| Authored by Carl Setterlund - 18th May, 2006 - 6:27 am
 Green Bay Packers
Picks:
1st Round: AJ Hawk, OLB, Ohio State (5)
2nd Round: Darren Colledge, OT, Boise State (47); Greg Jennings, WR, Western Michigan (52)
3rd Round: Abdul Hodge, ILB, Iowa (67); Jason Spitz, C, Louisville (75)
4th Round: Cory Rodgers, WR, TCU (104); Will Blackmon, WR, Boston College (115)
5th Round: Ingle Martin, QB, Furman (148); Tony Moll, OT, Nevada (165)
6th Round: Johnny Jolly, DT, Texas A&M (183); Tyron Culver, S, Fresno State (185)
7th Round: Dave Tollefson, DT, Northwest Missouri State (253)
The Packers started out the day with a bang by getting a guy in Hawk that will be their defensive quarterback for a decade. He’s a leader on the field and you can’t say enough about all the things he does. I’m not going to list all of Hawk’s achievements over the last couple years because it would take too long, but let me just say this, 262 tackles in your final two years isn’t something to mess around with. Hawk is just an unbelievable talent who is always all over the field.
Past Hawk, the Packers got some other nice pieces, trading back several times to acquire more picks. I like Greg Jennings out of Western Michigan, but I don’t think the trade they made with the Patriots was entirely smart.
Is Jason Spitz worth the difference between Jennings and Chad Jackson? I don’t think so personally. Green Bay wanted Colledge badly because they are adamantly convinced he’s a great fit in their climate and offense. I like that they were able to trade back so far to get their guy, and agree he’s a nice player but I don’t think Green Bay did all that much with the later picks they gained.
That said, I’m in love with Abdul Hodge, Green Bay’s first third rounder. To be honest, I’ve never been convinced whole-heartedly that Chad Greenway was the best linebacker coming out of Iowa. Even if he does turn out to be just that then Hodge isn’t far behind. He and Hawk could end up being the backbone of the Packers defense that has needed talent like they bring for so many years now.
For what I recently said about Spitz, I think he’s still a nice player. Spitz is a smart player and I don’t want to say he’s got moxie, but it’s something along those lines.
Both fourth round choices (Cory Rodgers and Will Blackmon) will end up making contributions as return men but I’m not sure that they are going to chip in anywhere else. Rodgers looks to be a WR down the road but he’s not going to provide that immediate help Favre needs, as he is more of a developmental guy.
Blackmon is almost a mirror image of Rodgers except that Green Bay is going to give him a look at cornerback before they decide to develop him at receiver. The best thing I can say about these two picks is at least they have long term potential to fill holes.
I thought Tony Moll and Ingle Martin in the fifth round were both a little bit underwhelming, but then Green Bay bounced back getting two potential players in the sixth round.
In summing up Green Bay’s draft, you have to say that it was “here-and-there.” A good round followed a disappointing one and so on and so forth.
Hawk and Hodge are going to add a lot to the defense and Colledge and Jennings should both contribute to the offense.
Green Bay had a lot of holes to fill going into the draft, and I wonder if they would have been better off not trading down for more picks.
A better strategy could have been to get five really nice players instead of eight so-so players. The top of the draft was nice and that’s really what matters most in the end. I would have liked to see better late round picks though.
Grade - B - |
