Grading the 2022 Draft

[lupedafiasco]

They say it takes 3 years to grade a draft...

Round 1a: Quay Walker
Overall Quay has just been a fine to bad player the majority of his career. By year 3 you really expect an ILB with Quays physical tools to take off. It possible he finally brings it all together this year. Afterall, it took Patrick Queen till his 4th year to show he was a talented players and Roquan Smith till year 5. The issue I still take with this pick is that it was seen as a massive reach and the consensus top LB in Devin Lloyd was available who has turned into a pretty consistent and good ILB for the Jaguars. I thought Quay wasnt the best LB on his team at the time of the draft and on top of that he lacked experience as a true ILB. When you take an ILB in the first round it needs to hit and 3 years in it hasnt. Right now I wouldnt pick up his 5th year option based on the results hes displayed on the field.
D+

Round 1b: Devonte Wyatt
I hated this pick. Not because I dont think Wyatt isnt talented but he was too old to use a 1st round pick on. Wyatt turns 27 this offseason with 2 years of control left on his deal. This was always going to be a one contract and done type of player which to be is pretty unforgiveable to pick in the 1st round. As far as his play on the field hes just been fine. Hes a solid pass rusher which has value but not elite. As a run defender hes been pretty bad mostly because he cant secure tackles. Too many ties he impacts the play and doesnt finish. I would take the option because interior pass rushers can be hard to find and he is still disruptive but I wouldnt resign a player sold old an unaccomplished.
D+

Round 2: Christian Watson
I think Watson is very much over rated amongst Packer fans. His big games do end up being huge but no different than any other speed demon in the league who sporadically finishes with large yardage totals. Watson never eclipsed more than 47 yards a game and at 6'5" he should have developed into a redzone threat which also never happened. The injuries make this pick even worse. I understood the gamble and its very similar to what we did with Musgrave but with Pickens available the pick to me was obvious then and even more clear now. At this stage of his career you cant resign him with the injuries and lack of production.
D

Round 3: Sean Rhyan
I always thought Rhyan was going to take time to develop but the tools were there for him to become the next TJ Lang type. He didnt boom that hard but hes become a serviceable OG. Getting a starting lineman in the 3rd round is a pretty good find and even though hes probably just a 1 and done type of player you will want to upgrade upon that still not a bad pick.
B-

Round 4a: Romeo Doubs
Another player I feel is massively over rated by Packer fans. Doubs is just ok and hes an ok find for a player in the 4th round. He never topped 64 yards a game and never really developed any special trait at the WR position. Hes simply just a good #4 WR you would want to come into a game if you are beat up at the position or playing in a WR heavy formation. However, because of the ineptness of this organization and their ability to find pass catchers he was forced into a role where he needed to be the go to guy in gotta have it situations and thats really not Doubs or his game. Its not a player you would really look to bring back moving forward.
C

Round 4b: Zach tom
I loved this pick. I thought it was a steal at the time and hes surpassed expectations. I thought he had potential as a good swing OT and starting OC. I thought he might struggle at OT because his lack of size and strength but hes played well at RT. I still think you want him where he would be best at OC, especially now with Morgan on the team but a good player thats versatile are hard to come by and to snag a starting lineman in the 4th is a homerun.
A+

Round 5a: Kingsley Enagbare
I also really loved this pick. I never expected anything out of Enagbare but to be a solid rotational pass rush player and I think thats what he is. In the 5th round you are happy with what Enagbare provides to the team.
B+

Round 7a: Tariq Carpenter
I know its the 7th round but this was a stupid pick. Carpenter was a player with no position in the NFL. Not big enough to survive at LB, not fast enough to survive at S, not the kind of athlete you want playing on your STs unit. He was quickly out of the league.
F

Round 7b: Jonathan Ford
I also liked this pick. I have always believed if you are going to try and get a massive NT you can just sit and wait on them. They rarely play or need to be played unless they are the incredibly rare athletes like Dexter Lawrence or Vita Vea. He never stuck around because we didnt have much use for a big body like his compared to other NT types on the roster but hes stuck around in the league.
C

Round 7c: Rasheed Walker
Another pick I absolutely loved. I felt Walker had too good of size and experience not to be at least a good swing OT. He turned into a starter. Hes not the type you probably keep around long term either but landing a starting caliber OT in the 7th is another home run.
A+

Round 7d: Samouri Toure
Toure was just what you expected out of a 7th round WR. He didnt last long and made his mistakes but what do you really expect to find here?
D

Overall: C-
This will seem like a really harsh grade I think to most but if you take a look at this draft class and consider we had 5 picks going into the draft in the top 100 we should have come away with significantly better. In this class you probably only want to retain Tom and because you didnt hit big anywhere else maybe Rhyan. With the surplus of draft capital walking into this draft this should have been what set this team up to be contenders for the next 5 years. Instead you got a lot of underachievers, especially early in this one. When watching live I remember and hoping we would move up for Kyle Hamilton, a top 5 talent falling and we had the capital to make a move. When we look at our competition the Lions who had capital like this went and took Gibbs, a star at RB, Campbell a fine LB, and LaPorta a really good TE. The Eagles wisely moved up and got the top talent in Jalen Carter and later in the 1st got Nolan Smith who is on a tear as a pass rusher.

My point is when you have draft capital like this you need to make it count and I think the Packers really missed an opportunity given the picks they had coming into this draft vs what they came away with. Its the 2nd time Gutenbumst had 2 first rounds picks and when we look back on this draft and the Gary/Savage class, I think you have to do more with those franchise altering draft capitals.

[Acrobat]

Seems like one of those drafts where we'll look back on it feeling like we really scored with building a solid, consistent O-Line.

Really gotta start hitting on 1st round picks though. Let's just look at the last 5 years:

2020 - Jordan Love - We hit this one but still hoping he can go from good to great.
2021 - Eric Stokes - Huge Miss
2022 - Quay and Wyatt - Ok but not Franchise changing in any way.
2023 - Van Ness - Appears to be on his way to be a huge miss considering where we took him
2024 - Jordan Morgan - Incomplete

That's 5 drafts, and only one 1st round pick appears to be a franchise changer (Love) who's coming off of a season that did not meet expectations. Yikes! Of course drafts can be won in other rounds, but need to start hitting on these 1st round picks.

[Labrev]

It's actually a pretty solid draft. We got tremendous value out of Day 3: two starting OTs, one elite, one solid; one solid if unspectacular starting WR; a decent rotational EDGE.

It is the top of the draft that leaves wanting. This has been a consistent theme with our Mgmt: some good role-players and good/decent starters, but a lack of true studs. I do think we are victims of our own success in a sense that we usually pick mid-20s. Those guys tend not to be real first-round picks, they are largely glorified Round 2 guys.

I also feel like we have not been great at the "develop" part of D&D. For example, Hafley figured out quickly that Quay and Wyatt need to be played to just attack. Quay looked like the lightbulb finally came on for him late down the stretch. Barry didn't know what he was doing, with those two or in general.

Watson fell victim to our incompetent S&C (was not injury-prone out of college) then had a bad luck ACL tear. Injury bust, just unfortunate.

[Acrobat]

It's actually a pretty solid draft. We got tremendous value out of Day 3: two starting OTs, one elite, one solid; one solid if unspectacular starting WR; a decent rotational EDGE.

It is the top of the draft that leaves wanting. This has been a consistent theme with our Mgmt: some good role-players and good/decent starters, but a lack of true studs. I do think we are victims of our own success in a sense that we usually pick mid-20s. Those guys tend not to be real first-round picks, they are largely glorified Round 2 guys.

I also feel like we have not been great at the "develop" part of D&D. For example, Hafley figured out quickly that Quay and Wyatt need to be played to just attack. Quay looked like the lightbulb finally came on for him late down the stretch. Barry didn't know what he was doing, with those two or in general.

Watson fell victim to our incompetent S&C (was not injury-prone out of college) then had a bad luck ACL tear. Injury bust, just unfortunate.

That is a good point that I forgot to mention. We consistently draft in the 20's. Makes it tough to get that stud in Round 1. For me, that's what makes Van Ness such a bigger bust because he was an earlier pick.