LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN: CORNERBACKS

The Packers rookie camp is in full swing and I thought it would be a good time to examine the roster for the 2105-16 season.

 

I will start with the defense since General Manager Ted Thompson decided to use its first two picks on defensive backs after letting cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Devon House leave during free agency and special teams ace/cornerback Jarrett Bush remain unsigned.

 

Let's start with the crux of the matter the cornerback situation. Coach Joe Whitt has six-year veteran Sam Shields returning on the left side, but has to replace Williams on the right side. House was the top reserve off the bench with four-year backup Casey Hayward and two-year Demetri Goodson behind him.

 

Hayward is an interesting case. He began his career as a second round draft pick and made a big splash intercepting six passes as a rookie mainly from the slot corner spot. His sophomore season was a total loss beginning the season with a hamstring injury that never healed. Last year he was surpassed by House as the top reserve and this year he enters the final year of his rookie contract at a crossroads. He either takes over at right corner or will probably be allowed to try free agency next year.

 

Goodson was a project when he was drafted in the sixth round after playing football for only two seasons and was active for six games, including the last four, but never took a snap on the defense only playing on special teams. He had five solo tackles with two coming in the final game.

 

Tay Glover-Wright

Added to the mix is Tay Glover-Wright, a two-year guy who played on the practice squad last year and three-year veteran Micah Hyde, sort of, but Hyde's best position is in the slot, which is also Hayward's best position.

 

CHEATERS NEVER WIN UNTIL THEY DO

I'm going to step out of my Packers in-dept analysis mode for a day and address "Deflategate". Normally, I couldn't care a hoot about what's going on outside of Lambeau Field, but driving through town I caught the Sean Hannity Show on the radio and, while I never listen to that cretin because he gripes my butt.............All Things Considered wasn't on yet and he wasn't taking shots at Democrats like he does every single minute or every single day and he was talking about "Deflategate".

 

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen

Hannity's point was Tom Brady would never be fined or suspended because the report didn't exactly say he did anything and to a lesser point Brady is good for the game, so the NFL would never sanction him because in essence he is too big to fail, which, ironically, Hannity is against if somehow it hurts the Democrats and he always seems to find a way to turn anything that happens into something to hurt the Democrats. But not today.

AND NOW FOR THE FINAL WORD AT LEAST FOR NOW

The draft isn't over until it's over and then it really isn't over until the undrafted free agents are signed and as right now (Sunday night May 3rd) we have a list of the guys signed or about to be signed.

 

Malcolm Agnew

First a break down of their positions. There were five wide receivers, four running backs, three linebackers, two guards, two defensive backs, a tight end, an offensive tackle and a nose tackle. In addition, there were seven players invited to the Rookie Camp for a tryout. Of those there was a quarterback, two offensive linemen, two defensive backs, a tight end and a defensive lineman.

 

I actually know one of the signees, running back Malcolm Agnew from Southern Illinois University. He is the son of Ray Agnew - an 11 year veteran who played defensive tackle for the Patriots, Giants and Rams - and the brother of fullback Ray Agnew III - who also played at SIU and had a tryout with the Browns and is now with the Cowboys.

John Crockett

MOCKINGJAY DRAFT

Everyone and their brother had mock drafts leading up to the big event, so I decided to do something a little different and conduct what I will call my Mockingjay Draft if I was general manager instead of Ted Thompson.

 

One caveat is once I change a pick everything after that changes - but, of course, all you Trekkers know about the ripple effect in the time line of changing something in the past, so we'll just forget that aspect of it - and I will chose from the remaining undrafted guys in each round if I change the pick.

 

Round 1-30: Thursday night I said I would have drafted defensive tackle Malcom Brown from Texas instead of free safety Damarious Randall. But upon further reflection I would take Clemson ILB Stephone Anthony, who went to the Saints with the next pick. Either pick would have been better than Randall, but I will go with need at that point.

 

Stephone Anthony

Mike Mayock said: "Anthony is a big inside linebacker; a prototype. I think his best football is ahead of him. He'll be a starting inside linebacker immediately. He blew it up at the combine. For a guy that big, he's highly athletic."

UNDERWHELMING TO SAY THE LEAST

Day Three of the NFL draft General Manager Ted Thompson had his own four picks plus two compensatory picks in the sixth round. After being disappointed with the first three picks (S Damarious Randall, S Quentin Rollins and kick returner Ty Montgomery) I was anxiously awaiting some third day gems taken by the master of the third day gems.

 

However, when I finally got home from a thrilling doubleheader sweep by the local college softball team I clicked on the list and couldn't believe my eyes. After my first perusal I couldn't find a gem among the clinkers. Upon further reflection maybe there was one, maybe.

 

After avoiding like the plague the most needy of positions - inside linebacker - the first two days Thompson finally drafts Jake Ryan from Michigan. At least he isn't a project like the first two picks who are moving from safety to cornerback because he moved from outside linebacker to inside linebacker his senior year.

 

Jake Ryan

The scouting report has him listed as 6-2, 240. His strengths are being a downhill tackler with a burst to the ball and the ability to go sideline to sideline. He's also good in zone coverage. His weaknesses are being a block magnet and staying tied up for too long as well as needing improvement on diagnosing and reacting to the play. He is overly aggressive (considering the Packer defense that is not a weakness), but he does tend to miss tackles (that could be a problem).

 

SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST

With only one returning player at inside linebacker and two defections to replace at cornerback General Manager Ted Thompson went heavy at safety with his first two draft picks.

 

After taking the top ranked safety Damarious Randall from Arizona State at No. 30 in the first round Thompson took another sip from the safety well by snagging fourth ranked Quinten Rollins from Miami of Ohio with the 62nd pick in the second round with the plan being to move both to cornerback.

 

Quentin Rollins

Both are similar in stature (5-11, 195) and in the NFL.com rankings Rollins was actually ranked six spots higher on the overall rankings list.

 

Rollins is an interesting prospect. He is almost a carbon copy of last year's No. 6 round draft pick cornerback Demetri Goodson from Baylor. Rollins has only one year of college football experience while Goodson had two after both started their collegiate careers as basketball players.

 

If everything goes to form Rollins might not see any action at corner like Goodson did last year. In fact, with both Randall and Rollins moving from safety to cornerback neither of Thompson's top two picks could have any impact at all next season.

YOU DID WHAT?

I was almost totally wrong in my prediction about the Packers' first round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Well, maybe not totally wrong now that I think about. There were two parts of my prediction and I will examine my performance in two parts.

 

Part 1: So here comes my prediction. If (Marcus) Peters drops Thompson takes him at No. 30 red flags withstanding. If he doesn't and (Jalen) Collins is still there then he trades down (hopefully no less than six spots) and tries to draft him there or takes either (Eric) Kendricks, (Denzel) Perryman or (Benardrick) McKinney.

 

No. 1: I was right Peters wasn't there (I'll take any victories at this point). No. 2: I was right Collins was still available. No. 3: I was wrong Thompson didn't trade down.

 

Part 2: I could be totally wrong and (Thompson) goes off the board and picks a wide receiver or he stays with the need position and picks a name out of left field.

 

I hit this one right on the nose. Thompson went off the board and stayed with the need position and picked a name out of left field.

 

FINAL TALLY: On Part 1 I was right two out of three technically, but totally wrong on the whole. On Part 2 I was totally right (more or less). Not bad score for being wrong.

 

Damarious Randall

Now, if you're still listening to anything I have to say, here's my thoughts on free safety (soon to be cornerback) Damarious Randall from Arizona State.

 

No. 1: He was rated either the top (by Mike Mayock) or the second (by NFL.com) safety on the board, but safety was not hot position commodity, so I think he could have been drafted in Round Two.