Assessing the Roster Post-Draft

[Dantés]

Grading Scale:

-5: Starters are strong and the depth is really good
-4: Starters are good and/or the depth is good enough
-3: Starters are adequate and/or the depth is serviceable
-2: Starters are below average and/or the depth is a problem
-1: Starters are a major liability and/or there is no functional depth

On this scale, the perfect roster is a score of 60.

I've bolded my projected 53.

Quarterback: Jordan Love developed into a high end starter in year one and is about to get a major extension. Clifford looked like a capable backup in preseason and the depth is further bolstered by a rookie who, in the opinion of many, has the traits to be a high level backup. The downside is simply that neither Clifford nor Pratt have any in-game experience. 4

1. Jordan Love
2. Sean Clifford
3. Michael Pratt
4. Jordan McGough

Running Back: The Packers lost a very talented back but replaced him with a younger player of a similar quality. The move was lateral in terms of talent, but a step up in terms of age/reliability and ability to handle a heavy workload. Where they likely improved the most is in regards to depth, as Dillon proved inadequate as the RB2 last season. Lloyd projects to give the team explosive play-making and Dillon's presence as a steady RB3 is still a positive. Wilson showed enough last year to be a valuable member of the practice squad. 5

1. Josh Jacobs
2. Mar'Shawn Lloyd
3. A.J. Dillon
4. Emanuel Wilson
5. Ellis Merriweather
6. Jarveon Howard

Tight End: Tight end is a notoriously slow-starting position, and yet the Packers' rookies combined for 65/707/3 last season despite Love's slower start and missed time (they combined for 1,089 snaps of offense). You wouldn't necessarily say that either player is totally "proven," but the first year was so promising for both that there's a good degree of confidence that the Packers are set at the position. I would describe Ben Sims similarly, just in terms of a back-up role, and Tyler Davis comes back as a guy who, last we saw him, was a useful role player on offense and a mainstay on special teams. 4

1a. Luke Musgrave
1b. Tucker Kraft
2. Ben Sims
3. Tyler Davis
4. Joel Wilson
5. Messiah Swinson

Wide Receiver: It's hard to know how to stack the top 4 receivers for the Packers. If I was predicting, I'd probably list Wicks and Reed first. The point being that while there is no proven WR1 in this group, it's deep with quality and still very promising in terms of potential. Some of the fiercest camp competition will come at this position, as Melton, Heath, Dubose, and Toure (among others) battle for what will likely be just two spots on the 53. 4

1. Christian Watson
2. Romeo Doubs
3. Jayden Reed
4. Dontayvion Wicks
5. Bo Melton
6. Malik Heath
7. Grant Dubose
8. Samori Toure
9. Thyrick Pitts
10. Julian Hicks

Tackle: This is a somewhat difficult position to assess because of the uncertainty regarding Tom's destination. He may stay at tackle and be a very good one. He could also move inside, which I would love to see if Morgan is ready to play immediately. Much here also depends on one's projection of Morgan. I am very bullish on him and I think I'm justified in that, given Green Bay's track record (they turned a 7th round sophomore into a solid starter). My early guess is that Morgan starts at LT, Walker wins the RT job, Tom moves to center, Dillard is the primary backup tackle, and Glover makes the roster as well as versatile depth. 4

1. Rasheed Walker
2. Zach Tom
3. Jordan Morgan
4. Andre Dillard
5. Luke Tenuta
6. Caleb Jones
7. Travis Glover
8. Kadeem Telfort

Interior Offensive Line: Again, this is difficult to know what to do without an understanding of the plan regarding Zach Tom. There is one good, entrenched starter in Jenkins. Myers is OK but probably has reached his ceiling and could use an upgrade. Rhyan isn't proven, but I am still optimistic regarding a 3rd year jump (he's only 23). If Tom moves inside, Myers might lose his roster spot entirely. Newman is as good as gone, especially considering how much they clearly like Monk. My early guess is that Jennings makes the roster and Jones makes the practice squad. 3

1. Elgton Jenkins
2. Josh Myers
3. Sean Rhyan
4. Jacob Monk
5. Royce Newman
6. Donovan Jennings
7. Trente Jones

Defensive Tackle: The Packers did nothing at this position in the draft, so I think they're a little thin from a 90-man roster perspective, but just fine from a 53-man roster perspective. Clark and Wyatt are a solid duo at 1T and 3T respectively and they both have strong backup options in Slaton and Brooks. Wooden is a perfect 5th DT who is developing and has a high ceiling. Ford has a shot at the roster if he has really made a big jump, but other than that I think these are just camp bodies. 5

1. Kenny Clark
2. Devonte Wyatt
3. T.J. Slaton
4. Karl Brooks
5. Colby Wooden
6. Jonathan Ford
7. James Ester
8. Rodney Matthews

Defensive End: This is another position at which the Packers made no moves in the draft or UDFA largely because they stocked the back of the roster at the beginning of the off-season. The revelation that Enagbare probably won't miss all/most of the season also changed the math. Both starting ends are good and both primary/rotational backups are strong relative to the 2nd string. Van Ness obviously has a massive ceiling and there's every chance he takes a huge step this year. Furthermore, there are a ton of bodies competing for probably just one more spot. 5

1. Rashan Gary
2. Preston Smith
3. Lukas Van Ness
4. Kingsley Enagbare
5. Brenton Cox
6. Keshawn Banks
7. Arron Mosby
8. Deandre Johnson
9. Deslin Alexandre
10. Kenneth Odumegwu

Linebacker: This is the first position group I've come to where I feel quite a bit of uncertainty. Walker took a step last year, but would need to take another one before I feel great about him being the team's top linebacker. Cooper has oodles of potential, but is unproven and linebackers tend to take more time than other positions. McDuffie is a great LB3 and hopefully the top 2 are good enough to keep him in that role. The rest of the group are either unproven (Hopper) or proven to be ST'ers almost exclusively (Wilson, Welch). 3

1. Quay Walker
2. Edgerrin Cooper
3. Isaiah McDuffie
4. Ty'Ron Hopper
5. Eric Wilson
6. Kristian Welch
7. Christian Young
8. Ralen Goforth

Cornerback: This is the most volatile, high variance position on the roster with the most disparate possible outcomes. Alexander is capable of being the best corner in the league, but he's kind of a head case and has proven to be injury prone. Valentine could take a step up from a promising year 1 and become a solid starting corner or prove to be a flash in the pan. Stokes could be healthy and get his career back on track or he could just be done. I think Nixon is probably inadequate as the full time slot, but I also think Bullard is going to help a lot in that area. I like the dice roll on Kalen King on the backend, but there is just a lot of uncertainty here. 3

1. Jaire Alexander
2. Carrington Valentine
3. Eric Stokes
4. Keisean Nixon
5. Corey Ballentine
6. Kalen King
7. Robert Rochell
8. Zyon Gilbert
9. Anthony Johnson
10. Gemon Green

Safety: The signing of Xavier McKinney is going to be what makes it all work for this position. Not only is he a veteran presence and the best player in the group, but he also can handle the work that has the highest level of difficulty, making life easier on all these rookies. I think Bullard will split time between safety and the slot, and Williams will be in a fight to see the field in 3 safety sets. I can envision Oladapo carving out a role as a SS or Dime Linebacker in certain packages. I'm also intrigued to see what kind of jump Anthony Johnson Jr will take. He was a 7th round pick, but a very good athlete. I'm excited about the potential of this group, but given how much of it is composed by young, unproven guys I can't score it too high. 3

1. Xavier McKinney
2. Javon Bullard
3. Evan Williams
4. Kitan Oladapo
5. Anthony Johnson Jr
6. Zayne Anderson
7. Benny Sapp
8. Tyler Coyle

Special Teams: Kicker is uncertain, punter is not, and they brought in someone who is supposedly a really good long snapper. 3

1. Anders Carlson
2. Daniel Whelan
3. Matt Orzech
4. Greg Joseph
5. Peter Bowden

Overall: This team is extraordinarily young, so there's a lot left to prove, but on the whole Gutekunst has built one of the best overall rosters in the NFL. There isn't a single position group on the roster where I see the need to make an immediate veteran addition and I could totally envision them trading off roster bubble guys for draft capital before cut-downs. 46/60

 

[Thirteen Below]

Great piece of work.

 

[Dantés]

In sorting through the roster, I realized that I was not really informed about Corey Ballentine. For some reason, I had it in my head that he was a poor athlete. Coming out, he was a 9.35 RAS guy.

5'11", 196#, 31.5" arms
39.5" and 11'3" jumps
4.47 forty and 1.57 ten split
4.14 and 6.82 in the agilities

That's a really toolsy player! He's already 28, so it's not like he's a young ball of clay at this point, but it makes more sense to me now that the Packers gave him a contract that would indicate that he's more likely than not to make the roster.

 

[El Guapo]

That's an interesting way of assessing a roster. Obviously I'm not asking you to do this, but it would be even more insightful if put in comparison to all of the other teams. I think that your general assessments of each squad is pretty accurate. Nice work.