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Today we are exactly two weeks out from round one of the 2017 NFL Draft. While we continue looking at prospects, and team needs, we also can look back at past drafts to find trends that illustrate what to expect certain teams to do two weeks from now.
Or we can not do that, in some cases.
More importantly, however, the first 32 picks in the 2014 draft class will start popping up in the news over the next few weeks. Teams are now beginning to exercise their fifth-year options for the first-round picks from that draft, as we find in today's Cheese Curds. The Packers' eligible player is safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who made his first Pro Bowl in 2016 and led the team in interceptions last season with five.
Let's just make it clear here: Clinton-Dix will receive the fifth-year option. For players chosen outside the top 10 picks of the draft, the option value is the average of the third-highest through 25th-highest salaries at the player's position. Rough math using Over The Cap's contract data for safeties (taking the average money per year) puts that estimate at about $7.5 million for 2018. That dollar value would make Ha Ha the 11th-highest-paid safety by average annual value, which still sounds perfectly reasonable based on his play and development.
History suggests Packers can get an impact RB late in draft | Packers Wire
This is why we at APC have been saying that a first-round running back does not make sense for the Packers, and it's also probably why Ted Thompson is loath to use high picks on running backs; the difference between a first-round back and a fourth-rounder is likely to be far less than the difference between pass rushers in those rounds.
Packers Draft Needs and Prospect Fits | PFF
*Tex opens browser, begins reading analysis of the Packers' cornerbacks*
"The Packers haven’t shown a heavy reliance on (athletic) testing"
*SPITS TEA ON MONITOR*
Prospect Primer: WR KD Cannon, Baylor | Packers.com
Cannon had 1,200 yards in his final season at Baylor, and he had over 200 yards and two scores in the Bears' bowl game.
Aaron Rodgers' Personal Life Is Out Of Bounds | CheeseheadTV
Good stuff here from Jason Perone. We mentioned the Rodgers/Munn split here once, and will not address it again after this.
Rams exercise fifth-year option on Aaron Donald - NFL.com
The 2014 first-rounders will have their options decided between now and May third, as discussed above. Donald is just the first player to officially get the option; the Rams declined the option on offensive lineman Greg Robinson, however, who was the 2nd overall pick that year.
Are the Browns going to screw it up by drafting a QB over Myles Garrett? - SBNation.com
As someone who counts numerous Browns fans among my friends, I hope they don't blow it.