Packer Central

Three Packers Selected in PFF’s All-Decade First-Round Draft

Who were the best draft picks at every first-round slot over the past decade? Three Green Bay Packers were selected by Pro Football Focus.

Bill Huber

Jordan Love at Packers OTAs.
Jordan Love at Packers OTAs. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Three Green Bay Packers stalwarts were selected to the Pro Football Focus All-Decade NFL Mock Draft.

From 2015 through 2024, PFF selected the best player drafted at every slot. The Packers were well-represented with cornerback Jaire Alexander, the 18th pick of the 2018 draft, quarterback Jordan Love, the 26th pick of the 2020 draft, and defensive tackle Kenny Clark, the 27th pick of the 2016 draft.

At No. 18, Alexander was the choice over another cornerback, Marcus Peters.

Peters has been the much better playmaker with 33 career interceptions. He led the NFL with eight picks as a rookie in 2015, three pick-sixes in 2019 and interception-return yards in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Alexander has only 10 career interceptions. In 2022, he had a career-high five – a figure matched or surpassed by Peters four times.

However, it was the year-to-year consistency that gave Alexander the nod. In his six seasons, he has allowed a 59.2 percent catch rate, according to PFF, which is slightly better than Peters’ 60.2 percent.

The Packers need him to have a bounce-back season after a tumultuous 2023.

“I think Jaire Alexander can play in any system,” defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley said before the start of OTAs. “He’s a football player; very instinctive, very talented, got cat-like reactionary quickness. He’s tough. He’s got really good power that can shut it down with those big guys out on the red line.

“We always talk about being out on the red line, there’s no help out there. There’s no Wi-Fi service. There’s no phone-a-friend. You’ve got to be able to hold up out there on (Romeo) Doubs, Justin Jefferson, some of those guys and he has that skill-set to do it.”

At No. 26, it took only one season for Love to got the nod over receiver Calvin Ridley (2018) and edge defender Montez Sweat (2019).

“Love’s current peak trumps each of their longer periods of success,” Sikkema wrote.

Over the final eight games of the regular season and the playoff win over Dallas, Love threw 21 touchdowns vs. just one interception.

“I’ve been here a while but, at the same time, I’m still learning new stuff every day,” Love said at Packers OTAs on Tuesday. “There’s so much more for me to learn and improve my game, so I’m just taking it step by step. But I don’t listen to outside noise, things like that, but, yeah, I’ve been here. Especially with a young team, I feel like more of a vet.”

With a string of excellent seasons, Clark “gets the nod for his ceiling and longevity” over cornerbacks Byron Jones (2015) and Tre’Davious White (2017). A three-time Pro Bowler, he had a career-high 7.5 sacks last season.

After spending his entire career in a 3-4 scheme, Clark is eager to go on the attack in new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 scheme.

“I think it’s going to be really good,” Clark said. “It’s one of things where all my career I’ve been kind of been playing this way, but in more of a controlled way. And I think now this is giving us a chance to shut all that other stuff off, no technique really, and just use your ability and just go up the field and be disruptive. I just think with my get off and how I am, I think it’s going to suit me well.”

One of Green Bay’s best first-round picks, Rashan Gary, was taken 12th overall in 2019. The choice at that spot was Dallas’ Micah Parsons. 

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Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.