Grading The Packers Rookies: Week 1 vs. Cleveland Browns

So this grading is a little late considering the Packers played their second game last night, but blame the NFL for their wonky preseason schedule (and screwing over west coast viewers).  I rewatched the Packers opening preseason game against the Browns with a specific eye towards the Packers drafted rookies.

Round 1: Kenny Clark (Grade: C) - Overall, Clark's first professional outing was pretty average.  He didn't do anything really noteworthy but at the same time pretty much held his own and didn't embaress himself.  One interesting observation is that while Clark wasn't often pushed back by offensive linemen, he was pushed a lot parallel to the line of scrimage, meaning sometimes he can get push out of his rush lanes.  He also didn't fare that well against double teams, something that he'll likely be seeing a lot of if he ends up as a nose tackle but that isn't terribly surprising given he wasn't a true 34 NT in college.  Overall, NT/DT is a very subtle position when it comes to production and Clark definitely didn't jump out but that can also be taken as a good thing

Round 2: Jason Spriggs (Grade: B-) - You could definitely tell that the coaches are planning on Spriggs being the left tackle of the future; in particular one nice thing the Packers coaching staff finally seems to have realized is that drafting left tackles high means you should probably avoid trying to play them at guard to show their versatilty.  Both Bryan Bulaga and Derek Sherrod were both failures at guard and at least Bulaga has shown he is a good tackle.  Spriggs saw the vast majority of offensive snaps and only at left tackle; while he wasn't perfect he did show his athelticism.  Unfortunately, speed and flexibiity is all he has at the moment, it does seem like Spriggs has a very strong base and at this point can only widened the pass rushers rushing arc.  In the running game Spriggs was also very hit or miss, he probably needs more time in the weight room to really solidify his power game. 

Round 3: Kyler Fackrell (Grade: B-) - It's a little surprising to see Fackrell work almost exclusively with the 3rd string defense but he did stand out at the end of the game.  Outside of the sack where he wasn't blocked, Fackrell shows surprising speed and bend when rushing the quarterback.  In run support he's in the right place at the right time and has good enough closing speed that he can catch up to plays going away from him.  I didn't see many situations where he dropped back into coverage, something that he was known for in college but that might be for the future.  If Fackrell can crack the 2nd team defense he likely will earn himself a spot in the OLB rotation, if not it's likely his only action will be on special teams, where he was a starter.

Round 4: Blake Martinez (Grade: B-) - Martinez is certainly being treated like a starter, essentially playing a mimimal amount of snaps with the 1st team defense and then calling it a night just like the rest of the starters.  While he was barely on the field on defense, which makes it hard to really grade him, the simple fact he's with the starting defense likely means the Packers coaching staff know and like what the see.  One thing that surprised me a little was his pass rush ability.  We haven't seen much of the double A blitz with both inside linebackers but Martinez did show a knack for slipping by defenders and disrupting plays.  I have my doubts whether or not he can be the lead blitzer who soaks up the block for his teammate but he could certainly be the rusher like Desmond Bishop. 

Round 4: Dean Lowry (Grade A-) - The surprise of the rookie class in my opinion.  Not only did Lowry play with the (sort of) 1st team and 2nd team defense but he was really productive.  Lowry showed plenty of leverage in his pass rush, great closing speed and a surprising about of agility.  One off thing was that Lowry often lined up well behind the ball, which is something I don't recall any other Packers defensive linemen doing.  Overall, if Lowry can keep up his current pace he will definitely be in the DL rotation, if not a heavy contributor given then lack of depth and the suspension of Mike Pennel.

Round 5: Trevor Davis (Grade C+) - Well the Packers weren't wrong that he's fast.  Add to that a pretty reliable set of hands and you can see why the Packers decided to draft him.  On the other side all the Packers wide receivers are technically solid route runners and Davis is not.  Davis was definitely better on the perimeter than in the slot and again this is probably due to his route running.  Davis primarily ran go or fade routes that had very little hard cutting;  on the times he did run an out route, his cut was very rounded and he often failed to gain seperation from the defender.  As such Davis will probably have trouble gaining YACs unless he straight out outruns his man.   

Round 7: Kyle Murphy (Grade N/A) - Murphy was one of the 17 inactive players last week and therefore did not play.  

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Comments (6)

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

August 19, 2016 at 12:27 pm

I loved the Lowry and Murphy picks. Written often that Lowry is going to be able to play early this season in base, and offer good run D, and if he offers any pass rush he'd be an upgrade over Boyd. Murphy had a good game against Oakland, I thought. Interesting on Clark - wrote that he is not a true NT - thought he did the grunt work okay.

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SpudRapids's picture

August 19, 2016 at 12:58 pm

The game doesn't look to big for Martinez and he moves more fluid than any other linebacker that has come in as a rookie. Hopefully found a gem

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 19, 2016 at 01:08 pm

Lowry is a perfect fit for the defense. I think he is one of the more underrated players that were drafted.

I like what I have seen from him so far. I think he will play a lot as a rookie.

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Knotch Selby's picture

August 19, 2016 at 01:33 pm

Good article, it's nice to get a common man opinion of the best team in pro sports. I'm hoping we can put a solid front out there to clamp down on opposing run games. Spellcheck?

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

August 19, 2016 at 09:51 pm

Murphy was a 6th round pick, not 7th.

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marpag1's picture

August 20, 2016 at 09:20 am

Hopefully, other people have it right and I'm just not seeing it (yeah, that happens), but I'm still much less impressed with Lowry than many other people are. Even while remembering that he is a fourth round rookie in his second preseason game, I'd give him something closer to a C- than an A-.

He hasn't been awful by any stretch, but to me, he looks just like his scouting report: A pretty good get-off and a decent motor, but still a relatively short-armed dude who needs to improve his technique or he'll always get handled by better blockers. In the Cleveland game, Bitonio schooled him, IMO (although Bitonio does that on a pretty regular basis, regardless of competition).

No one in OAK is nearly as good as Bitonio, but I didn't think Lowry looked that much better in the Raider game. He was a little better. His rush ability looked better to me than his run stuffing. I thought he got washed out way too much and needs to be a lot stouter.

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