Jordan Morgan, OL, Arizona 2024 1st Round Pick, #25

[MY_TAKE]

Ultimately, sounds like a good pick. Versatile lineman that has the upside to get better and will be able to do what the Packers ask him to do. I don't love the fact he has had an ACL already, but hopefully we never have to hear them letters again concerning him.

[musclestang]

nobody likes picking Olineman. It's boring, but it's how you build a dominant team. Nothing is more cliche and nothing is more true than the saying, "it all starts in the trenches".

The Packers need to upgrade at least 2 of their Olineman this offseason. yes they were "fine", but fine isn't good and we're an injury away from being desperate. So upgrade 2, put the 2 that were "fine" as back ups and lets go.

If Morgan is someone that can fill a position for the next 8-10 years or more at a high level, it's an excellent pick. SOunds like he can potentially play a couple positions and we can easily upgrade a tackle, a guard and our center and be so much better for it.

[BF004]

Curious if he is a LT only or if he can move to RT or even play RG. Also curious if Walker has the ability to move.

I will say Morgan was my #1 hope at 41. So taking him at 25 isn't terribly out of reach. Edge Coop was also a huge want at 41 and I low key thought we may target Coop at 25.

Lot of people pre draft had him as iOL.

I sure did.

Kind of surprised how many people are saying LT. But I definitely don’t think he is LT only, I think he should be very versatile. I could see him anywhere but center long term.

[BF004]

Gutey says he can play 4 positions.

"best 5" talk will follow strongly and heavily

Should have read further into the thread, lol.

[paco]

Curious if he is a LT only or if he can move to RT or even play RG. Also curious if Walker has the ability to move.

I will say Morgan was my #1 hope at 41. So taking him at 25 isn't terribly out of reach. Edge Coop was also a huge want at 41 and I low key thought we may target Coop at 25.

Lot of people pre draft had him as iOL.

I sure did.

Kind of surprised how many people are saying LT. But I definitely don’t think he is LT only, I think he should be very versatile. I could see him anywhere but center long term.

Belicheck says he's a LT all the way, so that's interesting. I had him pegged inside as well, but after seeing the Bakhtiari comp and hearing that, I'm open to anything (and trust Gutey). Arm length be damned! He's got some big hands though.

[Yoop]

still think he'll start the season at RG, most prognosticators think so to, least the ones I've read, have to admit this does seem to resemble our pick of Myers versus that other center thats been a better pro, but we'll see, have to lean on our ability to find good talent at OL

Think Guty would have taken Arnold if he would have dropped to us, but he wouldn't move up to get him, I was hoping he would, we only had 9 picks last year, and minus pass rush we all say how poor our secondary was, specially after Guty traded our best picker.

he needs to make a haul today, or I may not forgive him

[Waldo]

Curious if he is a LT only or if he can move to RT or even play RG. Also curious if Walker has the ability to move.

I will say Morgan was my #1 hope at 41. So taking him at 25 isn't terribly out of reach. Edge Coop was also a huge want at 41 and I low key thought we may target Coop at 25.

Lot of people pre draft had him as iOL.

I sure did.

Kind of surprised how many people are saying LT. But I definitely don’t think he is LT only, I think he should be very versatile. I could see him anywhere but center long term.

The NFLN broadcast said he was the most day 1 starting ready LT in the draft, though others had more upside.

[paco]

still think he'll start the season at RG, most prognosticators think so to, least the ones I've read, have to admit this does seem to resemble our pick of Myers versus that other center thats been a better pro, but we'll see, have to lean on our ability to find good talent at OL

How so? I assume you are comparing to Barton who most had higher. But it seemed most viewed Barton as a straight center. The fact we mentioned him as an OT leads me to believe they'll look it him there first, but he very well could bump inside. So I'm not sure this is an apples to apples comparison. Time will tell who's a better player in the end. But I think their comps were much closer than Myers and Humphrey.

[BF004]

Funny

[Yoop]

still think he'll start the season at RG, most prognosticators think so to, least the ones I've read, have to admit this does seem to resemble our pick of Myers versus that other center thats been a better pro, but we'll see, have to lean on our ability to find good talent at OL

How so? I assume you are comparing to Barton who most had higher. But it seemed most viewed Barton as a straight center. The fact we mentioned him as an OT leads me to believe they'll look it him there first, but he very well could bump inside. So I'm not sure this is an apples to apples comparison. Time will tell who's a better player in the end. But I think their comps were much closer than Myers and Humphrey.

I was, Barton got a lot more hype as a interior player, but also has tackle ability, I thought Humphrey and Myers ran neck and neck in that draft class, Andy Herman saw Morgan as just about the same player as Barton, thats what I was going off.

again most draft people see Morgan as a interior player, the 32 7/8th arms tell them that, and also the part about his over extension tendency to close the back door allowing inside counters, very correctable obviously, we'll see, there are still a bunch of good OL in this draft and we have a lot of options.

[Cdragon]

The boys were looking at Morgan as one of four guys they wanted around that slot.

Jones, in a post-selection interview session, told the media that the following players were prospects that he “coveted” with the 24th overall pick: Arizona tackle Jordan Morgan, Oklahoma tackle Tyler Guyton, Missouri defensive lineman Darius Robinson and Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton.

[Foosball]

The Packers didn’t draft Morgan in the 1st round to be a guard.

He will compete at LT and more than likely win the job over Walker. Which in my opinion isn’t saying much.

This smells a little like the Meyers Humphrey fiasco. Both Morgan and Barton have short arms. Both players feel they can play left tackle. We’ll see down the road if Gute outsmarted himself again.

Morgan is intelligent. He dropped some weight so his combine numbers would be better which improved his RAS. He normally plays around 320-325lbs but weighed 311 for the testing.

What is also impressive is how Morgan played a year after an ACL. So theoretically he should be even better this year. That is theoretical.

[BF004]

We could just also listen to what Gutenkunst says.

Lot of versatile guys should make it easier to get best 5 on the field.

Might be a 3 way competition between Walker, Myers and Rhyan.

[Labrev]

Yeah Morgan was getting Round 1 buzz late, and I thought those reports were credible. OL play across the league has gotten pretty poor, so demand for big uglies that are at all playable is high. Look how many were taken this round.

So I think the folks saying we could have gotten him later are mistaken.

Morgan is already considered great (some even say elite) in his pass-pro ability. Keeping the QB upright gets you drafted high.

[Yoop]

he might be able to start and play at several positions, with some coaching he'll be a road grader as a run blocker, just needs to improve some technical stuff, still think he becomes our starting RG this season

why anyone would feel he is over drafted to play interior makes little since to me, other teams use the first to pick up interior players in every draft class.

also, this is a bumper crop of very good college OL that the draft rarely see's, and if not for the 6 QB's taken top 12 would have seen a few more go with Alt top 10, and after watching 6 or 7 go prior to us, in a more normal draft it's very possible Morgan would have already been taken.

also I don't buy a single word Jerry Jones just said, the Cowboys have been said to have zero'd in on either Mims or Guyton for the last month or so, and traded back because the way the picks played out where assured he'd be there at 29, and that is what happened.

also, Worthy is a straight line burner who weighs 165, guys with burner speed who lose the LOS release also lose the opportunity to be thrown to, he better come with some great get off or Mahomes will have to look towards someone else.

[YoHoChecko]

I’m intrigued by this report that he’s the most ready to play by the NFLN commentators because I watched the excellent breakdowns by Wahle and a Uglem (thanks for posting those, guys!) and it seems like he’s a bit underpowered and has absolute rebuild-from-the-ground-up hand usage.

I think he’s going to turn into a starting caliber NFL OT and might end up an elite pass protector. But I don’t see him stepping in from day one and competing at RG and OT like I’d have wanted from a T/G prospect. His body feels more like a table than a guard to me as well, but hopefully he has the versatility we anticipate from him.

Morgan was raved about specifically for teams running Shanahan style offense, so he’s a legit guy.

I’m fine with it but don’t love it

I guess I struggle seeing where his trajectory is better than Brandon Coleman, who is more raw but appears to have similar traits to develop--and who doesn't have the arm questions; and whose body looks thicker and stronger.

I'm obviously prone to trust the team over myself, but whoever mentioned that Morgan over Barton feels like Myers over Humphrey where the big consensus pick is bypassed and goes immediately after our differently-valued player selection.


Also don't love the track record of Packers OL picks who didn't do agility drills. We get it right a lot more often when we have the thresholds met. We guess wrong a lot when there are no numbers.

Hopefully he balls out and this works nicely. Interesting to see how they divvy out his practice snaps and development.

[YoHoChecko]

I think my ambivalence on this pick comes down to it feels like we got the first tackle in a lower tier (more developmental, less ready, less proven versatility)

The packers based on action and word clearly feel they got the last tackle in a higher tier.

That dichotomy is the gap between their move and my reaction

[YoHoChecko]

Actually for my third straight post of talking to myself about the pick, I'm going to officially raise the Jason Spriggs alarm bells here because there is just too much tape of guys deciding to bull rush him and driving him straight backwards.

I'm not saying it's a bad pick or a bad player... and his leadership, work ethic, and temperment are different than Spriggs in a positive direction but my my, this guy goes straight backward when defenders go directly at him. Not sure how a guy who can't handle DE power is supposed to have guard versatility to handle DT power.

Strength and technique rebuild project in round one? This guy seems a year away and we have the flexibility to take our time with him, but gosh in round one you want someone a little bit more refined or more ideal measurably (arms, lack of agility testing, lack of bulk). I know he was valued there by many people but man it just seems like you can gamble on athletic upside with bad fundamentals two rounds later. We like to take some fairly risky swings on bigtime players at premium positions early in the draft, but I do not like the risk/reward value here. He may or may not turn out to be a good player but I don't like the process. If we ended up taking a developmental RG at pick 25 I'll be so annoyed. If he ends up becoming a long-term high level starting OT it'll be fine.


I know this sounds nuts but I sort of want the Packers to swap sides with all their tackles; put Tom on the left side and let Morgan learn RT and RG from the jump to get used to switching sides (he's only ever played LT). Let Walker (who has been a swing tackle for us in his two years of practice and development despite just being LT in games) compete with Morgan at RT and let Rhyan compete with Morgan at RG and let the chips fall where they may. Let Tom and Elgton just lock down the left side; set it and forget it.

Then draft a C/G later to push Myers (and also Rhyan)

[lupedafiasco]

Felt the same thing about him being Jason Spriggs. Just really lacks strength. Morgan is going to need to get significantly fly stronger which shouldn’t be the case already considering he’s 325.

[Pckfn23]

You guys are watching too much Andy Herman and only Andy Herman. Broaden your opinion base. It runs the gamut here. You can read reports where it says he has good strength and nastiness in the run game, then reports where he needs a better anchor. You can read reports where he is the best pass blocking tackle in the league and others where he gets knocked back too often. The TWO constants I have been reading is his hands tend to be inconsistent at times and low and that he tends to overset in his kick step and be susceptible to inside pass rushing moves. I suspect the latter is what some mistakes as a lack of strength and him getting bullrushed.