B
Green Bay Packers
The Packers cashed the board's mistake on Smith-Wade: B.
by bengeyser0 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 5 steals
· 0 reaches
Call it larceny. Chau Smith-Wade sat on the board until the 203rd pick, and the Packers did not need to be asked twice.
Spending an early pick on DT-EDGE with edge rusher, tight end and other spots open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up.
They reloaded the coverage unit in bulk.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but edge rusher.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 25 they get an island corner. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A clean, defensible pick in the 41st overall pick with a little surplus value in Kamren Kinchens. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Xavier Worthy slid further than he should have, and pick 57 is lovely value for the wide receiver. It fills a real need, too.
They bypassed pressing needs at edge rusher, tight end and other spots to take Maason Smith, a DT-EDGE that was not the priority.
They paid sticker price for Mason McCormick in pick No. 91, and that is fine. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A quiet steal in Round 4, Pick 26: Tyrice Knight for less than the market said. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Braelon Allen at No. 168 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A top-tier cornerback at a bargain, Chau Smith-Wade in the 203rd pick, plain and simple. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
You do not let a safety like Josh Proctor reach pick 216 and blink. They did not. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Taulia Tagovailoa in the 251st overall pick is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.