Round 1 Pick 22; Quay Walker, LB Georgia

[Chili]

1 hour ago, PossibleCabbage said:

Jeremiah was a scout with the Ravens and there's a good chance he still knows people in the building.  Baltimore had pick 23 as a result of the Hollywood Brown trade to Arizona, a trade that was so much decided in advance that they had time to fly Mr. Brown into the Arizona draft party.  After the Packers picked Walker, the Ravens immediately turned around and traded pick 23 (which they just acquired) to Buffalo for 25 and a 4th round pick.

I'm pretty sure Walker was the Ravens' guy.

I can believe this however it was 16 years ago since he was at the Ravens. How many people he worked with are still at Baltimore after 16 years?

Looking at the clues, Jags were in play for a LB, it looks like the Patriots were too and like you said perhaps Baltimore. However that might not be the case for them.

I read an article (either Peter Kings or SI) about the Ravens delibrately stocking up on 4th round picks because of the unique nature of covid affecting the seniors entering the draft. They deduced that because there's a larger pool of prospects in the draft which in a normal year would get taken 2nd-3rd round now end up getting pushed down to the 4th round. The Ravens decided on a strategy to stock up on 4th round picks and carefully cultivated their compensatory picks.

As soon as the Ravens received pick 23 they traded down a few spots and guess what...they gained a 4th round pick. It seems to be part of a larger plan and that the trade down was always the intention, not because we drafted Walker before their pick.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Chili

[cannondale]

Not sure why there is so much talk about passing on guys at the risk of losing them later. Too many fans doing too many mock drafts I think. Be happy that the Packers got their guys. Be happy that it only took an extra second for them to get the guy they wanted. And no, you are not smarter than they are.

[Norm]

Joke but when I think of passing on guys because you can get them later all I think of is reloading saves as a kid over and over in Madden when the next guy I wanted didn't make it and I had second thoughts about who I actually wanted after that. "Okay will time to reload the save for the 5th time and get this right!"

[NFLGURU]

Just from what I've seen of him during the season, I think the Packers are getting a solid football player.   Not a star, but a guy who will handle his stuff.  He does a lot of things that don't show up in the boxscore, solid tackler.  I'm glad they took him, we neglected the LB position for too long.  

[Uffdaswede]

7 hours ago, incognito_man said:

Count me amongst the group that thinks our staff has a better handle on who was more likely to last til 28 between Quay and Wyatt.

 

I’m with you.

To me, though, the gamble was not based on which player was best, nor even which player was more likely to still be there at 28, but, between the two, who would do most to improve the team. Gute said Walker would allow them to operate differently on defense. Wyatt may be better at DL than Walker is at ILB. But the addition of Walker’s skillset may allow the defense to function better as a unit.

The first two rounds played out in a remarkable way, that’s for sure. There may have been three different ways to have acquired the same players in a different order.

[Uffdaswede]

7 hours ago, incognito_man said:

Count me amongst the group that thinks our staff has a better handle on who was more likely to last til 28 between Quay and Wyatt.

 

Ah, the elusive double post emerges from the underbrush and senses redundancy in the air.

Realizing he has replied to an hours old post from many pages past, he turns and slinks back into the shadows.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Uffdaswede

[craig]

In reading through the scouting comments, I admit I was disappointed by how many commented on the lack of instinct, and the not-green-dot.  And his low Wonderlic, too.  I assume the Packers have access to Georgia's coaches, and their input on how quick of a learner he maybe is or isn't?  I was also a little disappointed that several of the scouts were kinda negative about his blitz capacity, I'd hoped that might be something he'd thrive with.  

He's young, though, and hasn't started or played linebacker for all that long.  So hopefully his diagnostic and decision-making capacity will improve quickly.  But yeah, a lot of the cool combine numbers don't apply that well if a guy is slow to get started or is going in the wrong direction.  

Still, even for some of the scouts making some of the comparisons, one is saying better than 1st-rounder Queen, another is comping him to Lorenzo Carter, who wasn't a 1st but I think is pretty good.  

One guy commented on bad communicator, emotional, not a bad kid, but can be hard to deal with outside of football, and not a leader.  Hopefully his personality will thrive in Green Bay, and turn out to be excellent.  

Hopefully he'll learn fast and be able to apply his size/speed capacity.  

[Norm]

18 minutes ago, craig said:

In reading through the scouting comments, I admit I was disappointed by how many commented on the lack of instinct, and the not-green-dot.  And his low Wonderlic, too.  I assume the Packers have access to Georgia's coaches, and their input on how quick of a learner he maybe is or isn't?  I was also a little disappointed that several of the scouts were kinda negative about his blitz capacity, I'd hoped that might be something he'd thrive with.  

He's young, though, and hasn't started or played linebacker for all that long.  So hopefully his diagnostic and decision-making capacity will improve quickly.  But yeah, a lot of the cool combine numbers don't apply that well if a guy is slow to get started or is going in the wrong direction.  

Still, even for some of the scouts making some of the comparisons, one is saying better than 1st-rounder Queen, another is comping him to Lorenzo Carter, who wasn't a 1st but I think is pretty good.  

One guy commented on bad communicator, emotional, not a bad kid, but can be hard to deal with outside of football, and not a leader.  Hopefully his personality will thrive in Green Bay, and turn out to be excellent.  

Hopefully he'll learn fast and be able to apply his size/speed capacity.  

Those comments were weird, some were definitely saying the same stuff but there was a bunch of stuff that felt pretty conflicting. 

[incognito_man]

10 hours ago, Uffdaswede said:

I’m with you.

To me, though, the gamble was not based on which player was best, nor even which player was more likely to still be there at 28, but, between the two, who would do most to improve the team. Gute said Walker would allow them to operate differently on defense. Wyatt may be better at DL than Walker is at ILB. But the addition of Walker’s skillset may allow the defense to function better as a unit.

The first two rounds played out in a remarkable way, that’s for sure. There may have been three different ways to have acquired the same players in a different order.

This has me wondering if we might be moving to more 4-3 alignments. I know it's mostly a distinction without a difference, but Gary, Smith, (new pick Enagbare) all kinds look like 4-3 DEs.

Quay looks like a 4-3 WILL.

Wyatt looks like a 4-3 UT.

[TheEagle]

38 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

This has me wondering if we might be moving to more 4-3 alignments. I know it's mostly a distinction without a difference, but Gary, Smith, (new pick Enagbare) all kinds look like 4-3 DEs.

Quay looks like a 4-3 WILL.

Wyatt looks like a 4-3 UT.

Like you said, distinction without a difference. I think they'll be in 2-4-5 (call it 4-2-5, if you want) nickel a good 2/3 of the time.

[Packerraymond]

42 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

This has me wondering if we might be moving to more 4-3 alignments. I know it's mostly a distinction without a difference, but Gary, Smith, (new pick Enagbare) all kinds look like 4-3 DEs.

Quay looks like a 4-3 WILL.

Wyatt looks like a 4-3 UT.

I don't think Barry loves being in the dime. Why bring on your 6th best DB vs keeping your 2nd best LB out there?? Well last year he had no choice because Barnes is a straight forward attacking player.

I don't think it's a case of switching defensive styles, I think we really didn't play the true Joe Barry defense last year. Last year outside of Collins and Parsons (who we would've need to trade for) and Pete Warner (who went right before our Rd 2 pick) there weren't many options for 6'3 230+ LBs in that draft. Bunch of smaller types.

I think we have the horses now to truly see what Barry wants to call.

[vegas492]

1 hour ago, incognito_man said:

This has me wondering if we might be moving to more 4-3 alignments. I know it's mostly a distinction without a difference, but Gary, Smith, (new pick Enagbare) all kinds look like 4-3 DEs.

Quay looks like a 4-3 WILL.

Wyatt looks like a 4-3 UT.

Does he, though?

I mean, I know he will play Will.  But I always thought of a Will as a smaller, quicker LB.  One you need to keep clean to run and hit.

With what Georgia did, it was almost like he was a Mike, or at least interchangeable.  

In my mind, he's built like a Mike.  But better suited for a Will right now.  And that could easily change over the years.

I think he's a remarkable chess piece to have. And I love having Campbell next to him.

[Kampfgeist]

10 hours ago, craig said:

In reading through the scouting comments, I admit I was disappointed by how many commented on the lack of instinct, and the not-green-dot.  And his low Wonderlic, too.  I assume the Packers have access to Georgia's coaches, and their input on how quick of a learner he maybe is or isn't?  I was also a little disappointed that several of the scouts were kinda negative about his blitz capacity, I'd hoped that might be something he'd thrive with.  

He's young, though, and hasn't started or played linebacker for all that long.  So hopefully his diagnostic and decision-making capacity will improve quickly.  But yeah, a lot of the cool combine numbers don't apply that well if a guy is slow to get started or is going in the wrong direction.  

Still, even for some of the scouts making some of the comparisons, one is saying better than 1st-rounder Queen, another is comping him to Lorenzo Carter, who wasn't a 1st but I think is pretty good.  

One guy commented on bad communicator, emotional, not a bad kid, but can be hard to deal with outside of football, and not a leader.  Hopefully his personality will thrive in Green Bay, and turn out to be excellent.  

Hopefully he'll learn fast and be able to apply his size/speed capacity.  

I think Quay landed in a good spot if these truly are some of his weaknesses.    He's a first round linebacker that doesn't necessarily have to come in and perform as a 1st round linebacker or defensive savior.   We want and expect him to of course, but with the number of talented vets and team leaders on the defensive side he's been blessed with the opportunity to come in and learn from Campbell and the anti-awful (to use your favored terminology  )Barnes.   He has the opportunity as a 22 yr old to play free and learn without having to be counted on as the primary communicator or green-dot guy.   Free to play without the pressure of being "the guy" and time to grow into his role if it's not immediate.   That's probably a luxury for a lot of high round ILB - w/o doing any research of course so could be wrong on that assumption

[Mdpackfan22]

The more I review this pick, the more I love it. Premium positions be damned, the engines that moved those dominant early 2010s Niners defense(Willis and Bowman) and TB defense(David and White) the past 3 years has been their ILB. When you have 2 rangey LBs that can go sideline to sideline and shut down the middle of the field, it really opens things up for the rest of the defense. Joe Barry has proven to be a LB wizard, now he has the horses to really take this defense to the next level.

[craig]

Kampf, I completely agree.  This seems to be an ideal situation where he can be used effectively as he is now, and where he can learn and grow further.  With Campbell and with Barnes; within a DC's system where ILB's have tended to flourish; and within what I believe is a very supportive team and coaching and teaching culture, too.  So I'm hopeful. 

I do admit that NFL has so much going on so quickly from all directions, that diagnostic-rapidity is a big deal, and ILB is not a position where the important of diagnostic-rapidity is reduced, either.  You're not dictating the flow, you're responding to the flow.  Some of that can be improved with experience and with coaching.  But to some degree some guys just won't ever be as quick; and experience and coaching will never change that.  It's true in every sport (a baseball infielder; a baseball hitter; a basketball player): some guys can just better process the nano-second progression of a groundball or a pitch or a play.  Fred Warner for the 9ers, he's got that to the max.  I'm not asking him to have it like Warner, that would be a ridiculous expectation; but I'm just hoping that Quay has a pretty good internal mental computer that will allow his measurables to get applied effectively.