B
Green Bay Packers
The Packers let Watson fall and pounced. Final grade: B.
by Clarence ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 8 steals
· 1 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Nathaniel Watson, pick No. 255, roughly 42 picks past where he belonged.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up. Gray has a lot of ground to make up just to look fairly priced. The roster is better shaped than it was, with cornerback chief among the fixes.
Solid rather than spectacular, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 25 they get a blindside protector, and a steal at that. A clean fit for the roster.
Kool-Aid McKinstry at the Round 2 slot is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They will replay Xavier Legette at slot 58 for years; that is how good the value is. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A clean, defensible pick in the 88th overall pick with a little surplus value in Calen Bullock. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
A real head-scratcher, Cedric Gray in Round 3, Pick 28 is miles ahead of his ranking. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Braelon Allen in the 126th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Christian Jones in pick No. 169, plain and simple. The roster fit checks out.
Steal is underselling it; Ty'Ron Hopper at No. 202 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
A tidy little value on Garret Greenfield in No. 219, a step better than break-even. A need, and now a little less of one.
Dominique Hampton in slot 245 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
The board fumbled Nathaniel Watson all the way to the 255th overall pick, and they scooped it up. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.