Packers Receive (Generally) High Marks in Final NFL Draft Grades

Yes, you should wait three years to grade an NFL Draft. But who has time for that? Here is what the NFL punditry says about the Green Bay Packers' draft class.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Draft grades are the candy of the food world. Kind of tasty but filled with empty calories. Fortunately, this collection of draft grades won’t rot your teeth and tick off your dentist. In fact, your dentist is probably reading this, too, while munching on a bag of Skittles.

Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated gave the Packers an A. “I’ll use this space to continue my rant from Thursday. It befuddles me that we depict Aaron Rodgers as this Wizard of Oz-ian character sitting behind the curtain bellowing about the team’s lack of wide receiver talent. Rodgers has been incredibly blessed throughout his career to work with a bevy of talented wideouts supplied to him by the Packers’ front office. Their process has expertly identified high-upside players in the second round and beyond. So when Green Bay took their Davante Adams haul and used it toward patching up the defense, why would he be upset? Wyatt is going to add a fascinating upfield interior pressure component to the Packers defense. A true run disruptor, he’ll help Green Bay become less reliant on their exceptional linebacker play. And, lo and behold, they still end up with Watson, who, in the FCS, looked a little like the 6' 5" kid on the 9-year-old AAU team, completely dominant in an effortless sort of way. The Packers have succeeded with this big-bodied receiver profile before.”

NFL.com’s Chad Reuter loved the draft. He gave the Packers an A for Thursday, an A-minus for Friday and an A for Saturday. Of Saturday’s picks, Reuter wrote: “Doubs and Toure give the team more options at receiver, which was a requirement coming out of this draft. Tom's intelligence and versatility are exactly what the Packers covet (they selected him using the comp pick gained from losing center Corey Linsley). Enagbare is a powerful edge rusher, an excellent find late in the fifth round. Walker's play lacked consistency at Penn State, but his potential to play left tackle was worth a pick in the late stages of the draft.”

ESPN.com's Mel Kiper gave the Packers a B. "I called out the Packers on Thursday night for passing up wide receiver Christian Watson with their two first-round picks .... and they traded up to get Watson the next night" was part of his summation. He also pointed to the picks used on Romeo Doubs and Kingsley Enagbare.

Pro Football Focus gave the Packers a B-plus. As part of the overall wrapup, this is what the staff had to say about Day 3: “Wake Forest offensive lineman Zach Tom has a chance to end up being one of the best values. Many have projected Tom to kick inside in the NFL, but his mirroring ability and athleticism should allow him to stick at tackle if that’s how Green Bay plans to use him. He’s coming off a career-best 92.1 pass-blocking grade last season at Wake Forest.”

Pro Football Focus had live analysis of every pick. Of the Day 3 contingent, three were judged as elite, one as very good, two as good and one as below average. The negative was Georgia Tech safety Tariq Carpenter. “Carpenter's huge 230 frame at 6'3 screams the ideal dime safety/linebacker role. For now, expect the GTU product to star on special teams for Green Bay.”

Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield of USA Today’s Draft Wire gave the Packers an A. They really liked the guys on defense but this is what they had to say about the receivers: “It took a while for the Packers to make Aaron Rodgers a little less miserable by taking receivers in this draft, but they may have hit a home run with North Dakota State’s Christian Watson, who can win from any area of the field, and has special potential as a deep target. Nevada’s Romeo Doubs, last seen catching bombs from Carson Strong, was one of the NCAA’s most productive deep receivers in 2021, so if Rodgers wants to air it out in 2022, he’s got the guys who can make that work.”

CBS Sports gave the Packers four As for its seven picks on Saturday. Among those were their last two picks, Penn State offensive tackle Rasheed Walker and Nebraska receiver Samori Toure. On Walker, Chris Trapasso wrote: “Former big recruit who showcases his athletic chops on film often. Ugly wins pop more than expected but he has invaluable recovery skills and legitimate NFL OT length. If he learns to keep the gate closed longer this can be a steal for Green Bay. On Toure, he wrote: “Darn good football player. Smooth routes, natural hands, some YAC capabilities. Tracks it well deep and has deceptive speed. Was sensational at FCS level then was a major producer after transferring into the Big Ten.”

Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer ranked the teams from best to worst. The Packers ranked toward the top. Wrote Iyer: “Brian Gutekunst and the Packers reached a little to start with Walker, but he did fill a key defensive need and backing him up with fellow Georgia product Wyatt up front made it better. Then came the great trade up to get Watson, a potential outside replacement No. 1 for Davante Adams. Doubs added more big-play upside for Aaron Rodgers later. Rhyan and Tom satisfied another need for interior upgrades between David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins. Enagbare was a late steal as a complementary pass rusher.”

The New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy did the same top-to-bottom ranking. The Packers ranked toward the bottom of his pecking order, though. “Have not picked a first-round offensive weapon during QB Aaron Rodgers’ 17-season career. Bold trade up to get Watson early in the second round, after taking the pair from college football’s best defense. Walker was a one-year starter. Wyatt is a character concern.”

The Washington Post’s Mark Maske gave the Packers a C-minus, tied for its worst grade. “The Packers, even after trading WR Davante Adams, maintained their tradition of not using a first-round pick on a wideout. They did take WR Christian Watson early in the second round. But was that enough help for QB Aaron Rodgers, under the circumstances? It actually might have been appropriate to use two early picks on receivers. Green Bay focused on defense in Round 1 by taking LB Quay Walker and DT Devonte Wyatt, Georgia teammates.”

Nate Davis of USA Today gave the Packers a C-plus. Here’s a snippet of his summation: “This is an eye of the beholder situation. Hard to spin the loss of Adams as any sort of positive, especially when the Pack weren't in position in Round 1 to get an approximate replacement from a talent perspective. GM Brian Gutekunst got aggressive in Round 2, dealing up for North Dakota State WR Christian Watson – though it remains to be seen how quickly he'll earn QB Aaron Rodgers' trust. Yet it's also fair to posit the Packers had gone as far as they could with the Rodgers-Adams connection.”

Pro Football Network’s Ryan Gosling gave the Packers a B. The conclusion of his summation: “It might not have been the draft many anticipated, but there’s some great talent on the back end, and the receiver need was filled as well.”

Pro Football Network’s Cam Mellor went deep on each pick, with four of the Day 3 picks getting an A. Outside linebacker Kingsley Enagbare got an A-plus. “Enagbare is a great fit for what the Packers look for in their edge rushers. His 4.98 40-yard dash might have hurt him, but Enagbare is a powerful defender with elite length and strong hands. He also has impressive ankle flexion for his 6’4”, 271-pound frame. He can dip a little bit and shrink his surface area. He’s not overly fast or explosive, but he still has a lot in his toolbox. The Packers get an arguable top-100 talent here.”

Elite 11: One Awesome Fact About All 11 Packers Draft Picks

First Round – No. 22: Georgia LB Quay Walker

Walker’s road to the NFL started with a dunk while in basketball.

“That happened when I was 15. I was in the gym playing and dunking the ball and (coach Shelton Felton) was there. This was probably like the first or second day after he got hired. He was just walking through and I wasn’t a football player at all. He came up to me and said something that stuck with me: ‘You’re 6-3, 6-4 and you’re playing power forward in basketball. That’s the normal height of a Division I point guard.’ He was like, ‘6-3, 6-4 is big in football, so try football out.’

“I listened to him. My first season, halfway through, I didn’t really like it. He could tell my body language. He told me, ‘Stick with it.’ I was playing offense at the time. The next school year, my junior year, by the springtime, he switched me over to defense. Before you know it, everything just fell how it was supposed to out of nowhere. Listening to him was the best thing I could have ever did.”

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First Round – No. 28: Georgia DT Devonte Wyatt

Wyatt ran the fastest 40-yard dash among the defensive linemen at the Scouting Combine. When did he know he was fast for his size?

“I feel that point was when we were training for the 40 at Arizona,” he said. “They had put me and [fellow Georgia defensive lineman] Jordan Davis out of the big-man group and moved us with the linebackers. And that’s how I knew I was fast, because our numbers were way lower than offensive linemen and the defensive linemen.”

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Second Round – No. 34: North Dakota State WR Christian Watson

Watson’s father, Tim, was drafted by the Packers in 1993. In the 1993 Packers Media Guide, general manager Ron Wolf thought he was the “best tackler in the draft.” He wound up playing in 13 games over four seasons with the Chiefs, Giants and Eagles.

How did his son wind up on offense?

“Becoming a wide receiver, I wanted to compete. As a kid, I played on both sides of the ball but, when it came down to high school days in terms of choosing one thing that I wanted to kind of specialize in, I really wanted to have the rock in my hands. Being able to make an impact with the ball in my hands, that was something that I could see myself doing really well at in the future. And, shoot, throughout my entire childhood, obviously growing up around a football family, we’re just a family full of competitors, so I’ve been competing since such a young age, love competition. I always push myself to be as dominant of a competitor as possible, so it’s just been a lifelong thing.”

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Third Round – No. 92: UCLA OL Sean Rhyan

Rhyan’s father, Scott, was a professional motocross racer. Any thoughts on following his father into the family business?

“Growing up, I wanted to get on a bike, but he got injured so much that he wouldn’t allow me to because I had sports to deal with and play. Riding a motorcycle, it could jeopardize that, so he never let me get on a bike. ”

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Fourth Round – No. 132: Nevada WR Romeo Doubs

Growing up in Los Angeles, Doubs played in Snoop Dogg’s youth football league.

“Being interested in football as a kid, I was fortunate enough to have an older brother who was able to get me into playing football,” he said. Growing up, I thought I was going to be a basketball player. It was just truly a great feeling to play for Snoop Dogg’s youth league. To be more specific, that youth team I played for was green-and-gold and it was a Green Bay logo. So, that’s where things just started to kick in for me. Up until this point, having that feeling that maybe I can’t leave the green-and-gold. It’s always in me, forever in me. Go Pack. It’s really a blessing to participate in his youth football league and come into this point now.

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Fourth Round – No. 140: Wake Forest OL Zach Tom

Tom is from Prairieville, La. His older brother, Cameron, was a four-year starter on the Southern Miss offensive line and has played in 13 games since entering the NFL in 2017. In August 2018, both players played in New Orleans on a Thursday night: Zach for Wake Forest against Tulane and Cameron for the Saints in a preseason game against the Rams.

“I was a big Saints fan growing up,” Tom said. “Offensive linemen that are now in the league, I try to model my game after people like Rashan Slater and Terron Armstead, guys like that who are fairly athletic and that’s like the name of their game. So, watching them, especially when I was moving from center to left tackle, really helped me to see what life is like out there and helped me technically and fundamentally.”

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Fifth Round – No. 179: South Carolina edge Kingsley Enagbare

You can call him Kingsley or J.J. Where does J.J. come from? “It was little cartoon show that I used to watch when I was little kid. And it just kind of stuck with me, I guess.” That show was “Jay Jay the Jet Plane.”

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Seventh Round – No. 228: Georgia Tech S Tariq Carpenter

Carpenter’s mom served five international tours of duty, including three deployments to Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Honoring the troops at games is a big deal.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for those women and men going overseas and putting their life on the line just so we can have freedom. I don’t ever take it for granted. Those young guys, those young women and men that be at the games, they just be sitting there just chilling. I feel like they should get more attention than for us playing football. They’re out there defending us. So, I just give them appreciation and things like that.”

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Seventh Round – No. 234: Miami DT Jonathan Ford

Ford is from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. So is fellow Packers defensive tackle T.J. Slaton. In fact, they went to the same middle school. That’s a lot of beef, with Ford tipping the scales at about 340 pounds.

“I’m very excited man to see two big guys in the middle of that defense man,” he said. “It’s going to be scary out there. I’m very excited to reunite with him and be able to play with him.”

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Seventh Round – No. 249: Penn State OT Rasheed Walker

Walker knows a lot about the Packers for the obvious modern-day reason.

“That’s one of my favorite teams to use on “Madden.” I’ve also watched guys like David Bakhtiari a lot. I look forward to learning a lot from him. I look forward to playing alongside Aaron Rodgers and all the other guys, great players in the organization. I’m just excited, man. I’m going to come in and bring what I have to bring to the table and more. I’m just ready to do this.”

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Seventh Round – No. 258: Nebraska WR Samori Toure

With Montana in 2019, Toure caught 87 passes for 1,495 yards and 13 touchdowns. Transferring to Nebraska allowed Toure to compete against a much higher caliber of cornerback. Most of his 46 receptions this season came from the slot.

“It proved to other people what I already knew myself, that I can play with the best of the best, at the Power-5 level,” he said. “Other than that, what it really showed me is that I can adapt to a new situation, new playbook, new teammates, new coaches, new system, new place. That showed me a lot because that’s what I’ve got to do right now, making that move to the NFL.”

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