Smith, LB, Penn State

~Incredible size/speed.  Not sure why he doesn't project higher.  Coverage LB, can line-up in the slot also if the match-up calls for it.

TRADE: Packers trade a 7th to move up in round 5

5th round: Derion Kendrick, CB, Georgia

~Talented CB who falls due to some red flags.  Packers take a chance.

6th round: Michah McFadden, ILB, Indiana 

~Undersized, but speedy tackling machine.  Packers need depth at ILB, and the big front 7 allows them to take fast guys who are a bit undersized 

7th round A: Issac Taylor-Stuart, CB, USC

~Little college production, nice size/speed project.

7th round B: Trestan Ebner, RB, Baylor

~Pass catching RB with KR skills

Edited April 18, 2022 by LacyIsGood

[ThatJerkDave]

Not bad.  Here are my nitpicks:

-Take a chance on a young speedy WR rather than an old, bad one, and you want to sign two.  I don't like that.

-If you can get Tretter for that, I am on board 100%.

-I think that the CB room is a bit overstocked after this.  Re-sign King and add 3 in the draft to Alexander, Stokes, and Douglas.  And SJC, who I like, and Keisean Nixon, who Rich Bisaccia really likes.  

-I feel the same about LB.  I was going to criticize the Brandon Smith trade-up.  But I watched a couple of videos and changed my mind.  I do have more faith in the other incumbent ILBs than you do though.  I thought Barnes was pretty good.  Summers is smart, but limited, and McDuffie is a cheap option that can play teams.  I think the depth there would be more than fine.

Toss me another WR flier and one for the OL pipeline instead of the extra LB and CB and I like it a lot.  I very much like that you added return men in this draft too.

[jleisher]

Very different.

[vegas492]

I go back to this.  Signing vets is a good idea, but let's not getting carried away.  We have what, $3M or so to really sign FA's?  After you subtract for rookies and operating funds.

By my very quick math, with the vets signed, that is easily $10M against this year's cap.

[LacyIsGood]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Some more of my thinking with this mock...

1 The offense will look more like year 1 with MLF, and have more creativity and scheme guys open.  That's why I think they will be ok with Watkins and mostly rookies going forward.  Also, I think they need a guy whose most plus attribute is instant acceleration to keep the defense a bit off balance, and open things up.  I think of a guy like Mecole Hardman, but I know the Packers would never use a premium pick on a guy who can't be a complete player, so Ross at 1m would be great.  

2) Kolar lined up a lot at WR, and could contribute early on the outside.  When Tonyan gets back to from 2 TE sets should be more viable by the end of the year, which takes pressure away from the WR group some.

3) With the offense being in a bit of a rebuild, just make the defense unstoppable, especially the front 7.  Without adding top EDGE guys, the Packers are 1 injury from mediocre on that front.

4) I see a lot of mocks with S/Slot defender taken high.  I like the idea, and I know Barry likes this concept, but I see it being more match-up dependent.  Multiple guys in the secondary, and sometimes a LB like Smith could fill this role depending on the match-up/personnel package.

[LacyIsGood]

10 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

-Take a chance on a young speedy WR rather than an old, bad one, and you want to sign two.  I don't like that.

-I think that the CB room is a bit overstocked after this.  Re-sign King and add 3 in the draft to Alexander, Stokes, and Douglas.  And SJC, who I like, and Keisean Nixon, who Rich Bisaccia really likes.  

Toss me another WR flier and one for the OL pipeline instead of the extra LB and CB and I like it a lot.  I very much like that you added return men in this draft too.

I see Goodwin on the PS, I threw that signing in as a flyer for fun.

I forgot they signed Nixon.  I like SJC too, but I also think he is a bit limited and small.  

On the bolded, I agree and think that is much more realistic.  Went a bit over the top on defense for fun.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by LacyIsGood

[OneTwoSixFive]

John Ross - Good Lord, he'd get injured sucking on a lollipop.

[Norm]

2 hours ago, OneTwoSixFive said:

John Ross - Good Lord, he'd get injured sucking on a lollipop.

He was on pace for like 2000 yards once after game one though. Then he got hurt. Think of the potential.

That being said I wouldn't even be mad if we signed him for next to nothing.

[Shanedorf]

[Refugee]

6 minutes ago, Shanedorf said:

Going to have a good mix of talented vets and up and coming youth on defense this year. How fun would it be to have a dominant, game wrecking defense while the offense keeps churning out yards?  Lots of fun.