B+
Green Bay Packers
Best value of the weekend goes to the Packers for Smith-Wade: B+.
by Pack a Day 1 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 5 steals
· 1 reaches
Call it larceny. Chau Smith-Wade sat on the board until pick 203, and the Packers did not need to be asked twice. They moved the roster forward and banked a B+ for it.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher.
The Allen pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
A reasonable price with a little left over, Tyler Nubin in the 35th overall pick. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Value with a capital V on Xavier Legette in the 41st pick, a genuine coup. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Kiran Amegadjie at pick No. 60 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They took Junior Colson at par in No. 73, which is nothing to complain about. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Mike Sainristil in pick 88 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A market-rate running back, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Bucky Irving. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Jarrian Jones in Round 4, Pick 25 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Javon Foster at the Round 4 slot is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Nothing to complain about; MarShawn Lloyd went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They paid sticker price for Jordan Travis in pick 135, and that is fine. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They paid up for Braelon Allen at the Round 5 slot when waiting would have done the job. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Kamal Hadden here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Chau Smith-Wade at the 203rd overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Omar Speights slid further than he should have, and slot 217 is lovely value for the linebacker. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
They let Jawhar Jordan come to them and pounced at pick No. 219. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Eric Gentry at Round 7, Pick 26 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
Donovan Jennings at No. 251 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the offensive lineman. It fills a real need, too.