Round 1 Pick 28; Devonte Wyatt, DL Georgia

[craig]

I have a high trust for Gute and the scouts.  I'm sure they are very thorough and thoughtful with every factor, so I'm sure none of the following haven't already been thoroughly processed by them.  But, a couple of thoughts on the age thing:

1. Pro:  As Squire and others have noted, a player has one rookie contract.  Getting a terrific player who is a fully developed ready-now guy has fiscal-efficiency logic.
2. Concern:  If a 24-year-old guy is so excellent and ready-now, why didn't he come out and get drafted high at age 23 or 22 or 21?  SEC games are well scouted.  And why didn't his college coaches recognize his excellence and start him at age 20 or 21 or 22, instead of waiting until his age-23 super-senior season?    
3. I'm sure Gute has asked and analyzed those Q's, and came to a satisfactory answer.  Maybe Georgia's talent was so great that even through his age-22 season there were better first-round talents ahead of him?  Maybe his legal issues were too fresh one and two drafts ago to come out then?  Beats me, but I'm sure Gute has already satisfied himself on those Q's.  
4. Smarts and quick-study:  A concern with old drafties is, why did they take so long to earn coaches' trust to start?  Was it partly because they aren't that smart, and didn't pick things up that fast?  Just took longer to figure things out?  Given that NFL  defense is much more nuanced than even the SEC, and that offenses are constantly trying to confuse and deceive defenses, will a guy who's not a quick-study and who doesn't pick things up very fast always be variably limited by that throughout his career?  Again, I'm sure this isn't a factor that Gute has never considered.  

[Packerraymond]

9 minutes ago, craig said:

Concern:  If a 24-year-old guy is so excellent and ready-now, why didn't he come out and get drafted high at age 23 or 22 or 21?  SEC games are well scouted.  And why didn't his college coaches recognize his excellence and start him at age 20 or 21 or 22, instead of waiting until his age-23 super-senior season?    

Have you seen Georgia's defense? A consensus top 10 player in this draft had to transfer out of it just to play. The best WR in this draft (IMO) had to transfer out of OSU to play. You need snaps on tape, and it's tough to get at some schools. 

You're going to get the young studs out of OSU, Bama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, etc... where opportunity met the skillset, they play as fresh/soph players and go high. You're also going to get 4/5* players, buried on the depth chart by older 4/5* players who don't get their shot until they're seniors. Walker and Wyatt are in this category. 

[Refugee]

19 minutes ago, craig said:

I have a high trust for Gute and the scouts.  I'm sure they are very thorough and thoughtful with every factor, so I'm sure none of the following haven't already been thoroughly processed by them.  But, a couple of thoughts on the age thing:

1. Pro:  As Squire and others have noted, a player has one rookie contract.  Getting a terrific player who is a fully developed ready-now guy has fiscal-efficiency logic.
2. Concern:  If a 24-year-old guy is so excellent and ready-now, why didn't he come out and get drafted high at age 23 or 22 or 21?  SEC games are well scouted.  And why didn't his college coaches recognize his excellence and start him at age 20 or 21 or 22, instead of waiting until his age-23 super-senior season?    
3. I'm sure Gute has asked and analyzed those Q's, and came to a satisfactory answer.  Maybe Georgia's talent was so great that even through his age-22 season there were better first-round talents ahead of him?  Maybe his legal issues were too fresh one and two drafts ago to come out then?  Beats me, but I'm sure Gute has already satisfied himself on those Q's.  
4. Smarts and quick-study:  A concern with old drafties is, why did they take so long to earn coaches' trust to start?  Was it partly because they aren't that smart, and didn't pick things up that fast?  Just took longer to figure things out?  Given that NFL  defense is much more nuanced than even the SEC, and that offenses are constantly trying to confuse and deceive defenses, will a guy who's not a quick-study and who doesn't pick things up very fast always be variably limited by that throughout his career?  Again, I'm sure this isn't a factor that Gute has never considered.  

I think, like you said, you have to take into account that he was on an absolutely stacked defense as evidenced by the 1st rounders last year, this year and next. It’s not a knock to not start right away on a unit full of future NFL players.

Also, 2020 skewed the typical trajectory for a lot of the top guys for the 21 draft. It was not the year come out unless you had a stellar season and many waited to show more. Hopefully that means this year’s class is even more stacked than usual albeit a year older. 
 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Refugee

[Norm]

3 hours ago, packfanfb said:

Some people were clamoring for a Quinnen trade last year. Well here he is.

[Arthur Penske]

12 minutes ago, Norm said:

 

[craig]

Interesting stats from Bukowski.  That sounds about as ready-now a guy as you could find.  Hope that translates to the pros.  

While neither of these were expected picks, it's interesting that both seem likely to have very large play-as-rookie roles.  Huge windows of opportunity for both of them, snaps-wise.  

 

[Norm]

22 minutes ago, Arthur Penske said:

 

I like these ones though

[Norm]

11 minutes ago, craig said:

Interesting stats from Bukowski.  That sounds about as ready-now a guy as you could find.  Hope that translates to the pros.  

While neither of these were expected picks, it's interesting that both seem likely to have very large play-as-rookie roles.  Huge windows of opportunity for both of them, snaps-wise.  

 

I did see quite a few non packer fan mocks giving us Wyatt.

Never saw Quay but this week binging podcasts I kept hearing guys saying that they heard he's one of the guys that will sneak into the first that most people weren't thinking were. 

[Arthur Penske]

14 minutes ago, craig said:

Interesting stats from Bukowski.  That sounds about as ready-now a guy as you could find.  Hope that translates to the pros.  

While neither of these were expected picks, it's interesting that both seem likely to have very large play-as-rookie roles.  Huge windows of opportunity for both of them, snaps-wise.  

 

 

3 minutes ago, Norm said:

I like these ones though

I like how I see some of the beat writers desribe Wyatt as a "run stopper" too. Do they even research him or just search for lines on 1st round WRs?

[Toddfather]

I like this pick. We need help now, and I think this dude can provide it. I can't wait to see this defense on the field. Just have to stay healthy.

[incognito_man]

Age and off-the-field stuff the biggest knocks on him? Production? 

He felt like he had tools I'd have been ok trading up for.

[Spartacus]

32 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

off-the-field stuff

Does he have a pattern of off the field issues? I know he kicked in a door once but is there other stuff there? 

[packfanfb]

 

[vegas492]

[wgbeethree]

Getting to watch people struggle and misspell Devonte after years of watching people struggle and misspell Davante is a low key bonus to this pick that will bring me a small amount of joy.