B+
Green Bay Packers
The Packers turned the phones into found money: B+.
by TitletownUSA ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 23 picks
· 15 steals
· 5 reaches
Boards are made to be trusted, and the Packers shredded theirs for David Ugwoegbu. He came off 118 spots early, and the room will hear about it. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B+.
The Washington pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. It is not that Gray is a bad player; it is that the Packers had louder needs to answer first.
They will regret leaving edge rusher for another day if the season turns on it.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 25 they get protection for the quarterback, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
A top-tier cornerback at a bargain, Cooper DeJean in the 48th pick, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A market-rate interior defensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Ruke Orhorhoro. It fills a real need, too.
They let Payton Wilson come to them and pounced at the Round 3 slot. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Michael Hall Jr. in the 71st overall pick is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Cole Bishop at pick 91 is a conviction pick that outran the value. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Taking Caelen Carson in the 113th overall pick is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
MarShawn Lloyd at pick 123 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Jordan Jefferson in slot 124 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. A need, and now a little less of one.
A quiet steal in pick No. 126: Matt Goncalves for less than the market said. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Malik Washington in Round 4, Pick 30 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Cedric Gray adds a linebacker and leaves edge rusher and quarterback untouched.
They barely believed it either: Elijah Jones still on the board at the 138th pick. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Steal is underselling it; Tommy Eichenberg at the Round 5 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
A safety of that caliber at No. 176 is the definition of value, full stop. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
They paid sticker price for Jared Wiley in pick No. 202, and that is fine. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Value said wait; David Ugwoegbu in pick 211 says they were not listening. The roster reasoning here is anyone's guess.
Tahj Washington in Round 6, Pick 37 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Curtis Jacobs at slot 219 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Jalen Sundell in the 245th overall pick is fair value, right on his grade. The roster fit checks out.
Matt Lee at the 250th pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
You do not let a wide receiver like Tayvion Robinson reach the Round 7 slot and blink. They did not. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A tidy bit of business in pick No. 255, where Marcellas Dial graded well above the range. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.