As do I. It's a good way to pump up the player currently on your roster to tell him he was still your guy over the best quarterback in the NFL.
Actually, Brees was 38 and playing at a high level at the time. The Packers got KILLED for taking Jordan Love when Rodgers was 36 years old. Saints were not in cap hell 4 years ago if memory serves. Remember, 2017 draft was 4 years ago..
But this is the best QB prospect ever, right? You wouldn't be hoping that you get lucky and he falls to you. You're trading up for that guy if you truly believe that. Jordan Love wasn't the problem. Love followed by a 3rd string RB and situational TE is what killed the Packers. How good is that offense with KJ Hamler or Chase Claypool? EDIT: For some reason, I thought they went in the 3rd. Point is while the individual picks makes sense for the future, they didn't make sense for as a whole for a team coming off of NFCCG appearance.
Everything you say is correct, in hindsight. I do think you are discounting 2 major things 1.Drew Brees, HOF QB still there playing at a high level 2.Payton thought the other teams would be too dumb to see what he saw. On that front, he was very close. If Buffalo hadn't traded their pick, NO or Arizona grabs Mahomes.
I totally disagree. Love was the majority of the problem. The Packers have never drafted a 1st round WR for Rodgers. Rodgers was playing at a high level. Taking a QB there (and trading up to get him) was assinine! A WR, TE, OL, LB, DT, S, about any other position taken at that point would have helped the team more than Love. Love may never play a down for them. Dillon is a great player and both Jones and Williams are FAs this offseason. I can understand why they took Dillon. He definitely helps on offense. They could have gotten a good player with that 4th round pick that could have helped their team this year, and with the 30th pick that they used to trade up. At #30 they could have stayed put and taken a WR like Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman, or they could have traded down and taken Laviska Chenault, KJ Hamler, or Chase Claypool or Denzel Mims. There were also several CBs, Ss, a TE, DT, or pass rushers they could have taken. There were some good prospects there at their 4th round pick as well who could have probably helped the team including Bryce Hall. I'm no draft guru, and don't recognize any names at the point they took the TE Deguara, but it's kind of silly to say that a 3rd round pick had a more detrimental impact on the team than a 1st round pick. At least Deguara was a potential target for Rodgers or an additional blocker, and maybe a help on STs. Love was never going to see the field unless Rodgers got hurt. If Rodgers plays another 3-4 years, do you think they'll keep Love sitting that long? I don't. I think they'll wind up trading him and he'll never play a down for them.
Success of QBs is less about the pick they were drafted at, and more position rank in their class. The overwhelming majority of the starting QBs in the league were one of the top 3 QBs selected in their draft class. There are obvious exceptions, but it's rare that the 6th drafted QB, e.g. Wilson becomes a long term starter.
They should've went for a win-now philosophy with their draft this past year but this point is irrelevant. They have a knack for finding good receivers deeper in the draft. Rodgers has played with plenty of talent at receiver. Jordy Nelson, Driver at the tail end of his career, Randall Cobb, Greg Jennings, Davante Adams, Jermichael Finely at tightend, etc.
I wouldn't say that it's irrelevant. Yes, the Packers have a knack for finding good WRs and I would add that Rodgers makes them better, but he needed better targets. There were a number of times where Lazard, Tonyan, St. Brown, and Scantling couldn't get open. Lazard missed some games. Lazard is ok, a solid WR, but not much more than that imo. Scantling is a very good deep threat, but aside from Adams, they really don't have any other great or very good WRs. Tonyan is a pretty good TE, but certainly not great. Their RBs are excellent receivers, so that helps. The Packers definitely should have gone all in on winning this past season. I don't know what their specific needs were, but if they were going to trade up for anything, it should have been to fill one of those needs, probably on defense. I don't know what their cap space was, but they only signed one FA. They could have perhaps done more there as well.
Of course it's irrelevant. Davante Adams is arguably the best receiver in the game and he's not a first round pick. The round they were picked in does not matter unless that position group is devoid of talent and it hasn't been addressed to fill that talent gap. He's always had talented receivers and a talented offensive line. The round drafted thing is just an ESPN talking point. Roethlisberger has played with two successful first round drafted receivers (Plaxico Burgess for one year and Santonio Holmes). Drew Brees has played with three(Robert Meachem who sucked, Ted Ginn Jr. - acquired via FA and Brandon Cooks who was shipped out after year three). Tom Brady two (Randy Moss - acquired via trade, N'Keal Harry). I guarantee Rodgers would take Adams, Jordy Nelson, Driver, and Randall Cobb over nearly everyone on that list not named Randy Moss and debatable if he'd want Santonio Holmes and his antics. He also has Lazard on a walk in touchdown in the first half when he stared down Adams for three straight plays of his most recent loss.
We'll just have to agree to disagree. It's obviously irrelevant to you, but not to me, not to others, and I'll bet that it isn't irrelevant to Rodgers, either.
What's the point of agreeing to disagree on a football forum that's meant mostly to debate disagreements? Never understood that.
not trying to turn this into a QB debate but you bring up excellent points about their ability to good WRs and OL essentially out of thin air. Are they they much better at finding talent where others see none? Maybe. Personally i think a lot of it is a result of synergistic effects of have a breadth and depth of talent (not necessarily super stars paid like superstars because that just drains cap resources in a way that hurts depth and breadth) So maybe they're not finding better players per se, but ones that fit in a system and can be developed into that system. (like a better portfolio of stocks even if the individual ones seem good not great). I am not going to be the least surprised if Love turns into an excellent QB when given his turn
The Packers bring their players along at a slower rate than any franchise in the league. Maybe it's because it's a smaller market with less pressure on management to play someone who they used a high asset on? I think the small market thing is slowly becoming a myth anyways though. But if you look at a lot of their high draft picks they usually get the equivalent of a redshirt year or play towards the end. Man, Davante Adams struggled so much as a rookie. Rashan Gary barely played. I believe Jaire Alexander was the nickel back and Kenny Clark situational duty as a run stuffer only. And obviously Rodgers sitting for four years and it looks like Love will follow that trend. AJ Dillon didn't play until the end of this year. It's also not the absolute rule either. And they also rarely sign free agents from the general market. I feel like they ran the story about them signing Smith & Smith a couple years ago as being the strangest thing to ever happen in sports. They just draft well, develop and then retain those players. They messed up not keeping Blake Martinez this past year. They badly missed him in the playoffs. It helps when you have had a Hall of Famer quarterback under center for what will be 30+ years to mask any team deficiencies that exist.
Packers have a reason there. And in the bringing them in possibly to groom them. Into elite players is my guess.
I read an article about Dillon that talked about his not playing until later in the season. I don't remember the specifics, but it said that he had struggled a lot. I don't know if it was learning the offense, adjusting to the speed of the NFL, or what. But he basically said it was because he was struggling, so they weren't holding him out just to hold him out. I think I remember reading that Gary struggled a lot as well last year. I may be mistaken, but I think Alexander started pretty early and played at a high level. I had really hoped the Jets could draft him, and then he immediately showed me that I was right for wanting him on the Jets. He had more tackles his rookie season than any other season so far, and was close in passes defensed, interceptions and sacks. I just looked it up. He only played in 13 games his rookie season. I don't recall his being injured, so that may have been the first three games of the season while he was learning the D.
Well it's not their absolute rule that you sit regardless, especially if the player is ready ala Darnell Savage and usually their offensive lineman (Jenkins, Bakhtiari, etc.) play right away. But they generally do slowly bring players along. Again though, a franchise has that luxury when their quarterback alone pretty much guarantees them a 9 win season.
