Packers Huddle

Rank The Roster: 2020 Edition

1. Aaron Rodgers (48%)[--]
2. Za'Darius Smith (70%)[+5]
3. Aaron Jones (43%)[+3]
4. Davante Adams (45%)[--]
5. David Bakhtiari (59%)[-3]
6. Kenny Clark (100%)[-3]
7. Current

Percent of vote the winner got will be in parenthesis, position change vs. 2019 will be in brackets.

Here's how this works:

Each day there is a new thread/poll, starting at #1, on down to whereever we get. The whole point of this exercise is to have something to talk about in the lean news months to carry us to camp. Each poll will be open for voting for 24 hours. New threads will only be created on weekdays. Ties will cause a runoff poll.

Simply voting is not enough!

Post why you voted for who you did and provide a player to add to the next poll (every poll will be a list of 10 guys, a new player is added to the list each day).

Here's the thing. There is no criteria. This is an exercise to foster discussion therefore there are no clear criteria for ranking. Who is better right now? Who will have the best season? Who was better last year? Sort of a combo of them all? Do you take positional value into account? It really doesn't matter.

Previous Years:
Rank the Roster: 2014-2019

That would be the clear end of Tier 2. Jaire Alexander takes the first spot in Tier 3 (and I would imagine fairly easily).

Expanded the list here to all 20, though we're still a few picks away from a large increase in pick variety. Even though the solid starter tier seems light, as I've added names, it seems like the next tier, low end starters/guys competing to start/high upside rookies is in fact pretty wide, the Mason line might be the lowest yet this year.

I'm going to go Elgton here. Close call between him and Jaire, but I think Jaire didn't have a great year last year and I worry about him going the way of Hayward. Elgton has never looked like anything other than a future dominant player. He had some penalty issues, and got beat a time or two to smart ol vets, but he often looked like a man among boys going against pro DT's. It would not surprise me at all if he's in the all-pro convo already this season.

McCarthy always talked about the year 1 to 2 jump. I always thought the year 2-3 jump was often more noticeable.

I’m gunna go Jaire here. Somewhat on hope. Him turning into a top 5 corner in the league is better for us than if Elgton becomes a top 5 guard.

True HOF level playmaking ability.

Kind of surprised by the early votes for Jenkins.

I think I still have Smith, Linsley, and Amos ahead of Jenkins. Maybe its the "prove it" or "do it again" factors, but I think this area is still a bit rich for Jenkins.

Im in for Jaire here. I actually think we collectively underrate him alot because the INT numbers are low for a top corner. But i think we ask him to do a lot. Lots of man single coverage, and the only time he really loses those matchups is when he makes a bad gamble. Now that is a sign hes not the best corner in the league yet, but i think he is really really good. He is the clear choice for this slot to me.

20. CB JAIRE ALEXANDER, GREEN BAY PACKERS

Age at kickoff: 23 years, 7 months, 1 day

I’ll start this out by saying that Alexander has had his fair share of losses at the catch point, which is why his grading has been good but not great thus far, but he’s one of the more aggressive and skilled cornerbacks in the NFL when it comes to making plays on the ball. His two-year contested-target percentage and forced incompletion rate both rank among the top 10 players at the position. Just last year, Alexander’s 20 forced incompletions were second at the cornerback position behind Carlton Davis. There are a lot of things to like about his ability to stick with NFL wide receivers.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-rankings-t ... -age-of-25

Jaire, then Preston, Amos, Jenkins, Savage for the next tier for me.

Packfntk wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 08:56

Jaire, then Preston, Amos, Jenkins, Savage for the next tier for me.

Replace Savage with King and I am there.

I have Alexander, Amos and the two tons - Elg and Pres - in this tier.

Going Alexander due to positional importance, and also 'cause I love to watch that feisty never-back-down style of playing ball. Just a little 3rd year jump, and he could add "the Great" to his name.

I won't have Savage quite yet. He made a LOT of mistakes reading plays and taking angles, many of 'em costly. Was especially victimized in the NFCCG. The potential to be special is there, but I'm knocking him a bit in this ranking.

i actually felt like Preston started off hot, but really disappeared for long stretches. He was certainly still a nice addition, but i have Jaire as much higher than him. I might look to Linsley, amos before i go Preston.

Amos was never much of a playmaker after week one bears INT, but he is steady eddie as far as reliable to do his job. He is pretty good in run support too. He may lack flashy plays, but i think he did the job he was paid to do well.

Drj820 wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 09:33

i actually felt like Preston started off hot, but really disappeared for long stretches. He was certainly still a nice addition, but i have Jaire as much higher than him. I might look to Linsley, amos before i go Preston.

Amos was never much of a playmaker after week one bears INT, but he is steady eddie as far as reliable to do his job. He is pretty good in run support too. He may lack flashy plays, but i think he did the job he was paid to do well.

I was actually literally gunna post something similar about Preston. Really kind of disappeared down the stretch.

I will probably have him like 5 spots lower than the consensus on him. I wouldn't be shocked if Gary passes him up in snaps by the end of the year.

I don't care that the support for Jenkins is based off of 1 season; I'm not big into "provenness"-arguments. I feel perfectly comfortable projecting forward. He's a legit perrenial all-pro talent and his craft already is very refined.

I don't see anyone else on the list as comparably talented and this refined, either -- generally they're either one or the other at this point. So yeah, Jenkins.

*edit*

Gotta be honest, I see Zander is a high-end CB2, just decent CB1, not a "Blue." He does not force many turnovers because his ball-skills kinda suck, but then he is not truly lockdown, either: he can be had by size and smooth route-running like with Amari Cooper. I appreciate him for what he is but I think Jenkins is better at what he does.

BF004 wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 10:17

Drj820 wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 09:33

i actually felt like Preston started off hot, but really disappeared for long stretches. He was certainly still a nice addition, but i have Jaire as much higher than him. I might look to Linsley, amos before i go Preston.

Amos was never much of a playmaker after week one bears INT, but he is steady eddie as far as reliable to do his job. He is pretty good in run support too. He may lack flashy plays, but i think he did the job he was paid to do well.

I was actually literally gunna post something similar about Preston. Really kind of disappeared down the stretch.

I will probably have him like 5 spots lower than the consensus on him. I wouldn't be shocked if Gary passes him up in snaps by the end of the year.

Did his play drop off or just his sack numbers, which can be streaky? I thought he was pretty consistent and came out and put up 2 more sacks in the Divisional Play-Off Game. His stats definitely trailed off in December, but should I really care when the team gave up 13, 15, 13, 10, & 20 points and went 5-0 in December?

NCF wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 10:40

Did his play drop off or just his sack numbers, which can be streaky? I thought he was pretty consistent and came out and put up 2 more sacks in the Divisional Play-Off Game. His stats definitely trailed off in December, but should I really care when the team gave up 13, 15, 13, 10, & 20 points and went 5-0 in December?

Exactly what I was going to say. What were his pressure numbers? Looked pretty dominant in the Seahawks playoff game:

Packfntk wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 11:21

NCF wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 10:40

Did his play drop off or just his sack numbers, which can be streaky? I thought he was pretty consistent and came out and put up 2 more sacks in the Divisional Play-Off Game. His stats definitely trailed off in December, but should I really care when the team gave up 13, 15, 13, 10, & 20 points and went 5-0 in December?

Exactly what I was going to say. What were his pressure numbers? Looked pretty dominant in the Seahawks playoff game:

Preston is probably next for me. 12 sacks, 34 pressures during the regular season per Pro Football Reference is GREAT for a guy who had more responsibility vs the run and didn't have the freedom to roam like Z.

Had 7 sacks, 22 pressures in 1st half of the season, 5 sacks and 12 pressures in second half, so definitely fizzled somewhat, but still solid.

I have to go Jaire here too. When he was drafted we needed a younger, consistent player at the position after exhausting resources on Randall and Rollins. I feel like he sometimes gets a little too touchy at times, but he's definitely the best player in the secondary.

Yeah, I'm going Jaire, then Preston Smith. I view Amos as more of a reliable starter than a potential difference-maker, so he's a drop below. Jenkins I'm down on the positional value.

I think I'm going with Jaire. His talent, impact and positional importance is too hard to pass on here. Preston is up there, too, but I just think Jaire will be the more impactful player.

One player I don't see getting any love yet is Christian Kirksey. Yes, he's an unknown and his injury history is significant. He has a chance, though, to be our most impactful defensive player outside of the players already voted in. I have a feeling we may look back upon these rankings next year with a "we sure missed on him" type response.

APB wrote: ↑

06 May 2020 12:28

One player I don't see getting any love yet is Christian Kirksey. Yes, he's an unknown and his injury history is significant. He has a chance, though, to be our most impactful defensive player outside of the players already voted in. I have a feeling we may look back upon these rankings next year with a "we sure missed on him" type response.

I'm with you. I will be voting for him higher than I believe most will, as well. I still see people saying that swapping Kirksey in for Martinez is a downgrade or makes us worse as a team. I'm not willing to declare it a huge upgrade, but I do fully believe that if we get the best version of Kirksey it will end up a clear enough upgrade over 2019 Martinez.