Packers Mailbag: Undervalued pieces, post-draft free agency, and schedule talk
It's mailbag time, and it's during a special part of the calendar. We've turned to April, so it's officially draft month. We know how much the Green Bay Packers value the draft process, undoubtedly the most important aspect of their roster-building philosophy. So, let's talk about this and a lot more. Carrington Valentine is certainly […]
It's mailbag time, and it's during a special part of the calendar. We've turned to April, so it's officially draft month. We know how much the Green Bay Packers value the draft process, undoubtedly the most important aspect of their roster-building philosophy.
So, let's talk about this and a lot more.
Carrington Valentine is certainly the one I would be more comfortable with, because he played as a CB2 — and several games even as the CB1 — last year and performed at a pretty good level. He's young and has the physical capabilities to grow even more.
Then, Isaiah McDuffie. He isn't your ideal starter, but he's underrated to a point. He played better than Quay Walker last season, and for some games he was the best linebacker on the roster. Both Valentine and McDuffie are undervalued for the most part.
The worst situation among these for me is Sean Rhyan. I advocated for the coaching staff to give him playing time last year and see what they had. They did, and it was not good. Rhyan was not great in pass block, and even in run block, which was presumably his calling card, he was a downgrade compared to Jon Runyan. We've seen how better Jordan Love is when he's protected, so that's certainly a big priority.
I doubt it will change anytime soon. General manager Brian Gutekunst will obviously keep the power over the 53-man roster, Russ Ball has a lot of say in the financial area, and there's no benefit in changing the structure to put Gutekunst above Ball and head coach Matt LaFleur at this point. I was not a fan of the change in structure when it happened in 2019 — in the old model, the head coach was under the general manager, and now they both report directly to the president. But if that's the direction they chose, there's not reason to change that again while Gutekunst and LaFleur are there.
I'm sorry to disappoint you because I'm not a big WWE guy — I like the real thing, the UFC. Either way, based on the physical profile, I'm pretty sure that Lukas Van Ness would be a great pro wrestler. Have you seen his picture with Cooper DeJean? The guy is unreal. In general, the Packers love great athletes, and the RAS profile they look for is a real consideration, so that fits well to find wrestlers here and there on the roster.
It has already happened with Thursday games. The recovery and preparation time from Sunday to Thursday is simply not enough, and that's why Thursday games always feel sloppy. But we all understand why these games happen, and at the end of the day it benefits everyone — teams get more money, and therefore players get their share as well, and fans love the extra prime time game during the week.
Games on Fridays, for example, don't make things any harder. As far as games on Wednesdays, the assumption is that the teams will play on Saturday in the previous week, so the recovery time will be the same. Sure, teams will have to handle two consecutive short weeks, but one of them is a six-day week anyway, and then they will have 11 days until the following game, which is essentially an extra bye.
Brian Gutekunst has been pretty boom or bust in free agency. He has already made his boom moves, so I'm not sure he'll sign anyone else before training camp. His tendency is to give young guys an opportunity to show what they have before adding an external veteran, which is a big part of the impact they've extracted from players on their rookie contracts over the last two years.
That being said, if the draft doesn't go a certain way, I could foresee them adding another (and less expensive) safety. Quandre Diggs is a name I would appreciate.
Needs, talent, and positional value are big discussions for the Packers
Green Bay’s draft strategy is a huge topic of conversation
