Sunday, April 25, 2010

With the 56th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft the Packers COULD HAVE taken...

Green Bay Packers General Manager Ted Thompson is a firm believer in drafting the best player available. As result, if I was the General Manager of the Green Bay Packers and employing the best player available approach, instead of drafting Michael Neal (DE, Purdue) with the 56th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, here are some players I would have considered drafting:

Terrence Cody (DT, Alabama), who went #57 to the Baltimore Ravens. I would have taken Cody just to see Prince Fielder and Terrence Cody have an eat off...my money is on Cody in a landslide. All kidding aside, drafting Cody would have given the Packers two true perfect space (and food) eating defensive tackle (Pickett and Cody) in the 3-4. With Pickett and Cody at defensive tackle, the Packers could play Raji at defensive tackle and defensive end. Instead, the Packers have to leave Raji at defensive tackle and hope that Neal fits in at defensive end despite no real experience in the 3-4 defense.

Ben Tate (RB, Auburn), who went #58 to the Houston Texans. According to the Football Outsiders, when you combine size and speed numbers for every running backs eligible for the 2010 NFL Draft, Ben Tate was the best combination in the entire 2010 NFL Draft. How successful has this stat been recently you ask? In 2008, this same statistic said the best combination of size and speed going into the draft was Chris Johnson. Granted Johnson being ranked first going into the 2008 NFL Draft might have been skewed because Johnson posted one of the fastest 40-yard dash times in combine history but there is no denying Johnson is one of the best running backs in the NFL right now. I am not saying Tate is going to be Chris Johnson, but the Packers need a speedy, game changing back to compliment Ryan Grant. For my money, Tate would have been a great value at the end of the second round.

Charles Brown (OT, USC), who went #64 to New Orleans Saints. If I had to rank my draft crushes that the Packers reasonably could have gotten, they go in this order:
#1) Jerry Hughes
#2) Taylor Mays
#3) Charles Brown
Why Charles Brown you ask...I think he is this drafts Michael Oher minus the back story and Sandy Bullock's Oscar. Yes, the Packers took an offensive tackle in the first round but I have two counter arguments. One, tackles come in twos for the Packers. Both Tauscher and Clifton were drafted by the Packers in the 2000 NFL Draft. Two, Ted Thompson has not drafted tackles that high in his tenure with Allen Barbre taken in the 4th round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Thompson started investing in the offensive line with Buluga but I still think drafting Brown would have hedged that decision very nicely.

No comments:

Post a Comment