NFC North Draft Review

Dantés

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Bears:

1.1: Caleb Williams, QB, USC

1.9: Rome Odunze, WR, UW

3.75: Kiran Amegadjie, OL, YALE

4.122: Tory Taylor, P, IA

5.144: Austin Booker, DE, KAN

Overview: There's no arguing with the Bears' first round. Williams is clearly a tier one QB prospect and Rome was my favorite overall player in this class. That said, the Bears have never developed a high-end QB in the history of their franchise. So if there's a way for Williams to fail, they will find it. The rest of the draft was a little up and down. Amegadjie is a good project tackle in round 3. I think taking any specialist in the 4th is crazy. Booker in round 5 is a very smart dice roll, in my opinion. It sounds like he's kind of a head-case, but at a certain point it makes sense to gamble on the upside. They traded a future 4th to get into the 5th round and select him, which isn't a massive, future-altering investment. Outside of taking a punter that early, I think this was a very smart draft for Chicago.

Vikings:

1.10: J.J. McCarthy, QB, MICH

1.17: Dallas Turner, ED, UA

4.108: Khyree Jackson, CB, OR

6.177: Walter Rouse, OT, OK

6.203: Will Reichard, K, UA

7.230: Michael Jurgens, OL, WF

7.232: Levi Drake-Rodriguez, DL, TAMUC

Overview: It is objectively hilarious that the Vikings did all this work to position themselves to get up into the top 3 only for New England to turn them down and take a QB. That said, I like McCarthy and I think he can work in O'Connell's offense. I know almost nothing about Turner, but he was clearly a highly regarded edge rusher throughout the process. However, those round 1 moves need to be viewed in light of the cost. Minnesota traded so much future draft capital that they currently have three picks in 2025: a 1st and two 5th's. They will get a comp 3rd for Cousins, but even that will be around pick 100. So if these first two picks don't hit, they don't have many resources to try and pivot. The rest of their class is very unlikely to make much of an impact. They burned their only other relatively high pick on Khyree Jackson, a corner who is still developmental despite the fact that he will turn 25 before his rookie season starts.

Lions:

1.24: Terrion Arnold, CB, UA

2.61: Ennis Rakestraw Jr, CB, MIZZ

4.126: Giovanni Manu, OT, BC

4.132: Sione Vaki, RB, UT

6.189: Mekhi Wingo, DT, LSU

6.210: Christian Mahogany, G, BC

Overview: The Lions got a lot of plaudits for their first two rounds. I understand why when it comes to Arnold. Obviously the league was not as high on him as a the media, but that's still a nice pickup for them towards the end of round 1. Rakestraw was a fine pick, but not some amazing value in my opinion. He profiled like a guy who belonged somewhere towards the end of round 2 or beginning of round 3. The 4th round was, in my opinion, a disaster. They first traded a future 3rd to get back into the 4th round to take a tackle from the University of British Columbia. Then they traded a 5th and a future 4th to go up for Sione Vaki, who they announced as a running back. That's a lot of draft capital to give up for two players whose NFL projections are total uncertainties. Their 6th round pick of Mahogany was a good investment, though I have heard that he fell because of serious medical concerns.

On the whole, I think Chicago's draft was smart, Minnesota's very risky/volatile, and Detroit's poor overall and very overrated.
 

PikeBadger

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I wasn't very impressed with any of our division counterparts overall drafts. That business of stealing from next year for this weekend is usually bad business in my book and thankfully all 3 of them like to engage in it.
 
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Dantés

Dantés

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I wasn't very impressed with any of our division counterparts overall drafts. That business of stealing from next year for this weekend is usually bad business in my book and thankfully all 3 of them like to engage in it.

Especially when next year's class is projected to be considerably deep because the covid years are running out.
 

Thirteen Below

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I don't know what Minnesota was thinking with all those trades, unless it was just a desperate move to go all in before Green Bay builds a team so strong they wouldn't be able to catch us for several more years. But if that's it, I think they wasted their time, because they just weren't close enough to make that viable. They're only going to have 4 picks next year - 2 Top 100 picks (their current 1st, and a 3rd round comp pick for Cousins), and then 2 more in the 5th. This draft is going to hurt them for a couple of years to come, and I don't think they got enough to justify that.

Chicago got some good players, because with two picks in the Top 10 how can you fail. But if your team has as many needs as they do, and you only have 5 picks to fill those holes, is it really a smart move to **** away a 4th on a punter?

Then again, maybe there was some wisdom to it. With all the problems they're going to have this season, the punter will probably be taking 20% of all their offensive snaps.
 

AmishMafia

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Especially when next year's class is projected to be considerably deep because the covid years are running out.
Not to mention the NIL effect. Larger % of underclassmen stayed in college because they were making as much as they would as rookies in the NFL. So eligibility will force them into the NFL.
 

Thirteen Below

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So you're saying I won't have to deal with Vikings fans at the draft in GB next year. +1
They're only going to have 4 chances to cheer and toot their stupid plastic trumpets all weekend, so that might make it a little easier to tolerate them. (They currently have 3 picks, but they'll also get a 3rd round comp for Cousins).
 

Thirteen Below

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I'm probably going to have a tough time learning to really hate this guy, though....

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Legit quote, too. He grew up idolizing Aaron Rodgers
 

PikeBadger

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In the past four drafts here are the number of draftees by team.

Chicago - 32
Detroit - 30
Green Bay - 44
Minnesota- 36

We're getting 2 or in some cases 3 more whacks at the piñata every year on average.

Further analysis will come on these picks as I get the chance.
 
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The Packers got BOTH good value AND great Volume. Having stabs is like throwing darts. You can throw 11 and 3-4 are bound to either hit bullseye or graze it close IF you play the game with some level of effectiveness (which our FO is good at draft darts imo). 2-3 draft darts will be wild throws but the VOLUME alleviates those misses. Call them bonus throws.

Now The Bears had 2 great throws but at QB and WR it’s hard to expect immediate game changing results. Either player could be really good but likely not enough to change the team outlook immediately in 2024. A good QB or WR often take 2-3 seasons to gel and that isn’t a move as much for THIS 2024 season. How did Trevor Lawrence affect his team his Rookie year? Is he a bad College QB? Or do Skill positions just maybe take a minute.

Our OT at #25 can impact the quality of our OL some right now but Morgan is a long term upside with an opportunity to impact early as we have a known quantity at LT. At worst he’s a quality Swing Tackle NOW. At #45 Cooper is 100% a player who will have medium/high impact TODAY. That goes for RB and LB in Rd 3. Both positions/players can have a formidable impact EARLY. Javon Bullard at Safety might not be a bonafide Day 1 stab, but he’s a very SAFE player at #58 that 100% can handle the Robin role behind Batman Xavier McKinney. Who I might remind everyone is a “HIGH IMPACT” addition we didn’t even have last season. 100% upgrade over Savage.

Then GB went after elevated experience (5th year Seniors etc) or leadership (Team Captains) 6 times in Day 3, several times trading multiple draft picks to move up for ideal player fits for depth or skill sets. They went after athletic or aggressive “Alpha” types.
What’s also important is GB didn’t sacrifice or mortgage their future. They will have their full array of selections again next draft.

If you asked me which NFC North team improved the MOST from their draft NOW in 2024? It’s actually a very easy answer. GB and it’s really not even close. We’re talking impact NOW not over a career.

I think Chicago has the best LONG TERM upside Draft simply by landing a Top Tier WR and possibly their QB of the future, who COULD impact the game more than all their draft picks combined. They also had ideal draft capital to do it. Aside from that they had a slight upgrade at TE2 (Everett) from LA and switched Montgomery for Swift at RB, which doesn’t make my knees weak. Chicago smartly Resigned key pieces and added quality depth (wisdom) They did get Jonathan Owens though.. bye Simone!

No other NFC North team can verifiably say they improved more than GB this offseason. No NFC North team can argue they will get incumbent growth equal to or greater than The Packers. (Across the Full Roster)
 
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