C
Green Bay Packers
The Packers lost the trade table, and the C tells the story.
by emc2feld ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 22 picks
· 7 steals
· 5 reaches
There is conviction, and then there is this. The Packers took Trey Taylor a full 41 picks ahead of where the board had him, an overdraft steep enough that it colors the whole weekend. The final tally is a middling C.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. The Tracy Jr. pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped interior defensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
A perfectly average weekend, for better and for worse.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 25 they get a press-man option on the boundary at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
Kris Jenkins in No. 56 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A market-rate linebacker, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Payton Wilson. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Jaden Hicks in the Round 3 slot is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
They jumped the gun on Zak Zinter, taking him earlier than his grade liked. It fills a real need, too.
A quiet steal in the 105th pick: MarShawn Lloyd for less than the market said. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Beaux Limmer at the Round 4 slot is a conviction pick that outran the value. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
A reach on Roger Rosengarten in the 126th pick; the board had better options right there. The roster fit checks out.
Elijah Jones slipping to No. 131 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Nice patience on Theo Johnson, who had no business lasting to the 133rd overall pick. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A wide receiver of that caliber at slot 169 is the definition of value, full stop. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A straight-up fair deal on Malik Mustapha at Round 5, Pick 35, value and slot in agreement. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
A real head-scratcher, Joe Milton III in pick 172 is miles ahead of his ranking. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Walter Rouse at pick No. 174 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
By-the-book stuff, Jordan Travis at the 175th overall pick squarely in line with his ranking. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They read the board right and Khristian Boyd was the payoff at pick No. 190. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
No edge and no loss on Jase McClellan in slot 199; it is a wash and a sensible one. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Jaylan Ford at No. 202 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
Caedan Wallace at pick 219 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Trey Taylor in the Round 7 slot is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
Nothing to complain about; Daijahn Anthony went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Jalen Sundell is a better player than Round 7, Pick 35 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.