2nd Round, Mock Draft

Its still quite a ways before the Packers pick, but a few guys come to mind. Ijanala would be great, but is probably not there. We need OL help.. Orlando Franklin would be a good pick at the end of rd 2, as would Clint Boling. Another place to look is CB… I like Davon House alot and he fits our scheme really well. Could also see Dowling at CB. Either of them would be good picks IMO. At OLB I could see Sam Acho being a good fit. After him maybe Bruce Carter… Carters an athletic freak, but is very raw and could develop into something special. Those cover need positions, but if a WR falls that would be a good pick. Keep w/ BPA, then think need if a couple players are similar.

THe draft didn’t fall very well for the Packers in rd 1, so I can’t say Taylor was a bad fit. And I’ve been thinking about the Packers playing alot more 2-4-5 or 2-5-4 on early downs. Seems w/ the way the pro game is going more pass oriented its a strong possibility and something Capers might do to counter the pass games!

I think if that happens, Ted Thompson will be looking to move down. For the second round, I’d say that Green Bay’s biggest needs would be:

OLB: Obviously we have the Claymaker on one side. And while the three OLBs who played opposite of CM3 did a pretty good job, we don’t have anyone who will strike fear in opposing QBs (i.e. Harrison and Woodley). If a top pass rushing OLB falls to GB then that would be huge. On the other hand, I mentioned that we had three pretty decent ones (Zombo, Jones, and Walden). If there isn’t an OLB that can be an immediate improvement over those three than it isn’t worth it to draft one. GB needs a playmaker, but not depth at OLB.

CB: Unfortunately, Charles Woodson is nearing the end of his career. At this point, he’s kind of playing a hybrid LB-CB-SS for GB. So GB does need to find an eventual replacement for him. As shown in the Super Bowl, GB has 3 awfully good CBs (Williams, Woodson, Shields) but after those three it gets really bad. The dime is either Jarrett Bush (who somehow got extremely lucky to pick off that pass from Big Ben) who no Packers fan trust to be anything more than a special ace, and Pat Lee (a semi high draft pick who has shown nothing since coming to GB). So GB is looking for a dime back who will eventually play the nickel behind Williams and Shields.

Returnman: GBs current top returnman is probably Tremon Williams. Now that he’s come into his own as a top level shut down corner, we cannot risk his injury returning kicks and punts (Also, he wasn’t even that good at it). GB could use a top notch return man and the benefit of this would be that it could also help with depth at either CB or WR.

OT: While Bulaga should be a solid RT and maybe eventually a LT for GB, Clifton won’t stay healthy forever. He’s in the twilight of his career, and so it’s important to find a replacement for him now rather than later.

I would say those are the top needs for GB, though an argument can also be made for WR and RB.

We have Mike Neal to be our RE, but we do have to look for a LE. Taylor could be that guy and contribute in our 2-4 Nickel. That’s where teams had a lot of success running against us, it was when they spread us out and we went into the 2-4. The combination of Taylor and Raji in the middle is simply intimidating. Surely Taylor isn’t known to be a penetrator, but he will hold his ground to free up the ILB’s.

In the 2nd Round, you need to keep your mindset focussed strictly on BPA.

OLB- We could use a ROLB. Someone that has a quick burst off the line and can get after the QB.

CB- We could use some depth. Charles Woodson is catching up in age, and when he goes we’ll need a #3 and #4 CB. Our CB’s were great last year because we didn’t have any injuries at that position until during the Super Bowl. If Woodson goes, which is a plausible hunch given his age, we are not sitting good depth wise. We’ll have Shields and Williams on the outside, but our slot CB’s are dreadful.

OG- LG Darren Colledge will possibly hit Free Agency. We all hope he does at least. Most of us speculate TJ Lang will become the next starter at LG, but he’s no sure thing. If a good OG is available here in the 2nd Round, take him.

OT- If you find one that has good potential, surely you should get him though. I think I would almost rather get a LG here in the 2nd Round instead. Not many OG’s will be taken by this pick, so we could be getting one of the best OG’s in the draft as opposed to the 6-10th best OT. Remember, it’s BPA.

WR- Donald Driver is at the end of his days as a NFL WR. James Jones is a Free Agent. This is a need. I’m hoping for a big target at WR though, especially considering this draft has many of those kind of WR’s.