Packerraymond 2023 Mock Offseason V2

[Packerraymond]

* I always do these as realistic as I can, but it's snowing like hell, work is slow for the holidays and I'm going to do my "Madden" style mock to pass some time. I don't think anything out of here is super unrealistic, but we're probably going to run it back with Rodgers and not do any of this.*

-Packers finish the season at 7-10, losses to Mia and MN, wins vs LAR and DET. We get pick #13. 

- Joe Barry and all the defensive staff are fired. LaFleur brings in Jim Leonhard, Ejiro Evero, Brandon Staley and Jerod Mayo in for interviews. Pick your favorite from there, they're all worthy of the job. 

Trades: 

Packers trade Aaron Rodgers to the LV Raiders for pick #12 in the NFL Draft: Simple one, Raiders need to win, they aren't going to with Carr. Carr can be traded to another team for a 2nd so they recoup some capital. Rodgers reunites with Adams and moves closer to his native Cali to close out the last 1-2 years of his career. I'd like to have tossed a guy like Foster Moreau in this deal, but he's a UFA unfortunately.

Packers trade David Bakhtiari to the Tennessee Titans for a 2nd round pick & Dillon Radunz: The Titans can shed 50m by purging old players like Tannehill, Lewan and Woods and starting the Malik Willis era. They'll want an elite blindside protector to usher in their QB and give him the best chance. Plus Bakh would great help King Henry's game. The Packers get a pick and a guy who's flopped there in Radunz, potentially new scenery may help him.

Packers trade Aaron Jones to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 3rd round and Clyde Edwards-Helaire: The Chiefs add an elite back to the final years of Mahomes cap-friendly years. The Packers decline the 5th year option on CEH and get a 1 year 2 mil look at him pairing with Dillon. He's been a major disappointment for them thus far. 

Returning FA's:
Elgton Jenkins
Allen Lazard
Yosh Nijman
Kesean Nixon
Rudy Ford
Justin Hollins

Departing Players: 
Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Jones
Sammy Watkins
Randall Cobb
Robert Tonyan
Marcedes Lewis
David Bakhtiari
Dean Lowry
Jarron Reed
Adrian Amos

Outside FA's:
QB Gardner Minshew: Competent backup for Love. Has a cool stache. 
TE Irv Smith: Missed all of 2021, missed most of 2022. Signs a 1 year deal, loaded with NLTBE incentives to try and recoup his value and get a long-term deal.

The Draft: 
 

Round 1; Pick #12: Tyree Wilson, 6'6 275, EDGE
School: Texas Tech 

Wilson has a Gary like potential to him. He may actually not even make it to 12 if he shows a similar skillset to Travon Walker at the Combine. Guy is long, powerful and athletic, perfect to develop for a year behind Preston before we move on and he takes over. 

Round 1; Pick #13: Michael Mayer 6'4 265, TE
School: Notre Dame

 I deserve all the hate I get for this pick. Will fully admit TE at 13 is not the value you want, but after you get your EDGE (which should be a loaded class) this class kind of stinks from the 10-25 range. QB, RB, IOL, ILB are obviously out. WR and DL have a pretty gaping hole for value here, and I'm just not taking another first round DB, eff that. That left OT and TE here. I really like Tom, and we have 4 lotto tickets going into camp with Radunz, Walker, Caleb Jones and Tenuta. TE is barren, and we've tried multiple times to pay a big deal and a 2nd to LV for Waller. Instead, we get a younger, cost controlled TE here who can do everything in this system. Inline, slot, block, catch. My only worry with Mayer is that he's probably going to be a mid 4.6 guy, not the greatest separator. I still expect him to be an elite RAS guy when you factor in his size and agility drills to go with above average runs and jumps. Could end up being a great security blanket for Love. 

 

Round 2; Gervon Dexter, 6'6 310 DL
School: Florida

Dexter is the kind of player I've coveted for this defense for awhile, we seem to cap out in that 6'2-6'3 range for our high DL picks. Would love to add some length and size. Gervon's got a chance to be a 3 down DL, high end rush and run gap skills. With Lowry and Reed gone next year, there's a lot of snaps for Slaton, Wyatt and Dexter to fill.

Round 2; Andrew Vorhees, 6'6 310 OL
School: USC

We gave Hanson, Newman and Runyan reps with the #1's this year and none of them really cemented themselves as someone you want to start long-term. With Jenkins and Nijman back, along with Myers that's 3/5 of the line cemented. Tom, Vorhees, Rhyan, Newman and Runyan will battle for the last 2. 

 

Round 3: AT Perry, 6'5 210, WR
School: Wake Forest

Perry was built by a WR lab for LaFleur and Gute. Long, athletic, powerful, he's everything those guys covet. Between Watson, Lazard and Perry we have a front court of bball players in our WR room. Hopefully this QB is willing to throw more contested balls so this group can out muscle smaller DB's. 

Round 3: Nathaniel "Tank" Dell, 5'10 170, WR
School: Houston

Probably the shiftiest guy in this draft. Perfect last compliment to a WR room full of big, blocking, box out WR types. Get Dell on slants, bubbles and returning kicks and punts and you have a chance for a dynamic play every time he touches the ball. 

 

Round 4: Christopher Smith 5'11 195, S
School: Georgia

Can't have a draft without a Dawg. Smith could replace Savage if he doesn't turn a complete 180 in 2023. 

Round 5: Ryan Hayes 6'7 310, OT
School: Michigan

When you have 10+ picks, two should be OL. Hayes is a true tackle and not a tweener. It's an uphill battle to a roster spot on this OL, but the depth should be outstanding when camp ends. 

Round 5 (Comp for MVS): Riley Moss, 6'1 195, DB
School: Iowa

If there's a white DB from Iowa bound for the NFL, you can bet your *** it will be a competition between the Packers and Patriots over who can land them. In all seriousness, Moss is a solid player, Iowa DB's seem to overplay their draft position in the NFL (except if they're Josh Jackson), Moss should be a solid ST contributor too. 

Round 7: Luke Schoonmaker, 6'6 255, TE
School: Michigan

I'll do literally anything to get Tyler Davis off this roster next year. Schoonmaker can run correct routes and block, so he is ahead of Davis.

Round 7: Clayton Tune, 6'3 220, QB
School: Houston

Battles with Etling to win the PS QB job.  

Round 7: Roschon Johnson, 6'1 220 RB
School: Texas

Bijan's backup, Johnson came to Texas as a QB. He's got some skills to stick as a RB in the league.

 

Camp Roster (Minus UDFA & Street FA's)

QB: Love-Minshew-Tune-Etling
RB: Dillon-CEH-Taylor-Goodson-Johnson
WR: Watson-Lazard-Doubs-Perry-Toure-Dell-Winfree
TE: Mayer-Smith-Deguara-Schoonmaker-Taylor
OL: Tom-Jenkins-Myers-Runyan-Nijman-Vorhees-Rhyan-Hanson-Radunz-Walker-Jones-Tenuta-Hayes

DL: Clark-Slaton-Wyatt-Ford-Dexter-Heflin-Slayton
EDGE: Gary-Smith-Wilson-Enagbare-Hollins-Garvin-Tipa
ILB: Campbell-Walker-McDuffie-Barnes
DB: Alexander-Stokes-Douglas-Nixon-SJC-Moss-Thomas-Savage-Ford-Smith-Leavitt-Gaines-Carpenter-Abernathy

K: Ahmed-Bunch of UDFA's
P: O'Donnell
LS: Coco

[vegas492]

Love that you called yourself out for TE in round one!  Now I don't have to do it.

I ran some mock simulator the other day.  Took the same guy you did in round one and also round two.

Ran it again and took the WR from TCU in round one instead.

I do like the draft and the Maddenesque feel to it.

Only you should remove the TE and put a WR in that slot.  You are the one that said that we need to surround Love with weapons while he is young to give him a chance to succeed.  

[Packerraymond]

1 minute ago, vegas492 said:

Love that you called yourself out for TE in round one!  Now I don't have to do it.

I ran some mock simulator the other day.  Took the same guy you did in round one and also round two.

Ran it again and took the WR from TCU in round one instead.

I do like the draft and the Maddenesque feel to it.

Only you should remove the TE and put a WR in that slot.  You are the one that said that we need to surround Love with weapons while he is young to give him a chance to succeed.  

I really like the Watson, Lazard, Doubs trio. No longer feel we need a rd 1 WR. TE on the other hand is a disaster. Davis is horrendous, Deguara is a FB, Lewis is an OT, Tonyan looks 33 years old out there. The value sucks, but it's an extra rd 1 pick, so it doesn't count

[15412]

I mean, I love this so much I'm near tears.

Sadly I am far more likely to crap gold coins tonight in my hollowed out stump than all 3 of those trades happening.  Or two of them.  Or even one of them.  Although with progressively greater possibilities.

You can keep Uncle Rico.  IF this would happen we'd be drafting a QB fairly early, by the end of Day 2 anyway.  Love the EDGE, if you're going to draft a TE early that's the one.  Good value on Day 2 though at TE.  With the loss of Jones we'd bring in another RB more so than your add, likely draft wise mid round at the latest.  Also likely we sign a veteran WR, a better gambit than Watkins.

Anything that starts with finding a team to give us that much for Ol Rodg is an A + for me.

[vegas492]

22 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

I really like the Watson, Lazard, Doubs trio. No longer feel we need a rd 1 WR. TE on the other hand is a disaster. Davis is horrendous, Deguara is a FB, Lewis is an OT, Tonyan looks 33 years old out there. The value sucks, but it's an extra rd 1 pick, so it doesn't count

I'd love to put the TCU WR (Johnson maybe) on the field with Watson and Doubs.  You can't have too many  tall, fast WR's.  

I'd do that over a TE, then take a TE later where you took multiple WR's. 

When is the last time a true TE got a second contract and/or lived up to it, when taken high in the draft?

I remember Ebron.  Yuck.  Hock was traded and he's about as good as you are going to get at TE.  

Pitts, we shall see.

Are we going back to Vernon Davis?  

And if it doesn't count...how about this.  Trade that pick for a pick around #20-#25....and next year's #1.  Keep the multiple first round pick drafts rolling.

[vegas492]

21 minutes ago, 15412 said:

I mean, I love this so much I'm near tears.

Sadly I am far more likely to crap gold coins tonight in my hollowed out stump than all 3 of those trades happening.  Or two of them.  Or even one of them.  Although with progressively greater possibilities.

You can keep Uncle Rico.  IF this would happen we'd be drafting a QB fairly early, by the end of Day 2 anyway.  Love the EDGE, if you're going to draft a TE early that's the one.  Good value on Day 2 though at TE.  With the loss of Jones we'd bring in another RB more so than your add, likely draft wise mid round at the latest.  Also likely we sign a veteran WR, a better gambit than Watkins.

Anything that starts with finding a team to give us that much for Ol Rodg is an A + for me.

Yah, but @Packerraymond picked in round 3, so this draft is clearly an F for me.

Edited December 9, 2022 by vegas492

[FinneasGage]

if we trade rodgers don't we have to do it after the draft? 

i like the picks tho especially starting with wilson and mayer 

[Old Guy]

Love everything about it but the Mayer pick. I don't see him as athletic enough to be a difference maker in the NFL. Maybe you see Gronk light. I see a top 15 pick on a TE who likely is a top-notch JAG at the NFL level. Full disclosure I'm a Notre Dame guy too. 

I could wait until round 2 and get Donnell Washington from Georgia and be happy. 

I see you listened to me regarding Rodgers to Vegas. I've been saying that was the destination for weeks. I think you could send Jones and Bak there as well. Jacobs didn't get a fifth-year option and doubt they tag him. They also need help on the o-line. Send those two with Rodgers and he'd definitely be OK with going there. Vegas definitely has the cap space to take those three contracts on in a trade. 

Overall, I'd run this effort to the podium and be very happy. 

PS: is there anyway to get my biggest draft crush in this mock? Olusegun Oluwatimi. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Old Guy

[{Family Ghost}]

52 minutes ago, FinneasGage said:

if we trade rodgers don't we have to do it after the draft? 

i like the picks tho especially starting with wilson and mayer 

I think we'd just have to eat a lot more dough in '23.  It's probably worth it to the Packers if they are getting quality picks in return now as compared to the following season.

Edited December 9, 2022 by {Family Ghost}

[CWood21]

I just can't see the Raiders trading a top 12 pick for Rodgers.

[MacReady]

It’s that time of year again. The time where I spend all my efforts trying to convince people the Hockensen/Pitts tight ends aren’t worth too 16 picks and they tell me I’m crazy and then they disappear three years into their careers because I was right.

[ThatJerkDave]

I hate this, a lot.  Trade Rodgers, trade for CEH, pick a TE early.  Yuck!

[Packerraymond]

12 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

I just can't see the Raiders trading a top 12 pick for Rodgers.

Would probably be their best utilization of a 1st rounder in 8 years.

[Packerraymond]

1 hour ago, FinneasGage said:

if we trade rodgers don't we have to do it after the draft? 

i like the picks tho especially starting with wilson and mayer 

If we trade him after June 1 we can split his cap hit 15m this year and 24 mil next. If we do it before the draft, all 39m counts for this cap. 

[Brat&Beer]

1 hour ago, Outpost31 said:

It’s that time of year again. The time where I spend all my efforts trying to convince people the Hockensen/Pitts tight ends aren’t worth too 16 picks and they tell me I’m crazy and then they disappear three years into their careers because I was right.

Spending a 1st round pick on a TE never seems to work. Hope Packers don't spend 1st round pick on one. Of course, I hope they don't spend a 3rd round pick on one either.