In case you haven’t heard, the Green Bay Packers drafted a bunch of guys last week. They’re all future stars, of course, but that doesn’t mean they’re day one starters.
So which of the Packers’ draftees will start, if any?
The guy with the best chance of starting probably isn’t the guy you think.
The obvious answer here would be first-round pick Damarious Randall, but we doubt he’ll be a starter from the get go. Randall played safety in college and he’ll be making the transition to cornerback with the Packers. Regardless of how talented he is, there are bound to be some bumps in that road.
What’s more, the Packers have several other capable corners with more experience. I speak of Sam Shields, Micah Hyde and Casey Hayward, of course.
Our bet is Randall opens the season watching from the bench and maybe gets action as the dime back.
The same goes for second-round pick Quinten Rollins. He played only one year of college football at Miami (OH). While Rollins has plenty of talent, he’s still raw.
Third-round pick Ty Montgomery? To suggest he could unseat Jordy Nelson or Randall Cobb or even overtake Davante Adams as the Packers’ No. 3 receiver is a reach to say the least.
That brings us to fourth-round pick Jake Ryan.
In our eyes, Ryan is the only guy the Packers drafted who might have a legitimate shot to win a starting job in training camp.
Ryan is an inside linebacker and the Packers are unsettled at that position.
The smart money says their starters are Sam Barrington and Clay Matthews, but what if Ryan comes in and shows that he’s a playmaker?
It would be easy to shift Matthews back to outside linebacker in order to get another playmaker on the field.
If we were betting, we’d bet none of the Packers rookies end up starting this season, which means they just drafted a bunch of backups. Ryan certainly looks like he has the best odds to do so based on the evidence at hand, though.
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With so many sub packages and special teams, the question may be what player is going to be in on the most snaps this year. I would bet on Ryan or one of the corner/ safeties unless Rip makes the team and Kuhn doesn’t.
I agree, only Jake Ryan has a solid chance of starting week one but then again, I’ve seen very little that indicates he’s starting material.
Neither Rollins and Randall will be starting game 1 unless a DB is injured, but because they are a lot more athletic than Hayward or Hyde, one of them might be the starting corner by the end of the year.
And I could see Morgan Burnett losing his starting role if he reverts to his 2013 self.
While I was very upset with Burnett during the 2013 season, I do believe that part of the struggle was covering up all of the mistakes that his S counterpart would have been making. Last year when he was opposite of the Clinton-Dix/Hyde combo he looked significantly better.
i doubt any of them start…spot play maybe, some won’t make the active roster, a couple of special team demons hopefully…
Don’t be surprised if Rollins earns the starting job in training camp. In addition to being extremely talented, this guy is smart and driven. He’ll memorize the playbook and know all of his assignments by the time camp starts. He’s also extremely coachable, and I think a lot of technical shortcomings he may have will be addressed in camp as well. I’ve got high hopes for Rollins and I think he’s gonna make a name for himself right away. Maybe by picking off cutler a few times on opening day.
you sound like you are very familiar with him. What’s the connection?
None of the above. Stephone Anthony or Malcolm Brown both had better odds to start week 1.
Jalen Collins or Eric Rowe also had better odds to start week 1.
Injuries will determine who starts. TT knows that a number of starters will be injured to start the season so he drafts for depth at positions related to passing or defending the pass as that is what the game is about anymore in the NFL.
I don’t see CM3 as an outside or an inside linebacker. I think by moving him around to both spots, the offensive line has to locate and account for him on every play. He had tons of success after the move last year and I see no reason for that to stop. So maybe Ryan “starts” but in what package? I don’t see Ryan being an every down player until later in the season, if at all.
I don’t see any of the rookies being every down starters on a very deep Packers team.
Temper your expectations regarding this very blah draft class as a whole. You had very questionable 1st RD QBs at the top of the draft and two, count ’em, two RBs taken in the first 15 picks!?!?!? Now that is a really, really bad draft class. The best OL was Brandon Sherff from Iowa? A collegiate LT who needs to kick inside to play Guard!??
Bad class of talent overall.
There will be late round value, that is usually the highlight of Thompsons drafts. The idea of drafting two cornerbacks with the first two picks and still being forced to trot Heyward out as a starter Week 1 would have to be considered a failure, however, unless Heyward has really had a great offseason.
I don’t agree on the blah talent. I think there just happened to be a lot of questionable first round picks being made, not just by TT. The fact that Bud Dupree slipped to Pittsburgh at 22 is mindboggling.