Ten of the one hundred players who’ve been chosen in the first three rounds of the NFL draft are wide receivers. The only first-rounders were Maryland’s D.J. Moore at No. 24 and Alabama’s Calvin Ridley at No. 26. It was indeed a weak group, at least at the top.
Six went in the second round, including Courtland Sutton, Anthony Miller, James Washington, and D.J. Chark — players who many thought would draw the Packers’ interest. The third round produced only two WRs, at numbers 81 and 91. The cream, such as it was, has been skimmed.
The Packers have had a lot of good fortune choosing receivers in the second round, and once in a while in the third round (James Jones, Ty Montgomery). But that’s all behind us now.
What with all of Brian Gutekunst’s trading, in round four he now gets only the 33rd pick, 133rd overall. He has the first, 35th and 37th picks in the fifth round.
Here are the only receivers left who were rated among the top 12 receivers by multiple forecasters I checked with:
- Equanimeous St. Brown, Notre Dame, 6’4 ¾”, 214
- Auden Tate, Florida State, 6’ 4 7/8”, 228
- Daesean Hamilton, Penn State, 6’ 5/8”, 203
St. Brown has good athleticism and that height puts him in the 94th percentile.
Two others who were rated in the top seven by one forecaster are Marcel Ateman (Oklahoma State) and Antonio Callaway (Florida State).
The bottom line is that Gutekunst and his scouts have clearly signaled they aren’t interested in pursuing a quality receiver in this draft. So, if they bother drafting any receiver at this point, it will be one of those “sleeper picks:” someone overlooked or undervalued by the rest, a guy with serious injury concerns or recuperating from surgery, or maybe someone from a Division II or III college.
I can’t conceive of any receiver they might pick at this point of adding any value to the 2018 roster.
I’m dumfounded. I guess Gute simply doesn’t see Green Bay as needing any receiver help this year. He must know something no one else knows.
A blog called seccountry.com (yes, Missouri is in the Southeastern conference) pegged J’Mon as one of its four “draft sleepers”. A comment was made that he wasn’t fully utilized at Missouri, but “he has the size, speed and talent to be able to succeed beyond what was asked of him in college.” Multiple sources are saying the 4.6 dash time should be ignored, he has adequate speed. Good pick!
Cain still there and Gute drafts a punter? C’mon what a dumb asz pick!
Yeah I’m not big on that pick either. Especially when they picked another WR two picks later, also not named Cain or St. Brown – both of which seem to be fitting the wide out specs they got with the other guys: 6’2″+ with length, that have to get in stride to reach speed.
We all get that the guys picked in these spots aren’t expected to be day 1 contributors (especially at WR), but I thought he missed a pair of better options there.
Maybe one of the reasons a bunch of teams waited on ST. Brown is because he did not perform many of the drills at the combine or pro day. What is he hiding? Maybe nothing? If not do the drills unless you think your more special than the other players.
The Packers now have St. Brown later than some wanted. I guess all the other teams that passéd up on St. Brown multiple times like the Packers will now envy what the Packers got.
Much like Janis and Hundley.
Sorry, couldn’t resist :)