Draft Day Two: The Rebuilding of Defense Hits Year Six With No End in Sight

The rebuilding of the defense is now in its sixth year after General Manager Ted Thompson traded down in the 1st round to pick Washington cornerback Kevin King with the first pick of the 2nd round, North Carolina safety Josh James with the 29th pick in the 2nd round and Auburn defensive tackle Montravius Adams with the 29th pick of the 3rd round.

It all started with the 2012 draft when The Ted used his first 6 of his 8 draft picks on defense (OLB Nick Perry, DE Jerel Worthy, CB Casey Hayward, DT Mike Daniels, SS Jerron McMillian, ILB Terrell Manning). The following year saw DE Datone Jones picked No. 1 with S Micah Hyde at 5 followed by DE Josh Boyd at 5, OLB Nate Palmer at 6 and ILB Sam Barrington at 7.

The consecutive string of 1st round picks on the defensive side continued in 2014 with S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to go with DT Khyri Thornton at 3, OLB Carl Bradford at 4 and CB Demetri Goodson at 6. The hit parade continued in 2015 with CBs Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins going 1 and 2 followed by ILB Jake Ryan at 4, and DT Christian Ringo at 6.

Last year it was DT Kenny Clark at No. 1 along with OLB Kyler Frackrell at 3, ILB Blake Martinez at 4 and DE Dean Lowry at 4.

That a total of 15 defensive players were drafted from 2012 to 2014 and those players should be the core of the defense right now, but that is not the case with only 4 remaining on the roster (Perry, Daniels, Clinton-Dix, Goodson). In fact, of the 11 players drafted in 2012 and 2013 only 2 remain with the team (Perry and Daniels) with the entire 2013 class on other teams after being released or let walk in free agency.

All 8 of the defensive players drafted in 2015 and 2016 are still will the team with Randall, Ryan and Martinez earning starting positions. Rollins became a starter last year because of injuries, but he was actually beat out by an undrafted free agent LaDarius Gunter.

Perry is coming off his only good season earning him big $ while Daniels and Clinton-Dix are legitimate Pro Bowlers. Otherwise Randall and Rollins regressed last year and Goodson hardly played before suffering a gruesome knee injury last year. Ryan and Martinez were the starters at inside linebacker last year, but  they didn't set the league on fire. Ringo hasn't earned much playing time either.

The rest of last year's draftees Clark, Frackrell and Lowry were situational players at best with Clark, well, drafting Adams at No. 3 makes his future a little more questionable because he only started 2 games last year.

The record of the Draft Guru to the Stars is very spotty. The dismal state of the Packers defense sits totally in The Ted's skinny lap. He tried to make up for his mistakes with the drafting of King and Adams, and the selection of Jones makes Morgan Burnett's spot tenuous.

However, the main problem on the defense is the lack of a pass rush and the terrible play of Ryan, Martinez and undrafted free agent Joe Thomas at inside linebacker. The Ted ignored the major problems with his 1st 3 picks.

I feel Day 1 was a no show and Day 2 was out of whack. While King, Jones and Adams may end up being the "best player available" the Packers defense has major problems (staring with Dom Capers), but the most major problems were ignored when the best players were available. Once again The Ted will try to solve problems on the cheap with late round draft picks.