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Mock Around and Find Out: Final Packers Draft Predictions for 2026 ft. Jim Wickens
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The board is almost set, the rumors are flying, and it’s time for our FINAL Green Bay Packers Mock Drafts of 2026. 🧀📋
On this episode of Ohana Packers Edition, we’re joined by special guest Jim Wickens to break down our last mock draft scenarios before the big day. We debate dream picks, realistic targets, sleeper prospects, trade-up possibilities, and players we hope Green Bay avoids.
Who should the Packers take?
Will Gutey surprise everyone again?
And which names could become the next fan favorites in Green Bay?
If you love Packers draft talk, bold predictions, and mock draft chaos, this is the episode for you.
#GoPackGo #PackersNation #NFLDraft #Cheeseheads #MockDraft
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Transcript
Intro
Podcast Introduction
00:00:56
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to the Ohana Packers Edition podcast.
Pre-Draft 2026 Cycle Wrap-Up
00:00:59
Speaker
Today we are going to put a ribbon on our pre-draft, 2026 pre-draft cycle. We have Jim Wickens here, the draft professor, and we're going to do a mock draft ahead of 2026 pre-draft cycle.
00:01:12
Speaker
the start of the 2026 draft as usual. We'll just do a little housekeeping ahead of
Packers' Draft Strategy & Live Show Plans
00:01:17
Speaker
time. So Packers don't have a first round pick this season, so we won't have too much to say on Thursday, but Friday we will have our live, um our live show covering second and third rounds of the NFL draft. um And we just invite you all to come hang out, have a good time with us. um But we do have a good lineup of guests coming through that'll be rotating in and out like usual. So you know, stop by. Maybe Jim will hop on a little bit with us for the time or two, but, um, yeah, we got a good lineup this week, this year.
Guest Acknowledgement: Jim Wickens
00:01:49
Speaker
And on that note, Jim, we want to say thank you so much. I know you put the feelers out of within the last couple of months to say like, Hey, anyone's got a podcast, you know, please invite me on stuff. But we want to just say thank you so much for taking the time to hop on our little, whole our little cozy podcast. And we really appreciate the time that you're giving us today.
Emotional Journey of the NFL Draft
00:02:10
Speaker
Oh, Mike and Joe, I love being here. This is what I love doing. This is the best time of year. Like, you you can celebrate the NFL draft for, like, three straight months. It's a lot of fun.
00:02:23
Speaker
I think my favorite part of it is, like, for for people like you, Joe, and me, you know, to differing degrees, we put a lot of time into, like, scouting all these prospects. You know, we we we get to know the, you know, we're kind of talking about it before where it's, like, obviously we're going to go through – you know to some degree the big names in the draft and then we're gonna go into who we think are um fits for our teams and then we're gonna go into the all right these are my guys these are the diamonds in the roughs that i believe i've uncovered and then the draft happens your team makes its picks you're always gonna have some mix of i like these guys i'm on these guys and oh no had these are these were on the naughty list And then it's always, at least from my point of view, I always find myself doing the, yeah, but, like, I'm not a fan of player XYZ, but you know what? I see the vision. i can understand. and then um And then, you know, a year or two later, I knew it.
00:03:25
Speaker
I should have stuck to my guns. I knew it wasn't going work. Or... that That Brian Gutekun slash insert your favorite team's GM's name. He knows what he's doing. out his His area scouts, they've got the big picture in mind. And I always enjoy that seesaw of emotions with the draft where it's like you get so invested in it. You're watching. And then like that window of like...
00:03:53
Speaker
when you're around the head of your team's pick, that like 15 to 20, where you start to like, whichever site you're watching on or whichever um network you're watching on, then they have whoever's best remaining. And you're like, yes, yes, those are, there's four names that are on my list. And then it's the rollercoaster of emotions of,
00:04:11
Speaker
they all went in the five picks before my team drafted, or ooh, there's three of them. And the joke among Packers fans is there's going to be three of them on your I like these guys list, and who's going to be that person that's not on your list that's going to be the pick? That's the hard part about it for me is you sit here and watch all these guys, and you get invested into them, and hey, they're still on the board.
00:04:35
Speaker
The Packers are going to do it. The Packers are actually going to do it. They didn't do it. They didn't do it.
00:04:44
Speaker
You know, part of my enjoyment into the draft is even being able to understand how different teams make their decisions, right?
NFL Teams' Draft Strategies
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah. The Packers have a set of guardrails, and we think the Dolphins are going to follow similar guardrails.
00:05:01
Speaker
The Browns have a different set of guardrails. It's not talked about enough, but, like, they don't draft 22-year-olds in round one. Right. Right. So look at the evidence, right? And really a lot of what's going on at Draft Professors is there's different people that are tracking this different ways.
00:05:21
Speaker
um You know, like, again, like Howie Roseman, I was shocked when he picked a linebacker in round one last year. Shocked that Jihad Campbell went round one, right?
00:05:32
Speaker
But because normally Howie Roseman is, it's going to be a lineman, wide receiver, or corner. right that's just That's what he does. He sticks with those positions. so you have Rare that you would see like a linebacker, running backer safety go to Philadelphia early.
00:05:48
Speaker
so It's just like getting in and seeing how everybody makes decisions and then trying to figure out which player fits this decision-making because in some ways it's actually less about the board and more like
The Birth and Growth of Draft Professor
00:06:05
Speaker
that's a Packers pick. like Danny Dennis Sutton Doesn't matter where he is on your board.
00:06:10
Speaker
That's a Packers pick. Now, is it a Packers pick in round three or a Packers pick in round four? Right. and you could You could sit here and debate the value, but we know that that is typically the type of player Green Bay drafts.
00:06:25
Speaker
Right? So... A lot of times when you're doing a mock and if you don't like the way the board fell in round three, you might say, well, Dennis Sutton, welcome to Green Bay. Yeah. like yeah we We at least know he's a Packers-y kind guy.
00:06:39
Speaker
So i I love this time of year. i love right I love talking about the draft. At DraftProfessor, we do it 12 months a year. um the The difference is how many people are listening.
00:06:53
Speaker
so cut and Jim, if you go before we go into this episode, please explain to our audience what DraftProfessor is, your intent, your vision, And honestly, like I kind of went into a little bit that part of your vision is why you're on this episode. And we thank you for taking the time. But the please explain the environment that you've cultivated with DraftProfessor, because it's it's a really interesting um ah it's so really interesting vision you have and all the work you've done with it so far. Well, so first of all, thank you, because it is a lot of work.
00:07:30
Speaker
ah Right. Just thank you. Right. okay So draft professor had a, let's say ominous start. So, and what I mean by that is I didn't like other draft simulators.
00:07:45
Speaker
They were way too predictable. So I designed my own, but then you have to figure out, well, how are you going to get people to use your draft simulator? So I'm like, okay, well I'll try advertising on podcasts. Okay. That's not the right plan. So I said, okay, well, I'll podcast myself.
00:08:00
Speaker
and then that didn't exactly work and well all invite other people on my podcast all that work right so i invited other people on my podcast and then all of a sudden twitter start showing you more people that talk about the same stuff so Draft Professor right now is at 90 people. So we have a group chat with about 90 people.
00:08:24
Speaker
um It's gotten as high as about 140 or 150. But if somebody is not active, I tend to remove them. Right.
00:08:35
Speaker
But it's 90 active content creators and podcasters. Draft Professor podcasts on the draft every
Draft Scouting Network & Summer Highlights
00:08:43
Speaker
day. So there's around 24 podcasters in any given week who are appearing on draft professor.
00:08:51
Speaker
Um, and then at the busy times a year, you might even see like 35 or 40 people on in a week. So for example, the first eight weeks of summer scouting are among the busiest weeks of the year. Cause we're looking for new players.
00:09:07
Speaker
So the more people you have looking for new players, the more new players you'll find. Yeah. it's It's volume, right? So, like, last summer was a lot of fun because if people were to listen to our podcast over the summer, you would have heard Deshaun Stribling's name mentioned on three different podcasts by three different people that had eyes on him.
00:09:30
Speaker
He was new to Ole Miss, but his Oklahoma State look tape looked really good, right? And then we were talking about Ja'Shaun Barham over the summer. um At that point, we didn't know he was going to be an edge, though.
00:09:43
Speaker
Right. Right. Like, so, you know, we're talking about him. um There was a draft professor that mentioned Arvel Reese in August.
00:09:52
Speaker
at this point, very few at this point, 12 months ago, not a whole lot of people knew who Arvel Reese was. You'll hear his name mentioned in the first five picks of the draft.
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah. he He's probably the highest riser from summer to today on 90% of people's boards, I think.
00:10:14
Speaker
um Unless you can go from like not being on the board to being 80 and you consider that to be a bigger jump than Arville Reese at 125 going to five yeah, so over the summer, we were talking about a lot of players.
00:10:30
Speaker
that everybody's wondering, like, well, I haven't heard of Matt Goulbin. He's a interior offensive lineman from Michigan State. We were talking about him over the summer. So it's because we don't we're not a podcast about top ten lists.
00:10:46
Speaker
I'm not I'm not David Letterman. I'm not the David Letterman draft show. Mike, I'm glad you like that. i Right. So there are times of the year.
00:10:57
Speaker
where your top 10 boards means something to me. And that's in December and January. yeah I wanna know coming out of the college football season, where does everybody stay? Now, things will change from January to now. You know you get senior bowl, you get some combined measurements, you might confirm something, generally speaking,
00:11:23
Speaker
if if we've identified the right players in December and January, if we've identified all the right players leading up to that, it that should be the board where we're going to have a pretty good feel over like who are the top 150 players.
00:11:38
Speaker
No, like Mike said, it's it's a great thing that you're doing over there. And I try to jump into your live chats once in a while and cause my chaos like usual. But, um you know, and like I said, before we started recording, I even think I learned a few things just by even though I had to mute the the group chat because it it goes off like every other minute. I created the group chat and I have it muted.
00:12:01
Speaker
Okay. um No, because it's insane. So Joe, you're right. It's insane because like during college football season from Thursday, whenever the Thursday night games are to ah basically Sunday morning at 3 a.m.
00:12:19
Speaker
There is somebody that's awake watching a game, telling everybody in the chat what they're seeing. Right? Now some of the people are on the East Coast, so they're going to be talking about things at noon Eastern.
00:12:31
Speaker
when some of the west coast people haven't even woke up yet right so it it it goes both ways but i created the chat i have it muted um but when you need something yeah the this player returned to school does somebody have nfs measurements on this player right that chat is a resource that you can go to and it it can help whatever question you have at that moment in time, there's is usually somebody around to help. So um it's better to say, hey, I'm from draft professors and I'm here to help.
00:13:13
Speaker
Well, and I've even had to, I've even helped and it's like I have limited knowledge compared to these other guys, but there was a gentleman in there asking about why Bo Stevens only started one, you know, just one season.
00:13:27
Speaker
Well, you know, like i said, I'm an Iowa guy. I kind of know how, you know, obviously I don't have any insiders over there, but I do kind of know how Kirk Ferentz works a lot of his stuff and, you know,
00:13:39
Speaker
Bo started a few games when he was like a freshman, sophomore, and then he didn't start again until this last season. Well, that's because the original starter that year got hurt. He had to step in and start while the original starter got hurt. And then when the original starter came back, that was the end of Bo Stevens starting until because Kirk Ferentz is one of those is, and I even said this during our quarterback season,
00:14:05
Speaker
show a couple of weeks ago that Ferentz is one of those old school guys is that he has to have a major reason not to play you and you know start you.
00:14:20
Speaker
So he always usually starts senior quarterbacks or whoever's the older quarterback in the group. Once you're a starter you're not going to be out of the starting lineup until you get hurt or you're not on the team anymore or something egregious that's causing you not to be on the team so that that when i threw that in there i was like i'm smart But, um you know, to kind of push things a little bit going because we don't want to stay here and and not get into our mock draft stuff, I want to throw a couple questions out here because this will lead into our mock draft from our good buddy Goose. And then there's one subject I kind of want to... Well, I'm going to jump onto it right now. i said Dusty Evely over on Blue Sky was talking about... ah
00:15:13
Speaker
big citrus from Iowa State. Well, you know, being an Iowa guy, I always rip on saying no cyclones on the Packers. And he come out and said, I'll never understand the anti-Iowa State bias for me. I always dislike rival players in college, but then love them once they hit the league. It's like, it's okay to love them now.
00:15:34
Speaker
Most of my stuff is in jest. You know, once they become a Packer or whatever, hey, no issues with whatever it is, But you have to realize in the state of Iowa, we have nothing.
00:15:48
Speaker
So rivalries are the only things we have. And you got to realize that the Iowa Iowa state rivalry is like ah almost 120 year old rivalry. So you have to give Iowa more credit because when you're driving across now, got remember what an interstate that was. I think that was interstate 80. When you're driving across interstate 80, you have a lot of rest areas and the rest areas. have like a historical thing about what happened at that spot. So like Iowa has a good history lesson when you're touring the rest areas as you're driving across the country.
00:16:22
Speaker
That's because we're a bunch of old people here. there's There's no young anymore, so we got to come up with the history. But like I said, it's not so much that I don't like the players, I don't like this. It's just when you grow up in that, it's kind of like when you're a Packer versus a Bears fan.
00:16:38
Speaker
You know, there's a constant rivalry there. There's a constant back and forth with it. Now put that on college level, dealing with college kids, dealing with the rivalries that they're, that's what the Iowa-Iowa State thing is.
00:16:52
Speaker
If the Packers were to take Big big Citrus, i what's his name, Dominique Orange, I would have no problems with it. Hey, I did the same thing with, you can ask Mike Anthony Johnson a few years ago. You know, we were both high on Anthony Johnson when the Packers drafted him. We were both kind of upset that they kind of did him the way they did him.
00:17:14
Speaker
But, you know, hey, once you wear the green and gold, I have no issues with it. it's just You got to realize what we have in the state of Iowa. It's it's a big rivalry between the two schools. There's no pro teams here, you know, because it's the old joke. If Iowa had a pro team, then Chicago would want one too. So, you know, it didn't.
00:17:32
Speaker
So, good one ah you know, that that's the way things are. But just to get into the actual questions here, you know, our buddy Goose sent in a couple of them this time.
Worst Packers Pick in Five Years
00:17:46
Speaker
One of them is, who's the worst pick in the past five seasons for the Packers? ah Mike, do you can you think of somebody off the top of your head that could be considered the worst in the last five years?
00:18:00
Speaker
Hmm.
00:18:04
Speaker
Gosh, I'm going to go... wait, so five years, so that 25, 24, 23, 22. 28. 28, 28, twenty five twenty four twenty three one two one Amari Rodgers.
00:18:17
Speaker
i know i'm having a hard time thinking because i feel like if we went to twenty that would be easy relatively easy but like i don't make mean this to sound mean or anything but i think it has to be the myers pick and it's just because you based so much of your Oh, yeah, maybe. Okay.
00:18:36
Speaker
You know what? Amari Rodgers, you're right. Because... Buko picked Amari Rodgers. I asked Buko. Amari Rodgers is who Grock decided was the worst packer. You know what? The Michigan fan in me agrees. I thought we were moving up to pick Nico Collins. And when the when the ticker came across that it was Amari Rodgers, was like...
00:18:59
Speaker
Oh my god, like, they really weren't, like, because the leaks going into that draft where they really think they need to find a slot receiver, slot receiver, slot receiver. And I was like, but they don't draft, like, they just come off a few drafts where it's like, you had the MVS, EQ Brown, and Jamon Moore draft where it's like, they're all six foot three and taller, you know, Moore was the least quick or the least fast of those guys, but they were all like...
00:19:27
Speaker
Moore even had the he's faster than his time speed, yada yada stuff. And then Nico would have fit that build and athletic profile to a tee. Plus you had the whole going into that season, Devontae is in question, all that kind of stuff. MVS, EQ were still on the roster, but both were still kind of big question marks.
00:19:50
Speaker
And then you pick a slot receiver who couldn't see the field, couldn't return punts, and you end up cutting in, like, 18 months after you drafted him kind of thing. And, yeah. um and And I am one of those people that you can't be a day three pick and be, like, the worst pick kind of thing because you're just, you know, you're...
00:20:10
Speaker
I understand that people like, everyone has value, but I'm like, but that pick isn't expected to change the trajectory of your roster. It's more icing on the cake if they do positively change it. Those day one and day two picks, those are the ones that, yeah, I like, I think, I think the PTSD I was blocking out Amari Rogers from my memory. And so, yeah, I agree. It's Amari. Well, you know, the other why he blocked out, right, is because he was drafted ahead of Amon Ross and Brown.
00:20:37
Speaker
And that's the other one. Yeah. Yep. So the only other one that I could. So I'm, but I'm a huge fan of debunking revisionist history. Right. Okay.
00:20:47
Speaker
So Amon Ross St. Brown was drafted after Amari Rod. Yeah. Okay. But were the Packers looking for a wide receiver? Like, did they take one later in the, right? You know, it's one of those things. Right. So like, I'm, I don't want to say this. Okay. So I'm a Bills fan. Right.
00:21:07
Speaker
And I didn't like the key on Colton. right I was at that draft in Detroit. i was You did not want your kids to hear what I was saying as I was leaving the Detroit draft for Keon Coleman. right And that had nothing to do with the fact that I was there on day one.
00:21:26
Speaker
I was there at pick 28 when Buffalo traded back to pick 32. And then I was still there at pick 32 when they traded back to 33. So I showed up for an entire day of the draft and I didn't see my team make a pick.
00:21:38
Speaker
ri they train That's what I was worried about this last season. I showed up the next day because I'm a team player. I didn't show up the next day for Keyon Coleman. Right.
00:21:50
Speaker
Right. Like, if you pass on Leggett for Coleman, I need some explaining. Yeah. Right. right But going back to revisionist history, Buffalo needed an X. So that draft, what Nobody talks about, they talk about how bad the Keon Coleman pick was.
00:22:11
Speaker
Was there another X wide receiver that should have been drafted? Like Adane Mitchell was drafted after Coleman, but he wouldn't have been a better pick. Right? So, okay. yeah Was there an actual X wide receiver there?
00:22:27
Speaker
That's right. These people point to Ladd McConkie, but Ladd McConkie is not an X. Buffalo wasn't looking at him. Right. Same thing like Ricky Pearsall went to the fort right after Buffalo traded back that the game's ever worthy. Okay. But again, pure salt doesn't play acts.
00:22:45
Speaker
So like if you post a mock draft with pure salt, worthy or McConkey, they're going to say they were duplicate to Khalil Shakir. That's what Bill's mafia would have said to that mock draft.
00:22:58
Speaker
I posted enough of them. I heard the feedback, right? But everybody hates the key on Coleman pick now. And they say you should have picked Ladd McConkie, who went like one or two picks after Coleman. But Buffalo didn't need a next. So it's revisionist history, right? Don't do that.
00:23:13
Speaker
Right? Every GM is going to miss. And like going back to like the Packers misses. So when Google picked two of the misses, Anders Carlson.
00:23:25
Speaker
and That's the other one that I was going to mention. And then J.K. Scott. But those are day three picks that were a punter and a kicker. Yeah. And according to what I'm reading- thing about Anders though was that we needed a kicker because Mason was on his last leg, literally.
00:23:46
Speaker
And they they were trying to move on from Mason and- But that pick was pretty much panned when it happened because Anders was like a 75% kicker in college.
00:23:59
Speaker
And it's like, well, how is is he going to even be able to produce that in the league? And he ended up not being able to produce that. He just signed with somebody. Was it one of the UFL teams?
00:24:12
Speaker
some Yeah. Like, it's okay to take a swing and a miss. Yeah. Because the key aspect of those picks, and even the Amari Rodgers one, the Packers cut their losses quickly.
Packers' Approach to Draft Mistakes
00:24:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. All of them were gone, what looks like, before year two ended. Eat a little bit of dead cap, so if you're cutting a rookie...
00:24:38
Speaker
You're eating the dead cap that was their signing bonus. Right. But you're moving on from the player quickly. So I've seen, for example, like Buffalo kept Cody Ford for three years.
00:24:50
Speaker
And I questioned, like they traded him at the beginning of his fourth year. I questioned, like we saw that he wasn't doing anything. He's bounced since Buffalo got rid of him.
00:25:02
Speaker
He's rotated between like Arizona, Cincinnati and three or four other teams. He's not like he's an NFL starting off offensive lineman. It's okay to get rid of your bad draft picks early.
00:25:14
Speaker
Right? It's one thing to miss. It's another thing to not admit your mistake quickly. It's more important to admit the mistake quickly than it is to not miss.
00:25:25
Speaker
I think the big reason Amari – gets a bad rap is because we all know how Rodgers was with rookie wide receivers and they brought this guy in to replace one of his good friends Randall Cobb and he just for one he wasn't ah you know he wasn't this major athlete he was he if you look at his Raz he didn't test the greatest but he fit the slot persona and maybe as a kick and punt returner Well, you put all that pressure on him, then you got a quarterback that wants nothing to do with him.
00:26:00
Speaker
I really do think that would hurt him a lot more. But I will say this, myself and several other draft people I knew at the time were high on Amon Ross St. Brown.
00:26:14
Speaker
So when that happened and they took Rodgers over Amon Ra, that kind of soiled it for me a little bit too. so and And I think what it is is Ra could have played the slot as a rookie and been the type of guy that moved to the outside on as he grew. But anyway, that that kind of answers Goose's question on that. We could do a whole other episode on draft misses that we like, didn't like.
00:26:42
Speaker
Don't get me going on Ricky Elmore, Brooks Reed, or anything like that because – That one still hurts me to this day. And I won't make this long. So you you made a big... of You made your talking point on the Iowa-Iowa State thing and stuff. ed So like, Jim, I'm a Michigan grad, Michigan fan and stuff.
00:27:01
Speaker
The one Packers draft pick that I like couldn't... Like I said, I'm usually like one of those... I fully admit, I will talk myself into almost every draft pick that the team makes. Even for guys that I'm like, oh, I hope they don't touch... it Like, you'd have to be...
00:27:18
Speaker
criminal honestly for me to not turn like turn thats even if he block which Ohio State player was no so wrong it was a Michigan State player and honestly it wasn't even what he said or did about the rivalry was Jarrell worthy was the fact that we moved up for him and It's one of those draft wins that I really didn't want to be right about, but my concern with him coming out of college was he's a guy who completely leveraged his ability to jump snap counts, use his quickness and strength advantages that he had in college.
00:27:57
Speaker
and i'm like there's not a lot of technique to his game he's just jumping a gaps at the snap and if he doesn't win there what's he really doing for you and what really sucked for him is i thought i was like okay maybe he is getting better over his rookie season he blows his knee out like week 13 of the rookie can't get all the athleticism back never improves as a hand fighter and he's out of the league before like his rookie contract would have told kind of thing and it is one of those like i said As much as I'm like, ha, I knew or I or was like, I got one right. It's like, there's still the part of me that's like, damn it, I wish I wasn't because like, it it hurt the Packers. And thank goodness we drafted Joe's Hawkeye and Mike Daniels to buttress that position in the same draft. Because if you came out of that draft with just...
00:28:47
Speaker
Just worthy and he... his knee blew up like it did and stuff. And you don't have Mike Daniels in round four and a compensatory pick. It's like, oh, like... So we traded that... We traded...
00:28:59
Speaker
um We used ammunition to move up for a guy that I didn't like and he didn't work out.
Draft Pick Development Importance
00:29:04
Speaker
It's like, oh, like, that's like, just like you said, Jim, it's it's kind of also with the Coleman. that Well, I know Coleman, you guys moved back and all that kind of stuff, but it is the like, oh, you like signaled that you really like this guy because you maneuvered around to take this specific player and it just, it just fell with a dud so hard kind of thing. And if you were to ask me, would I rather have Xavier Legat or Keon Coleman and Dwayne Carter, I'm still taking Leggett.
00:29:35
Speaker
So we knew that Leggett was a project. We knew as a rookie, he wasn't ready to be a team's number one or probably even number two targets guy.
00:29:49
Speaker
look, Leggett is a big wide receiver. He has world-class speed. Like, that's what you want your ex-receiver to be.
00:30:01
Speaker
But to your point, Mike, when you draft a player, they aren't finished. Right? You're not, right? that the real Realistically, the best measure of a draft class is what did they do in year two.
00:30:17
Speaker
So the jump from year one to year two is what's really important. So, for example, the The team that's gonna go from worst to first in 2027 probably had a really good 2026 draft.
00:30:34
Speaker
That's what we talk about, the three-year rule. you know The first year is just learning how to play football in the NFL. The second year, usually there's some kind of slump, but you're still producing a little bit. And year three is when you really kick it into gear.
Marvin Harrison Jr.'s Trade Potential
00:30:47
Speaker
And the only time the three-year rule doesn't apply is if you're this out-of-this-world, can't-miss can't miss prospect and and Oh, absolutely. And so you know we're a couple days away from the 2026 draft.
00:31:04
Speaker
But if we just look back a little bit to 2023, right? That's Marvin Harrison Jr. That's Brian Thomas Jr. I mean, there were a lot of good wide receivers in that draft.
00:31:18
Speaker
Okay? But, like, if Green Bay made a trade for Marvin Harrison Jr. tomorrow, are you liking the trade without even knowing what they gave up to bring him in?
00:31:29
Speaker
Right? I mean, Look, I'll take him on Buffalo in a heartbeat, right? Like, people are writing Marvin Harrison Jr. off when he got the generational prospect label. See, it's not so much that he wouldn't be – I don't think he would be a good player for the Packers.
00:31:46
Speaker
It's where's he going to fit? Right. Right. and if if you But it's the same thing. like Like, okay, so Micah Parsons may be a liability against the run. That doesn't mean you don't want him, right? Right. Right. Now, yeah so i'm Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't at the level at his position that Micah Parsons is.
00:32:06
Speaker
But this goes back to just, again, pointing out that the Marvin Harrison Jr. is of the world. Like, There was a debate as to is it neighbors or Harrison Jr. is higher because not everybody had the same right neighbors has been everything people advertised him to be.
00:32:27
Speaker
Right. And then even like Roma Dunsay, like do you guys see a Dunsay twice a year being in Packers guys. Right. OK. That but he's finished two years in the league.
00:32:40
Speaker
Right, so we have a pretty good idea that Odunze may be one of the two best wide receivers that's in that draft class. But, you know, again, he still have to look. It's like Brian Thomas Jr. And then we got into theaviers the Xaviers, the Leggetts and the Worthys. And, you know, that was a pretty stacked wide receiver class.
00:32:59
Speaker
And sometimes they flame out quick because I mean, Brian Thomas Jr. had a hell of a rookie season and now, ah you know, they there were rumors that they were trying to get rid of him just because, you know, he wasn't doing, you know, either producing the way they wanted him to, or, you know, they, they were just trying to sell high on his rookie season, but yeah.
00:33:19
Speaker
Well, and the other thing that should be pointed out is always look to figure out which teams have a new GM. The GM in Jacksonville is not the GM that drafted Brian Thomas Jr. Right. So for as good of a player as that is, that may not be the type of player that they want to archetype their offense around.
00:33:41
Speaker
So to your point, trade them while the stock is high. Yeah. um Because You're probably, my opinion is that if you're trading Brian Thomas Jr., I think the trade comp is, like, I would send a first if I got, like, a third back.
00:34:01
Speaker
So if they want a first, I'll send them a first, but I want a couple of day two picks back maybe. Right. and fucking all my guys over here but i still one day two fix yeah yeah You're talking to two guys who were surprised to tell us what the Packers got for Dontavian Wicks in their trade with the Eagles. I mean, to get he was drafted with a fifth round pick. to get a fifth round and and a sixth round or you know for the next year sixth round that that's a win in my book so but you're marvin harrison for the packers i would be all for it it's just with you know then you got to look at okay what we give up for him did we trade one yeah were in the room
00:34:45
Speaker
or i I mean, so my opinion is that, again, Marvin Harrison Jr. right now, I think his trade value, it's probably a second round.
00:34:56
Speaker
And the reason I say that is that he's on his rookie deal. Right. So he has cost control for the this season and the two seasons after. Right. So...
00:35:07
Speaker
teams are trading for the cost control because if we start looking at like what dj moore went for or what jalen waddle went for jalen waddle marvin harrison jr look at those trade values and say is harrison jr still gonna be a first if waddle went for a first and a second is marvin harrison jr just a second Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:33
Speaker
It's like, that you're absolutely right, Jim. Cause yeah, like not knowing what you're sending out, but that's at the same time you have him for, I know he was a top 10 pick, but it's still a two years of a rookie contract kind of thing. And that in itself is a value.
00:35:48
Speaker
And it is the like, and, Joe and I were both Big Ten fans. We saw what Harrison Jr. did in the Big Ten. And that's the thing is like he and and the the other part is like, I don't i know you're talking about as Bill's fans where it's like he'd be your number one. But for us, he's technically almost your number three because he's behind Watson in the wide receiver room. And then when Carl or Tucker Craft is in there, he's behind him, too, kind of thing. So he's like your third target for all intents and purposes. You think you think that – give me a minute.
00:36:24
Speaker
Remember, you think Marvin Harrison Jr. would be behind Christian Watson? Only at the beginning of the season. Yeah. yeah but But, like, that's your discussion right there, right? Yeah. That's a battle I would watch preseason before. Oh, yeah.
00:36:38
Speaker
And my thing is I'm still a huge believer in – in harrison jr and the thing and kind of like you're talking about x z whatever they're not playing the same position because harrison can do everything i know like he's not maybe the most elite of elite athletes but we saw him take apart some really good big 10 defenses michigan stopped him because they formulated their entire defense and had a as fully healthy will johnson as possible to blanket him at the same time. and like it it took all of jesse minter's brain power to figure out how to stifle him for two seasons in a row in that game
00:37:20
Speaker
and you saw him producing it georgia you saw him just nuke almost every other defense he played against and my point is more to that he wouldn't be walking in expected to be the number one center of the offense. You still have, you would have Kraft pulling all the middle of the field coverage. And then, you know, we can debate over who's the real number one wide receiver, you know, tight between ah Harrison Jr. and a Watson. But just coming in, you know, Harrison Jr. is on the disappointing first two years. Yeah.
00:38:03
Speaker
harrison would slide in as your number three because it's like from a defensive coordinator's point of view it's like i'm not giving up the deep threat and i can't let the tight end just get 15 yards a pop every other snap kind of thing. And then it's like, oh, so Harrison Jr. is getting corner number two, no safety help, and probably not getting any other coverage hedged his way. Yeah, like...
00:38:27
Speaker
You know what? I don't really care what we would give up for him. I would take it. Like, yeah. i mean it just that there You're going to see, you know Arizona, the GM in Arizona, I do not believe is the GM that drafted Marvin Harrison Jr. No. Yeah. Right. So when you're looking at some of these players and rookie deals that are going to be traded, pay attention to the teams that have new general managers.
Impact of New General Managers
00:38:52
Speaker
For example, pay attention to who the Jets draft. Because there' there's a reasonable chance the next two years that are going to be firing their GM.
00:39:03
Speaker
Right? Like, like Aaron Glenn, is he going to make it even through the Right? So if they clean house, whatever the new GM is, like, i admire...
00:39:17
Speaker
I'm trying to remember some of the different GMs, but if you're a new GM, don't get saddled with your old GM's mistakes. The Broncos cutting Russell Wilson, right? It was big news at the time, but I think that was the right move, right? And then we could look at several other teams where they had to let go of that high-priced contract. Like, the Browns haven't done that.
00:39:46
Speaker
And there's a reason, i mean, there's a couple reasons they're still bad. If you trade three first-round picks for a player that doesn't work, you're screwed times two because the really good player didn't work out and you don't have the draft capital to refill your roster.
00:40:02
Speaker
Right? But you could look at like whether it's the Deshaun Watson or getting rid of the Russell Wilson contract like we just mentioned. But, you know, Kirk Cousins, similar issue in Atlanta.
00:40:14
Speaker
um Just From a team building standpoint, if you have a bad contract, you get rid of it. You don't keep it. And the Packers tend to do a lot of that with, I mean, sometimes they can sit on a guy for a little too long. But like we just saw that with Nate Hobbs. They signed him last offseason. This offseason, he's gone.
00:40:37
Speaker
um So they they tend to do that. But since we went down a rabbit hole, let's go ahead and get back to the question and get to our mock drafts real quick. So this one is again from our buddy Goose, who this one will lead into our mock draft stuff.
00:40:53
Speaker
Which position is the most important for Green Bay to target in this draft and why? He doesn't care about which round they focus on it. I have two in my mind, but I'm going to go with one, and that's cornerback, just because I have never been sold on Keyshawn Nixon as CB1.
00:41:11
Speaker
ah I don't even know if he's a CB2. Maybe he's CB2.5. Carrington Valentine, while he can be solid in coverage, is never going to be a tackler, and that's always been the knock on him since he was drafted and all that stuff. He's just not got the size for it.
00:41:32
Speaker
ah They did bring in St. Juiced, but a lot of people speculate that's more for special teams, but I don't think it's special teams. I think they really think he's going to come out and – because I think – what was it? And you know a little bit more, Mike, because Marisol's a Chargers fan that ah he he did play pretty good on the outside for them.
00:41:56
Speaker
this past season so i'm thinking that's what they need they're expecting out of him but after that you have like nothing and yeah so i think that's my number one just for a little variety i'm gonna go with d-line interior d-line yep just because you have the You know, it it's Devontae Wyatt is the walking premonition of Bill Parcells, your potential is going to get me fired line. like yeah and And it sucks because we've seen him pop off the beginning of the last two years where it's like, oh, he's really taken off as a pass rusher and then like clockwork. He has some sort of lower body injury that really so that really dogs him the rest of the season. Or worst case scenario, this past season where he's just done for the last month of the year. And really you see um the the pass rush ability fall off. And then obviously um you combine that with Parsons blowing his knee out in Denver. But um I think that they... Same like you... i
00:43:01
Speaker
I'm not sure what round they'll address it, but they need to address it like and legitimately address it, not just taking some like so round seven flyers kind of guys
Packers' Draft Target Speculation
00:43:09
Speaker
in this draft. So D-Tackle is my group for that one.
00:43:14
Speaker
I'd like to hear what Jim has say from an outsider's perspective. So based upon like what Newt Weston, I think out of all the Packers people that podcast a draft professor, I think Newt is the one that I've probably done the most mock drafts with.
00:43:31
Speaker
My instinct is that the first two picks will be within three positions, defensive tackle, corner, or offensive line with a bias towards somebody that could play center.
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of thing. And then I know that like a couple of, like one of the draft professors wrote up the offensive line section for the cheese head TV guy. Happens to be a bills fan, but he was the one doing the write-ups for the Packers people. That's Owen from weekly huddle.
00:44:00
Speaker
um But like Owen would be pointing out, I think it would be Matt Gulbin and who was the other pack? I think it's is Sam Hecht. I think the other Packers, East center, I think that like met most of the thresholds and the criteria.
00:44:18
Speaker
So um I would say somewhere between an interior offensive line, defensive tackle corner. The good news is, this draft is really strong with day three defensive tackles and day three interior offensive linemen.
00:44:33
Speaker
So if you, and there should be a decent Packers-y corner that's there in round two. Yeah. Right, that's worth the pick, whether that's like the Julian Neal or the Brandon Cissé.
00:44:47
Speaker
And then we could probably go a little bit further down the list. um I know like some people like Igbenosan that high. Some people would say that's more day three, you Round three, day three.
00:44:58
Speaker
right I'll be honest, Malik Muhammad really fits that for me, but I keep getting told that he's too light. Now, I did see that somebody mentioned that he did bulk up to 190 for his pro day, so that gives me a little bit of hope, but I see him being...
00:45:18
Speaker
Somebody, because the Packers have done a lot of work on him and the ah during the lead-up to the draft. The other guy that personally that I like, but my hopes were dashed when Mafi told me about the injury history, and that's Devin Moore from Florida.
00:45:34
Speaker
So that that was my guy. But then he goes, well, he's had two shoulder surgeries, and he's had this. And like, yeah, we went through that with Kevin King. I don't think that one's going to work out too well. Yeah.
00:45:47
Speaker
yeah So that's all the questions I got. Mike, we want to just go ahead and get into this. Yeah, you know what? You want to just have um you want to start the simulator and we'll go from there. Do we want to do the simulator first or do we want to run through my mock real quick and then jump into the simulator? Yeah, you know what? Let's just run through your mock real quick um and we'll go through. yeah So who who'd you get? We won't do the whole deep dive on who was there, who wasn't there, and all that kind of stuff. but yeah I can't answer that. I did this.
00:46:16
Speaker
I will be honest with this. This one I did completely from Easton Butler's database of who the Packers visited with. um Usually a lot of these guys were multi-time visitors with the Packers because that's the Packers how they tend to do things.
00:46:35
Speaker
The only pick that is a little off is the round two one because I had a hard time with it. I really do not have a feel on that one. Although the guy that I have at day three could end up possibly being the round two.
00:46:48
Speaker
I do have a feeling that they're going to trade down because the board's going to fall that way. But round two, and I'm going to get flamed for this. I should have made you read this, Mike, because I'm just going to get flamed for it. I did put but Jennings Dunker offensive lineman out of Iowa. No, it's not a homerism with it.
00:47:07
Speaker
It's just the Packers have met with him a couple of times. Like Jim just said, you know offensive line is being talked about – you know, something the Packers really need.
00:47:18
Speaker
Dunker can play both tackle and guard. I don't think he can play in at center, but I do think he could play at guard. um And then of course you got the ginger mullet on top of him. So that that's draftable of for me anyway.
00:47:34
Speaker
uh round three i got dalen everett corner out of georgia i know this one if you go into our packers draft uh group chat this one makes all of their eyes roll in the back of their head but he is by all accounts the most packery of of corners at this moment just because of his numbers and all that other stuff and can't stop taking georgia bulldogs Exactly. Again, he could be a guy that's there at round two. I don't know. i have him at round three at pick 84.
00:48:07
Speaker
round four pick 120 i put caleb proctor packers have met with him several times i've likened him a little bit to a mike daniels type of pick um because he is a little bit of a tweener but i think he'll be just fine as ah as a defensive tackle round five should make mike happy i put jimmy rolder linebacker out of michigan Again, they've met with him a couple of times. It's a position of need.
00:48:36
Speaker
He does have solid build solid numbers to put him as a potential Packer player. there round five charles demings cb out of stephen f austin this one's the pick 160 so this is second pick around five for the packers again met with him several times they used a top 30 pick on him or top 30 uh visit on him so he fits that round six 201 i've got kaylin black running back out of indiana
00:49:11
Speaker
um I think he's a little bit of an older prospect, but outside of what a friend of the show, Jake Schvink and J.J. Leahy say that to keep an eye on Damian Martinez because he could be a sleeper for the roster, Kalen Black fills a little bit of a need because Jacobs is on close towards the end of his contract. How much does he have left?
00:49:37
Speaker
After that, you got Chris Brooks that we don't really know of much out of his pass protection and his job, or his his stuff and pass catching. So there's that one. Round seven, pick 236. I got Alex Harkey, O-lineman out of Oregon.
00:49:55
Speaker
They've met with him a total of three times per Easton Butler's database. He might be also somebody that they're doing their...
00:50:07
Speaker
their optics on for somebody as a potential UDFA, but I figured with a round seven pick, you know, that that can be a crapshoot as is anyway. Same for my last one, round seven pick 255.
00:50:21
Speaker
jordan vandenberg defensive tackle order out of georgia tech so this is the draft that i think the packers are most more closely to look at this is based off of again easton butler's database plus i used i think it was nfl draft database or mock draft databases consensus big board so these guys are all around those areas there so that's what i got
00:50:50
Speaker
Good group, good group. And like we said, the thing I look at with mock drafts honestly more at this point is more positions, trying to fill positions and stuff. And I'll get into the players a little bit and all, but just because I know it's i know some a lot of people say it's a cop-out, but we just don't know how this board is going to fall. Like, that's the thing. And we'll see what we'll see what draft professor's mock draft does for us in a couple minutes. But I legitimately always hold to that.
00:51:20
Speaker
i Yeah, you just don't know who's going to be there for a reason XYZ of, you know, explanation that's off the off the beaten path for the average fan or even some of the like less plugged in media members who, you know, the one example is unfortunately this Reuben Bain story that's broken where...
00:51:40
Speaker
a lot of people with you know scouting ties are like no we've known about it since it happened kind of thing and whereas like the rest of the rest of fans and um media is like general nfl media is like this is a bombshell and like a lot of guys with draft professor ties are like oh no yeah like teams have known for 16 months kind of thing and like it's um It's unfortunate and it's really sobering, but it really just does show like.
00:52:07
Speaker
Like what happened with ah the the wide receiver from Georgia today that he got arrested for some ticky tacky offense in Athens. So now these media heads are going to use that as something to knock against him.
00:52:22
Speaker
All right. And the way, you know, in my comment, and I think people were putting this in the draft professor chat. So.
00:52:31
Speaker
Zachariah branch isn't the only one that's had a run in with Georgia police. Right. Okay. Right. Like you're, that's still the deep South and the Athens police are on, let's say a little bit of a power trip.
00:52:47
Speaker
So there's a good chance okay, the media will overblow this, but I don't think Like, well, he was just arrested for like disobeying a police officer, right? That's what saw, right? Yeah, obstruction of justice, I think is what they call it. Okay, so I'm just going to say i don't always obey police officers either.
00:53:09
Speaker
Right, right. Right, that's what I mean. Like, like okay, if if you read Zachariah Branch got arrested, but you don't go into the details of everything I understood was that he did not comply with an instruction.
00:53:23
Speaker
He was standing on the sidewalk and the cop said, you're blocking flow of the sidewalk, step back. He stepped, this is what I read of it. He stepped back a few feet and still stood there and the cop didn't like that he was still standing there and arrested
Compliance with Authority Laws
00:53:37
Speaker
him.
00:53:38
Speaker
So, and like, I have a huge issue where if not complying with somebody is breaking the law, then the problem isn't with the human. The problem is with the law, right? Yeah. Because you're basically manufacturing something to somebody didn't listen to you guy of two ex-wives if i was allowed to get them arrested when they didn't listen to right i mean come on now come on now
00:54:06
Speaker
so like It's not a crime to not listen to somebody. like That's not real. So i'm I think Zachariah Branch... But Jim, you've done this for a while now. You know just as well as I do, these talking heads are going to push this narrative that he's been arrested, he's been this. you know we We still are getting info.
00:54:27
Speaker
You know what the great thing about podcasting every day is? I don't listen to too many other talking heads. I've got a couple of podcasts that I watch to try to see if I miss something.
00:54:42
Speaker
Yeah. But generally speaking, one of the reasons that I podcast is i don't want to be that talking head. Right? Like, okay, I got arrested, but I want to be, I want to be the person that
00:54:59
Speaker
The media is going to talk about whatever they want, but how does an NFL GM react? What an NFL GM doesn't want is negative GM. so, again, going back to Bill's example, Matt Arise, he was known as the punt guy, right? He was like the third or fourth punter drafted.
00:55:20
Speaker
Buffalo got him in round six. And there were rumors as to, I guess some NFL teams do of this off field stuff. And apparently Buffalo was not one of the teams.
00:55:32
Speaker
It comes out by like the third preseason game that he basically sacked from the third preseason game. He cut the next day when the team plane lands.
00:55:43
Speaker
But then the entire thing went away and now he is keeper hunter and he is a really good If that's like a key message or somebody that's at a higher impact position, he's not getting caught.
00:55:57
Speaker
Right? Like, that's a punter. You can replace a punter off the waiver wire. Right? You're not going to replace... And I, you know, Mr. Mesidor, I shouldn't have dropped your name there. You've done nothing wrong.
00:56:10
Speaker
I was just, I was just thinking of if you're, if you're a really good player that you play on offense or defense, the league's going to overlook it for a little bit. They overlook Mike Green, right? Not every, maybe some teams remove Green from their board, but you only need one team to draft you. So I think Zachariah Branch, I don't think it's going to affect his draft stock.
00:56:36
Speaker
I don't think he goes round one, but if the Rams don't go wide receiver in round one, my prediction is Branch will be a Ram.
00:56:48
Speaker
I don't know where. I don't know round two, round three. But I think Zachariah Branch with Sean McVay, this league isn't ready for that. That is a pretty good match. All right. You know, people don't realize it, but mike Micah Hyde got arrested in college, but you never hear about it.
00:57:10
Speaker
He was drunk. He went and pissed in the alley, and they arrested him for it. So, you know, they don't realize that because it was never brought up, but he was never thought of as a first-round pick.
00:57:22
Speaker
But because some of these guys are thought of as first round picks, a lot of this stuff comes out. and I am really lucky that nobody caught me doing that off the fire escape when I did a road trip to Toronto because that could have been an international incident.
00:57:37
Speaker
So, Mike, i I went to college in Michigan. I didn't go at Michigan, but I went to college in Flint. So I've traveled a few places for a few different parties.
00:57:47
Speaker
um So if Micah Hyde got arrested for you know, urinating in public, I must have been really lucky because my college experience, i I did that hundreds of times, never once i've saw the city of Flint police.
00:58:04
Speaker
So I guess I was just really lucky. Well, you also got to know that in the state of Iowa, office cops aren't law enforcement. They're revenue. Oh, yes, they are.
00:58:14
Speaker
I think that's true in 50 states. So, but that's all they have to do here. But yeah, we'll go ahead and get into the simulator if I can get this pulled up right. So... All
00:58:29
Speaker
right, can you see it?
00:58:31
Speaker
Are you sharing it? Yeah, I think you have to share it on the podcast. I see it in the podcast window. Yeah. All right, hang on just second.
00:58:43
Speaker
This is the first time I've done any kind of share on here, so this is an experiment.
00:58:49
Speaker
I can share. I might be able to share mine.
00:58:52
Speaker
Is mine being shared on the podcast right now?
00:58:57
Speaker
Joe, do you need to like click the bottom and do something with that or... cause Jim's is down there. Yeah, so like you may have to like bring it to the stage. That could be it.
00:59:08
Speaker
Hey, there you go.
00:59:11
Speaker
Is it being... there we go, look at that. Yeah. There we go, Joe. Good job. Woo.
00:59:21
Speaker
Okay, we're doing a Packers mock? Yes. Yes. Going seven rounds. Full seven.
00:59:29
Speaker
Okay. Here we go. Ooh. Yep. Someone took Tyson top 10. ah That's too rich for my blood.
00:59:42
Speaker
Okay, so Wheatley round two. So I'm looking at what some of the picks are. Yep.
00:59:48
Speaker
Oh.
00:59:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:59:53
Speaker
See, it's kind of funny. The Packers just brought in that Max... pronounced his last name. Yeah. As a top 30 visit.
01:00:05
Speaker
Yeah, so what do you guys think and you want the Packers to do here at pick 52? Mike, since I did mine, I'll let you go ahead and... okay We can workshop it, but I'll let you make the major pick.
01:00:21
Speaker
right, Jim. Just for the sake of looking, can you show me who's tight end what tight ends are available right now? Yeah, so it looks like most of them. The only tight end that's gone is Sadiq.
01:00:33
Speaker
Okay. All right. I think...
01:00:39
Speaker
You know, the popular one right now is Hurst. You You would.
01:00:47
Speaker
position group i think i think i'm going orange at this spot you would
01:00:56
Speaker
Sorry, Joe. Just because you got to get a guy who can be instant impact-ish at that position. And, of course, Jackson's still there. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't want to back him at this pick.
01:01:14
Speaker
Can we see the corners, Jim, please? Well, the first one right there is Dalen Everett. I think Everett, Will Lee, Takerio Davis, Devin Marshall all sound really Packers-y. Yeah, Lee and Davis are honestly the two that catch my eye. And, you know, kind of a point you made, Joe, about signing St. Joost is that ah we joke about the georgia the Georgia players thing and all that kind of stuff, but I do think Goot...
01:01:47
Speaker
his One of his white whales as ah as a um as a g GM is he's trying to find that big corner. And... Yeah.
01:01:59
Speaker
I don't know. Takerio, if you remember right, Mafia and them are kind of off Takerio. Yeah. But I really like Lee. And lee's not small Lee's not short either. You know what? Let's go with Lee, Jim.
01:02:13
Speaker
I was going to say, I was going to give you a behind-the-scenes look. Will Lee was going to be the pick over Everett because they've met with Will Lee twice. Yeah. But because they met with Everett, I think one more time that they went with him. Oh, you see, and you're starting you've you're starting out with the all-nickname team. yeah You've got Big Citrus, and then you've got the Blanket.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yep. All right. Well, if you wanted to go that way, you'd have to take Corleone.
01:02:43
Speaker
So I was just taking a look to see what edges were here. See if anybody interesting dropped. But you said tight ends. Okay. So those went fast between.
01:02:58
Speaker
Dali is still here. There's not a big group of tight ends this year. R.J. Maryland. This is a good draft to get your tight end, too.
01:03:10
Speaker
Yeah. I think we're going to look back four to six years from now, and teams are going to be like, you know, we got a tight end, too, in this draft.
01:03:20
Speaker
So you may not know, like, Jack Endries, or, you you know, you may not know Oscar Delp on your fantasy football teams. but those are going to be guys that help you win football games. yo I don't think I'll ever get Delp out of my head because Jake Shevink is over the blue.
01:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, Jake podcast with me once a week. All right. Injuries is a good look, but what are you thinking, Mike? Kind of thinking maybe offensive line some. Yeah, maybe O-line now.
01:03:56
Speaker
Casey is still here in round four. JC Davis is still here round four, and he's that kind of position flexible guy. What what are you looking at at tackle, Jim?
01:04:08
Speaker
Say again? Tackle. So Davis played tackle at Illinois. He's probably going to be interior, but there's a few tackles here.
01:04:20
Speaker
So Isaiah World is still here. He would have to redshirt season. Travis Burke is here.
01:04:26
Speaker
Did Trey Zune get taken? Because I know that was another one Leahy and Shevink really love. I'm going to i'm goingnna go with Burton. Burton is my, like, that's one of my guys in the, like, super athlete interior O-line slash center spot um that I could totally see being, like, a Zach Tomish kind of pick for the Packers.
01:04:50
Speaker
You said you like Jaeger Burton from Kentucky? Yeah, yeah.
01:04:54
Speaker
I like that. So two trench picks and the first three picks, I love the mock already.
01:05:02
Speaker
You want your mocks to have more trench players than you do players added up at every other position. Yep. Right. Ooh. Edge would be a smart one to go at for this round.
01:05:14
Speaker
I know, but Dixon, Dixon is a little enticing depending on who else is there. bad. Yeah. Oh. So at wide receiver, so like we're in round five.
01:05:28
Speaker
Malik Benson is still here. I think Benson is off the Packers board per thresholds. Oh, really? How about, but Chase Roberts is here. That like, so I think they're, they're, I'm just looking at like, what's a round five value. Right. yeah I don't see he didn' that we turn too much. yeah
01:05:51
Speaker
So tight end Royer in round five feels good to me. Borkutcher in round five feels good to me. Endries in round five feels really good to me.
01:06:05
Speaker
Or running back. Round five rounding running back could be. You got Hemby and Black. Hemby and Black.
01:06:14
Speaker
Uh, Henry, I know they brought Henry in for a visit. yeah
01:06:18
Speaker
So like a player like Curtis Allen from Virginia union, i think he's going like, depending upon who drafts him, I'm probably grabbing him in dynasty. Dean Connors is my guy, but everybody's got him ranked so low.
01:06:35
Speaker
I think I'm going Dixon. I just have a really good feeling about Dixon as ah as a pro player. Double down on corner, that's no problem. Yeah. So Thaddeus Dixon from North Carolina. Yeah. Round five.
01:06:49
Speaker
Ah, Klein went the pick before.
01:06:54
Speaker
right. Capehart's still here. Crawford, I think they met with Crawford I think they did, Yeah.
Mitchell Melton's Standout Performances
01:07:02
Speaker
I think Rager is off the board much to the chagrin of Badgers fans. ah But Moffy said he's had like five knee surgeries. Yeah, there's no way.
01:07:15
Speaker
What
01:07:21
Speaker
are we, we're round six? Round five. five Mitchell Melton from Virginia. Yeah. um Not everybody has watched him, but those that have are saying that he popped on tape like when like Virginia was playing Florida State or Virginia was playing a couple of other teams. So um this is a name I have my eye on.
01:07:47
Speaker
Not a lot of people are talking about Mitchell Melton from Virginia.
01:07:51
Speaker
So thoughts on what you guys want to do here in round five? I think it might be an edge, yeah.
01:08:01
Speaker
i mean He doesn't meet the Packers thresholds, but Toreen York in round five. Oh. Give that to me. Like, Rolder is here. Duggar might be one because they've met with Duggar and Perkins. They've met with both of those guys. Yeah.
01:08:18
Speaker
I like Red Murdock. There's Jimmy Rolder, but he's a little bit low. He might be there in the seventh. But if you do Thaddeus Dixon, I don't know that you would do Perkins because wouldn't they both be playing the slot?
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah. I think I might do Melton, honestly. i i think – and I know he's a little short, little lighter than what Goode has taken, but – ah i think I think Melton might be the pick here because he has the athletic upside. He has enough length on the edge.
01:08:51
Speaker
And I kind of get the feeling they might be going not totally into speed and bend edge types, but a little bit more in that direction with some of their recent selections and moves.
01:09:03
Speaker
So yeah, we'll go with Melton.
01:09:06
Speaker
Okay, so we've gone three trench players. too cold So for the Perkins thing, i think they're looking at him as more of a special teams.
01:09:17
Speaker
Because they need a special teams ace something fierce.
01:09:20
Speaker
Wide receiver would be a good one. You got Sturdivant from Florida still there. course everybody's low on my guy Weechin but I think he's gonna be a solid gadget guy.
01:09:34
Speaker
Sturdivant, I really liked him when he was at Cal as a freshman and then don't know I feel like he's just sort of stagnated out but... Right so the only reason I think the only reason why we're talking about Sturdivant is because he had a good freshman year.
01:09:45
Speaker
Yup. So we have to we have to like and again this goes back to part of what I want to do with you know covering the draft is hey He's J. Michael Sturdivant to me is probably an undrafted free agent.
01:10:01
Speaker
Yep. But he's going to get inside somebody's camp because he had a really good freshman year and he just, he checks a lot of boxes as a wide receiver.
01:10:13
Speaker
Yep. He's the kind of player you want in your wide receiver room. What's the tight end room look like?
01:10:21
Speaker
Tight ends. Uh... Kasmereck. Orfature is still here. DJ Rogers is here. Is this round seven?
01:10:31
Speaker
This is round six. So we're in round six. So I definitely like DJ Rogers checks a lot of the athletic boxes. um And what, like when we covered them, it's like, why did he choose TCU? Because he could have gone to like SEC schools, but he chose TCU over the SEC.
01:10:53
Speaker
Right. We're just like, why? um
01:10:57
Speaker
Lance Mason is a player that Jack Brentnall has brought to my attention. He likes as a late sleeper. Sad fact is the Packers tend to not draft Wisconsin players, which is funny.
01:11:16
Speaker
It's very few and far between that they draft them. Packers don't need to worry about selling tickets because everything's sold out, right? Yeah. I think I'll go Borkature here.
01:11:27
Speaker
Get that.
01:11:29
Speaker
Man, like, that tight end board, for as like a as like a um student of the game, seeing ah Russell Maryland's kid there, um as a Michigan fan, seeing Dan Velari listed there, that's it's ah it's one of those ah bringing back a lot of memories board in that room left.
01:11:50
Speaker
Yep. So the Packers draft a running back every year, right? Yep. Well, they're going to have to this year no matter what. I like Heindenreich because of what I've seen and because of what I've heard.
01:12:02
Speaker
So some names to watch. Robert Henry of UTSA. i think he'll be probably one of the 10 best running backs in this class. He may not be one of the 10 highest graded.
01:12:13
Speaker
but he profiles to be successful. Packers have met with him, that's for sure. He's very Aaron Jones-y. Yeah, and then the other one is Curtis Allen from Virginia Union.
01:12:27
Speaker
I think both of them are going to be late-round steals for whoever gets them.
01:12:33
Speaker
Which thing, right? Like Jamari Taylor from Virginia as well. so Yeah. What have we still got to look at? we've we've We haven't taken a linebacker yet, have we?
01:12:47
Speaker
No.
01:12:49
Speaker
Perkins is still there. Duggar's still there. roll You know what? I'm going Homer. I'm taking Rolder.
01:12:58
Speaker
I mean, he's got the athletic profile, that's for sure. i think Rolder feels like he's met with nearly every team. So, apparently, if you don't get the linebacker you like early, Rolder is the day three hand cut.
01:13:17
Speaker
Did we take the wide receiver yet? We haven't taken a wide receiver or a running back.
01:13:22
Speaker
Caldwell, there's a guy on Twitter with the handle Angry Mike that keeps saying that his sleeper is Jeff Caldwell.
01:13:32
Speaker
Oh.
01:13:34
Speaker
Really good athletic testing. okay. He didn't always play to it, honestly. Right, and don't draft somebody because they had a good combine.
01:13:45
Speaker
Right.
01:13:46
Speaker
I would actually say... Looking for a wide receiver.
01:13:51
Speaker
Colby Young from Georgia. Feels like a really good round seven pick. You're going to get a player that can play four-face special teams. If you don't like Colby Taylor. Oh, wow. LSU guy went.
01:14:05
Speaker
So I was looking.
01:14:07
Speaker
Where did Chris Hilton go?
01:14:10
Speaker
Okay, Chris Hilton Jr. went to the Falcons. Okay. Kobe young is a little bit of a short one, isn't he? No, no, no, he's 6'5". I think it's the opposite. He's like a tight end. He's a wide receiver and a tight end's body.
01:14:25
Speaker
Okay, I was thinking of wrong one. He's 6'5", like 220-ish. if Yep. Yep. Instant red zone target. He'll be able to cover kicks. So...
01:14:39
Speaker
so And ultimately, like just for anybody watching, right if you look at a lot of these wide receivers, a lot of these wide receivers are slot only.
01:14:51
Speaker
Colby Young is the opposite of that. You're going to be able to put Colby Young at whatever wide receiver spot you want, but he can play X. He's like 6'5", 220, like you said.
01:15:02
Speaker
So um he's not going to be the sexiest wide receiver pick. but he is the type of wide receiver that just keeps getting a one-year deal like Matt Collins just because he plays special teams and he's going to give you a little bit in the short passing game.
01:15:24
Speaker
Or they could be looking quarterback. We know how that room Who are the quarterbacks left at this point? They've met with Daniels. Haynes King is there. I really like him.
01:15:38
Speaker
um Your quarterback's there. Only if he's going to be a tight end.
01:15:51
Speaker
Fagano. Baron Morton. They've met with him a couple of times, but that's probably his UDFA. Yeah. Ooh, think. So if I were picking a quarterback here, the like the I think the only one that I would pick is probably Altmire, because if I'm drafting a quarterback in round seven, and he can just be a backup that gets me out of a game, that's Luke Altmire.
01:16:19
Speaker
but like I mean, I don't see anybody here with an NFL arm.
01:16:23
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Daniels, you're getting a running quarterback. Like, this is a – he's a fun – he's a fun quarterback. Same with King, yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't know – I think Morton's got a pretty good – a pretty strong arm. I just don't know if his accuracy deep is going to be there.
01:16:42
Speaker
Just for fun, um Jim, can you show me who the leftover of tight ends are?
01:16:48
Speaker
Who's on the next page? ah Okay, I won't do it. ah i i truly thee good not good I truly think LaFleur needs a fullback, and the homer in me wants to take Bredesen, but no, we'll do a we'll do a real
Unexpected Mock Draft Outcomes
01:17:05
Speaker
real. Sorry, who are the tackles left over?
01:17:07
Speaker
So, Noah Kowski from Indiana would be another. So, between him and Bredesen would be... good fullback You said which position? I'm sorry. Offensive tackles, please.
01:17:20
Speaker
There's Harky. Yeah.
01:17:26
Speaker
there's hardly any left on the board, isn't there? Yeah.
01:17:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Harky's a guard for them.
01:17:35
Speaker
Nate Conga is still here. Hmm.
01:17:39
Speaker
What about interior offensive line? What's that got still on there?
01:17:44
Speaker
Micah Morris would be
01:17:47
Speaker
Josh Kroets, we could get the Bears legacy.
01:17:54
Speaker
Toby Baines from Kansas is a player of some length.
01:17:59
Speaker
Kicker, Drew Stevens. That'll do it. Oh, yeah. We're the kickers. No, I don't think I have any kickers loaded. Ah. I
01:18:11
Speaker
might go conga, honestly. Just take swing on a
01:18:17
Speaker
I like that. yeah Upside athlete. Because Gutekunz and even back to Thompson, they've done that. you know like They've just taken those nine and a half plus RAS guys and just said, like let's see what you can do kind of thing. Like a Kendall Donerson or a James Looney. and I know they haven't really amounted to much. but like um Yeah, let's go Rene Conga.
01:18:47
Speaker
There you go. Oh, Mike, your your final four picks are all subpar. So the entire grading on the draft professor simulator is group sync.
01:19:00
Speaker
So when you get a D, it just means you're the first one to draft that player to that team in that round. Hey, I'm a trendsetter. Exactly. So you're doing a mock that nobody's done before. When you get D's,
01:19:14
Speaker
on the draft professor simulator, nobody's done that mock before. When you get A's and B's, people have drafted those players to your team. But like, for example, Burton and Lee may have been picked around later as opposed to the round that you picked them.
01:19:31
Speaker
But that's the idea. Got it. So, and then the more you pick them, the higher they move up and the better the grades. So if you were to come in and somebody were to do the same mock,
01:19:43
Speaker
those D's are probably going to turn into A's.
01:19:46
Speaker
This is a great system you've got set up, Jim. I know we've kind of we've kind of hedged on it and stuff, but... Yeah. Really like the interface. um It's very easy to follow.
01:19:58
Speaker
And yeah. Honestly, we're at the point where it's just fun to just run mock simulators and just see what what what's going to fall out of the branches when you shake the tree and stuff. It really... You know, like...
01:20:12
Speaker
I have these discussions with a lot of people so often, and I know it's led to a lot of like, oh, like how can you say someone won't be taken here and there or won't be available? I try not to do the won't be available stuff because you just, like ah like I said, with no you just don't know, and you don't know why some player will be there or won't be there kind of thing. You know like the the the greatest one I point to is Dan Marino falling all the way to the Dolphins back in – And, like, my dad my dad is a Steelers fan, and it's one of those where it's like, how does that happen? Like, he's in your backyard, you just, as a Steelers, and you know it's like...
01:20:56
Speaker
the end for Brad Shaw kind of thing, and it's like, oh okay, and stuff. So, like, I point to that where it's like, whoa, like, how does that guy fall there? Rodgers is another one where, like, never in a million years. Like, that's why I i pat Mike Mayock on the bat for it because...
01:21:14
Speaker
He's the one who just... His reasoning for why he would fall to Green Bay was like very scientifically done, where he's just like, yes this team doesn't have a quarterback. And it's all based on he thought Smith was like a lock to the Niners, and then everyone else was like, well, they have their quarterback, they need to see their quarterback play, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. And then it was still shocking to see it happen in real time.
01:21:40
Speaker
But yeah... it's I try not to do the, he won't be there. The one I will point out, and I know has led to a lot of infighting amongst Packers people, is the like, they won't take this guy there for XYZ reason and stuff. and You know, I do say, like, they have their thresholds. They have their positions that they do or don't tend to take early in the draft. They have the age stuff. And my whole thing is, like, you... A prospect has to be so elite or tantalizing in other facets for them to overlook one of their... um one of their thresholds. And the way that I further, I don't want to say prove that point, but like explain it is you look at the guys they sign in free agency, like a Xavier McKinney trading for Parsons. You know, McKinney didn't test athletically like they like their safeties to test. Parsons, he's, you know, the arm length questions, the weight, the height, all that
Risks & Trade-offs in Trades vs. Drafts
01:22:39
Speaker
kind of stuff. Everything else is green on his card, but they, in free agency or trades, they're more willing to take quote unquote
01:22:48
Speaker
parameter risks that they don't in draft prospects because they're like, okay, we've seen this guy survive and thrive in an NFL environment. Whereas a draft prospect, it's like, okay, like, theoretically, this player should work. But how, you know, like I said, it gets back to the Jarrell Worthy thing where it's like, oh, like, how much of it is you're just better than the guy you played against in college?
01:23:10
Speaker
Whereas like, Okay, I'm Mike Daniels who didn't test at the combine because he had shoulder surgery. But it's like we saw this guy down in, down out, just wreck the opponent across from him. And it was from a technician effort standpoint kind of thing. So, yeah. And, you know, Mike Daniels even. It's like they weren't going to take him in round two because of the shoulder surgery because he didn't test. But you get down to a comp pick. He was a little bit undersized. Right. And that too. But you get down to round four. It's like, okay, at that point, that's where the whole...
01:23:42
Speaker
You know, you hear like, um you go watch those old like um Walsh videos where he's talking about the 80s Niners drafts where it's like, oh, like, we are at the point where Charles Haley, I don't care what he does off the field. He's just too good of a player to like not take him here at this point kind of thing. And that's where
Appeal of Late Round Picks
01:24:00
Speaker
you kind of get... And I'm like, my whole thing with they will probably won't take this guy because to take him, you probably got to take him a round or two before Green Bay would get their their chance to take him kind of thing. But, you know, like I say, all bets are off when certain guys fall to the fifth round. Then it's just like, oh, like... like You know, if you told me Zach Todd... And that was my whole thing with Zach Thomas. I was like...
01:24:25
Speaker
I think he's a little light for them to take day two, but I was like, man, if he gets to day three, which he did to round four, it's like, that's ah that's an auto send. Like, the Packers, whoever's running the draft card, I don't know if they still do the cards, but whoever's... Yeah, so when you're drafting, it's all, you're taking a risk and you have to ask, is it worth the risk?
Draft Pick Success Rate Challenges
01:24:47
Speaker
Right, because you're not going to, as a general manager, you will not hit on 100% of your draft picks. I would even venture to say if you're a GM and you hit on 50%, you're doing really well.
01:25:01
Speaker
Oh, that's elite. That's absolutely elite. So it's like 90% of first-round picks hit, 50% of second-round picks hit, 30% of third-round picks hit.
01:25:12
Speaker
So if you have three third-round picks, there's a good chance that one of them will pan out. um There was a graphic that was going around Twitter last week, and it was the round three draft, I think, from 2023.
01:25:28
Speaker
And we were sending it in a group text, like, I'll trade my third round pick because I don't want any of these guys. Ironically, the Packers who have been terrible in the third round, that was the year we struck gold because that was the Tucker Craft draft pick. Right.
01:25:44
Speaker
But he was, like, the only legit pick in that round three. Like... Like, this is what I mean is that if you look at that, that's the exact draft that this is. Look at that round three.
01:25:55
Speaker
I don't want Dwayne Carter. yeah Right? Like, it's, you just look, like, you look, and we're we're two years removed from that draft class.
01:26:08
Speaker
Right? So yeah that draft class has played two NFL seasons. Okay? Okay. I'm looking at that third round saying we didn't need that third round pick. So if you're if you're trading a second round pick for DJ Moore or you're trading a third round pick for this player or whatever, right?
01:26:25
Speaker
If you're trading those picks to get a player that is going to be able to start for your team this year, there's a reason that it it feels like every year at the trade deadline, it's the third round pick that's being traded for a starter.
01:26:40
Speaker
So that third round pick looks really good when you do a mock draft, but I'd rather have the starter. Yeah. You ask any Packer fan and they'll tell you that they were glad to get rid of the two first round picks for Micah Parsons.
01:26:56
Speaker
Hmm. Yup, because there's a lot of... ah Like, Gutz done a lot of good things, but he's always been a guy who's going to take... And it drives a lot of Packers fans insane, but they're like, my first-round pick should be a day-one starter. But it's like, those guys are in the top 10 to 15 picks, and Green Bay's not in that range unless something unfortunate has happened. And he...
01:27:20
Speaker
You know, right or wrong, but he has always hedged towards the, I'm going to use this pick on a super talented guy who can help us in two, who's going to be a heavy contributor in two years. And that's why I've always said, like, your starters, you should look at your day two picks.
01:27:35
Speaker
But yeah, Jim, like from your point of view, do you, I've heard this explained a few different ways, which I agree with to a you of a general consensus extent, but round three picks, do you, and I know it's hard to say from year to year, but on average, why do you feel like round three is where the return on investment just feels like it just slides off the table in round three on your average draft class?
01:28:03
Speaker
So ultimately, I think the players that are going in the top 50, most of us are going to be able to get 45 out of those 50. Right? Like, I mean, I've submitted my huddle report.
01:28:17
Speaker
I submitted that last night. So if you're not familiar with the huddle report, everybody submits a 32 pick round one. I submitted it.
01:28:27
Speaker
I think last year I got 30 points. I think the max total is 96 points. I got 30. I was in middle of the pack. If you're really good, you might have 45 or 50 points. Okay?
01:28:39
Speaker
So, like, and I mean, i I scored higher than Chris Collinsworth. Like, I'll pat myself on the back for that one. Like, I scored higher than Chris Collinsworth. I did pretty well in the huddle report content.
01:28:50
Speaker
Right? You'll see Trevor Sycamore. You'll see, you'll you'll recognize a lot of the names. And other content
Focus on Edge Players & Round Three Significance
01:28:57
Speaker
creators. Okay. But then one of the other things the Huddle Report does is they do a top 100. Okay. So how many players in the top 100? Last year I got, i believe, 81 of the top 100 correct. Okay.
01:29:10
Speaker
and And again, I was middle of the path.
01:29:14
Speaker
Okay. But then why are they not panning out? So what i'm what I was kind of building up to there is...
01:29:23
Speaker
You know, when you look at different people's evaluations, if somebody's falling outside the top 50, there's known questions or known concerns. So like, again, and just, I get into like all these statistics, 17% of the edges drafted in rounds one and two succeed.
01:29:44
Speaker
Meaning that there's an 83% failure rate on edges, yet we still keep drafting them high. Right? So like, whether it's Jay Sean Barham, Derek Moore, Gabe Ackes, R. Mason Thomas, we'll just, we could throw out 10 names,
01:30:01
Speaker
Two of them are gonna turn out, like if we look back in four years, two of them are probably gonna be legit NFL players, maybe three of them. So when you get to round three, you just have to realize now, your you're swinging for a different fence.
01:30:19
Speaker
You want to look for a contributor. So that's like, for example, if I wanted a safe third round pick, I'm going to go interior offensive line or I'm going to go defensive back.
01:30:31
Speaker
Right? Those are guys I can get on the field, but I don't necessarily need them every play. I might go for a slot wide receiver. So when you get to round three, you're not if you're thinking the same thing you were in round one or two. Round one or two, you want a starter who's going to play every snap and doesn't need to come off the field.
01:31:03
Speaker
So I'm drafting Zachariah Branch in round two, but I'm only gonna use Branch for about 10 offensive snaps a game. Is it worth the pick in round two?
01:31:17
Speaker
Now we have to think about that one, right? Because like, Joe, I saw you nodding your head. Like, you could probably be convinced. But if it's Zachariah Branch round three, ten snaps a game, how do you feel?
01:31:29
Speaker
Well, see, we're kind of different because being in Packer fans, we just took a wide receiver in round one last year and he played like ten snaps a game.
01:31:39
Speaker
There's a plan, Arthur! i even think what teams look for and their expectations of the round three players aren't the same.
01:31:51
Speaker
You're not necessarily expecting a round three player to be a starter. Right. like um Like one of my favorite round three picks for Buffalo was defensive tackle Harrison Phillips.
01:32:03
Speaker
And then he signed with Minnesota. Minnesota, I believe, traded him back to the Jets. Harrison Phillips was a third round pick. He played all four seasons on his rookie deal in Buffalo.
01:32:16
Speaker
He played some one tech. He played some three tech. But if he started a third of the games, that would have been a lot.
01:32:26
Speaker
But that's a really good third round pick. You get four seasons of rotational play out of a defensive tackle. That's a good pick. yeah If you get 10 snaps a game from a slot and gadget wide receiver plus a punt returner, that's a good pick.
01:32:43
Speaker
Calvin Austin was a third-round pick. Steelers fans hate him. That's a good third-round pick. Okay. yeah he He didn't become an all-pro, but you don't expect a third-round pick to become an all-pro. It's okay if he's not a starter.
01:32:58
Speaker
Right? So um nus two other really good examples, like running back Devin Singletary. Yeah. Here's a third-round pick. um You know, he can make players miss in a phone booth, but if he gets into the open field, you'll catch him from behind. when yeah The reason he fell to round three, he didn't have breakaway speed.
01:33:22
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, you know what you're getting. You're getting a productive pro. So I think a lot of what you want to be doing in, like, rounds three and four is – These are the picks where you can hedge your bets.
Finding Contributors in Round Three and Four
01:33:34
Speaker
it's It's a really good idea to draft a running back in round three or four.
01:33:38
Speaker
It's a really good idea to draft a defensive back in round three or four. You can find, like, a gadget wide receiver that could return kicks. Use round three and four for that.
01:33:49
Speaker
Savion Williams picked last year. Yeah. Maybe you strike gold and the wide receiver that you pick in round three becomes a starter, a plus starter, or an all-pro.
01:34:02
Speaker
Puka was a day three pick, but Puka was a day three pick because we knew he had injuries coming into the draft. Okay? So that's going to happen. Like, there's players like that now. C.J. Daniels has a little bit an injury history. Like, day two tape, but day three age.
01:34:20
Speaker
So that's the kind of guy you're going to take in round three or round four, and you're going to like the pick. You may only get four years out of C.J. Daniels, but if you're getting four years of wide receiver two level play...
01:34:32
Speaker
You're going to take it. So I just think with the like a third round pick, the expectations from round three to seven is significantly different.
01:34:43
Speaker
You're not, it doesn't need to be a starter um for the pick to be successful. If you get like a rotational edge, um like one of my favorite guys of the edge from USC is that Anthony, oh Anthony Lucas. Yes.
01:35:01
Speaker
Right. So Anthony Lucas is going to be a round three or a day three edge. But I have a feeling he's going to play in the league for a decent amount of time because he's going to be able to play him first and second down.
01:35:14
Speaker
Yeah. He's going to be able to set the edge against the run. And that's probably about the only thing he's going to be able to do. But that's an NFL edge. He's got he's got the type of player that's just going to have a successful career.
01:35:27
Speaker
he But he's not going to be anybody's all pro. But take them in round three or four, you're gonna it'll be a good pick. So a lot of times, like especially like if you're a new GM, sometimes it's better to draft and not miss than it is to hit.
Miami Dolphins' Draft Strategy
01:35:46
Speaker
So like if you're in like a team, what, Miami, what do they have? Six picks in the top 100, I think, for Miami. So...
01:35:58
Speaker
Is it better for Miami to use their third-round picks or to trade up and get a better player in round one? I would say Miami is better off trading up in round one using their third-round picks than it is taking more swings.
01:36:13
Speaker
But ultimately, what Miami needs is they just need an influx. They need to have three straight draft classes where 10 guys can contribute and then maybe they're relevant again in the AFC.
01:36:24
Speaker
But Miami could hit on, like, Miami makes 15 picks this year. I think Miami could hit on all 15. The quarterback's Malik Willis. I'm not worried about Miami.
01:36:36
Speaker
Yeah. Right? Like, you could hit on every draft pick, and you may have just lost out on the arch sweepstakes. I don't know that Miami's going to use all their draft picks. I think they're goingnna use them to move up Because they we know that their owner wanted to tank in the year, which was it the tank for Tua year?
01:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, think so. Right? So there was a whole thing with tank for Tua, right? And their their owner got fined because he was trying to tank and whatever.
01:37:11
Speaker
Was it Brian Flores was the coach that called him out? Yeah, yeah. Right? Because Brian Flores still has that lawsuit against the league. But he was basically being asked lose. That's a head coach.
01:37:23
Speaker
Right. So he was being asked to lose by the owners. They would get a better draft pick. Well, okay, so we know that the owner wants to tank and get a quarterback. I don't know that Miami can afford to use its third-round picks because they might be too good to be better than the Jets.
01:37:43
Speaker
That's really hard not to do at this point. They just need down in Miami, though. I mean, if you look at their their depth chart, they just need bodies. We talk about it all the time whenever we do mock drafts.
01:37:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah, Miami's roster needs a little bit of work. But that's my point, though. If Miami improves their roster enough that it prevents them from being worse than the Jets, it may cause the quarterbacks.
01:38:12
Speaker
But what do you think? We should probably wrap up here because we're at an hour 41 and Jim's got to get to his his live stream pretty soon. yeah I could sit here all day and listen to it. I feel like I'm back. we're getting into the We're getting into the real philosophical stuff that's fun to talk about in the draft. And like Joe said, we could be here
Broad Observations in Draft Analysis
01:38:29
Speaker
for hours and hours. But Jim, thank you so much for joining us today, sharing your wisdom, sharing the, like you said, the bank of money.
01:38:38
Speaker
bankum human knowledge that you've accumulated with DraftProfessor. It's been so helpful for those who want to get into the draft process. It's it's such an excellent resource. um Please plug anything and everything. and And he hasn't really plugged it directly yet, but check out his YouTube page where he live streams the daily podcast that he's he's talked about here and there today. Because they're running almost any point of the day. They're just going through, you know...
01:39:12
Speaker
like Like Jim said, um now they're in the thick of like mock draft looks and things like that, but when it's in the middle of college at NFL season, they're doing daily positional reviews. um As Joe and Jim kind of pointed out, ah you're going to recognize... The average fan is going to recognize maybe two of the names that they bring up, and then the other six, you're like...
01:39:33
Speaker
oh like who Oh, that's the other guy at Oklahoma, or that's the that's the third guy at um Georgia Tech kind of thing. But it's a really good way, and the thing that I enjoy listening to is the points where...
01:39:50
Speaker
It's Jim, it's Shavinck, Destin who's been on, Steve who we've had on, Newt who was mentioned, brent all Brent Nall who was mentioned, where I found this guy because I was watching this game to watch other player and player. Oh, wait a minute. And it's not even like, it's not even necessarily, I was watching Ruben Bain, but Mesidor kept popping. It's, a I popped on this game because I wanted to see ah how Louisville's left tackle would play, but it was um Notre Dame's cornerback. who popped on film for me. Those are the, those, that's the fines. And i I think that if you ever want to get into the draft process, the most, the best advice I can give, and I'll let Jim top this too, but don't be only looking for one player or one position. Like, yes, you can get into a game looking for a certain player, but keep your eyes open on the whole field because you're going to miss a lot of good draft prospects if you're only,
01:40:57
Speaker
Zooming in your focus on one guy, but Jim, please plug all of your excellent content that you've got all over the interwebs.
Jim's Social Media & Draft Content Promotion
01:41:05
Speaker
So first, my name's Jim. You can follow me on X and on YouTube at NFL Draft Fanatic. No, I in fanatic.
01:41:13
Speaker
So what you will get is daily draft content, literally every day. So we do at least one podcast a Depending upon the time of year, we do two some days we do two.
01:41:29
Speaker
um We are closing out this draft cycle. We already are ramping up. for the summer and to Mike's point there's really two types of draft analysts like you can follow plenty of people for the draft right but there's really two types so there's one type that will look online find a list watch the list and they're going to give you their opinions on the list of players they watched and then the second type is the type that builds the list when no list exists ye that's who draft professor is
01:42:02
Speaker
so i mean everybody has to start with a list somewhere right but like literally what draft professor is going to do is we're going to watch every starter for the power four and by july 4th we're going to tell you who the top half are that's the draft professor 800. so the draft professor 800 is the top 50 of players in college football right and that'll be You know, the 400 to 500 players we're looking at for the 27 draft.
01:42:34
Speaker
But then we're still going to tell you about Malachi Tony, the wide receiver at Miami. He's not draft eligible, but he's definitely one of the best 800 players in college football. all Right. Any doubt about that, right?
01:42:45
Speaker
um So we'll mix in the underclassmen. we're watching the underclassmen too. And there's a reason that we can tell you what the board is for next year already.
01:42:57
Speaker
It's because we did the work last summer. So if you were to watch us last summer, Deshaun Stribling was mentioned, Jason Barham was mentioned, Matt Goulbin was mentioned, Bakim Mesidor was mentioned.
01:43:10
Speaker
okay Those are all guys that are going to be taken at some point of the draft this cycle. We were talking about Robert Henry um from UTSA over the summer as well, right? We had eyes on him. We were talking about him. That doesn't mean we talk about him every podcast. So that's why you have to watch dick for daily draft coverage because we don't do summary shows. We just expect that if you're following the draft and you're like us, you're, you know, most players will have their name talked about two or three times.
01:43:39
Speaker
So if you miss one show, you miss another, you catch the third, but we're here every day.
Epic Mach Mock Draft Overview
01:43:45
Speaker
We have 90 podcasters at the draft professor, about 30 of which podcast in a given week.
01:43:51
Speaker
So we're here. We have a lot of fun. We are competitive mock drafters. We will do mock drafts where we mock draft against each other. We just finished last weekend Epic Mach 26, which is the largest internet mock draft in the universe.
01:44:07
Speaker
um And if they let somebody do a mock draft from the International Space Station, I will let them join Epic Mach next year. so We're going Mars. Yeah. NASA, if you're listening, I need some help. I need to be hooked up with a mock drafter from the International Space Station. I said it first out loud on your podcast. If it was 30 years ago, I'd know somebody because I have a cousin that worked for NASA. so but Jim, thank you so much for being on. um you know Like I said, we we were trying to work it out. You've led us into your little world. and you know i think we're all getting the knowledge that we need from it.
01:44:48
Speaker
So thank you very much for joining us today. Check us out at Ohana underscore Packers on Twitter, at Ohana Packers Edition on Instagram. Still a few more days until the draft starts. If we can get to that 100 followers on Facebook, we will be able to live stream there. We'll do our drawings. Please, please don't make Joe have to eat all the treats I sent from Honolulu by himself.
01:45:09
Speaker
Those are supposed to be for our drawing winners. So please enter yourself. get Get us over that 100 follower line so we can do the drawing there. um Please check us out on your favorite podcasting apps. Give a like and a subscribe if you're enjoying what you're hearing.
01:45:26
Speaker
And just like um just like we had today, please send in your questions. As mentioned before, we're going to do our live day two stream. So please check us out then. We'll have full coverage of the whole of day two, rounds two and three. Probably stay on a little bit afterward to do a recap of what the Packers did Ten minutes before and usually about ten minutes after.
01:45:46
Speaker
But, hey, if enough people stay, I'll keep the thing open. But that's neither here nor there. We'll keep it going. But, again, Jim, draft professor, thank you so much for joining us today. Go Pack Go and aloha.