I really like DeJean but it will depend how he runs at the combine. I just looked at three different draft profiles on DeJean and they have him anywhere from 4.3 to 4.5 in the 40. If he runs in the 4.4's or less, I highly doubt he'll be there at 25.

Each one of the draft profiles mentioned his hips through. They all said he doesn't have the ability to REALLY sink his hips...Hmmm, I love these internet scouts!

The idea he's bigger and could play either CB, or Safety is a big plus. Especially for this team right now which lacks BOTH.

It's ALWAYS hard to tell "who will be there" in the NFL draft. There are players who are taken "surprisingly" high or low every year. That's why it's important that a GM gets their Big Board right, and then trusts in their scouting/process/board.

You mention DeJean, who I agree is one who could go later than draft boards are currently predicting; of course, it's a little early to play this game, as The Combine often creates the big rises and drops. If DeJean runs a 4.4, he's probably going before 25.

I expect a lot of Quarterbacks, O Linemen, and Cornerbacks to go earlier than predicted--I expect Bo Nix and JJ McCarthy to go in the first round. CBs are always tough to predict, and guys like TJ Tampa, K Jackson, C Hart, C Carson, etc. could be some GM's crush and go in the first.

Purely draft-wise, the group I'm most interested in this year is the defensive linemen; I think they are a very enigmatic group; I dare anyone to correctly guess what order they will go in!

I don't think pick 25 is going to be a great place to pick (for the Packers) as a lot of guys around there are not positions the Packers want, or are good fits. I expect guys like DeJean to be gone already. However, if you want a QB this might be a great spot for another team chasing one of the 3 second-tier guys to trade up for.

If they can, the Packers should (in my view) trade back to the top of the second round and gather as many picks in the 30-90 range as they can. Add an extra pick along with having an existing pick swapped for a higher one in rounds 2-3.

Six good picks can get you a half dozen upgrades for any of: IOL, ILB, slot corner, outside corner, single-high capable safety, box safety, RB..............maybe you could even get an Edge or DL, if you like the value. That is nine positions if you don't count double-dipping at one position.............plenty to choose from.

One counterpoint for DeJean. His 2023 season was a step down from 2022.

Since the old mantra of the game being won or lost in the trenches still seems to apply, I would not be disappointed to see the first two picks as O line and D line. It isn't sexy, but it is a solid strategy.

I Love the thought of DeJean.
But I still see Gutey wasting picks and trading up.
His heart throb is CB. So instead of reaching.
Or taking the No Brainer. Your probably right;
as far as taking the unexpected, and automatically
becoming a Super Star.

A definition of a "star" player that does not include Josh Allen or Joe Burrow is useless. They are star players. Toward the end of the first round, you are not necessarily looking for a star anyway. You just want a really good player.

The mention of Aaron Taylor is interesting because I had been wondering how long it has been since the Packers drafted an interior O-lineman in the first round. Taylor was drafted in 1994, so it's been exactly 30 years. I can't say I'll be excited if they do that again, but it seems to be more possible than it has been in awhile.

Outside of the actual football season, nothing gets me more excited about football then the draft. I have loved the draft since the first time I watched it. I have been enamored with it. They have transformed the event into an entertainment special and I love every minute of it. When they went from a 2 day event to a 3 day, I was pissed at first. I hated that they decided to make this change. But since they have made this change, I have loved it! I really like how they highlight the first round by itself. And I like rounds 2 and 3 also getting primetime views.

The exciting part of the draft is the great unknowns. Every player has a chance to be something special or they could be cut before the season starts. You just don't know what you are going to get.

Looking at this upcoming draft, I haven't really dug into the players very much yet. I am hoping to start doing that soon. I used to be much better about checking out every prospect, but life happens and I have not had the time to do it like I wish I could.

So instead of trying to project who might be available at 25 right now, I'd like to pose this question. Based solely on what we saw from GB in 2023 and not taking any consideration into any free agent addition/subtractions, what position(s), do we need to add to the most.
I think the 2 positions that are at the very top of the list of needing starters at are ILB and S. I think Safety is the top need.

Campbell was out a lot with injury. He has not been the same player as his all pro year due to injury. While I like Campbell, not having that pro bowl/all pro level of play has been noticeable. McDuffie came in and played well when called upon, but I feel like he is a limited player. He did improve this year, but I feel like we really need to add a player next to Walker. Watching the 49ers and how their ILB's just fly around and erase a lot of plays, is such and advantage for their defense. We need to upgrade ILB next to Walker.

At Safety it was basically a circus back there. Savage missed a lot of time, Ford was in and out, Owens didn't play particularly well. I liked Johnson but he was a rookie who is still learning the S position. I feel like S is probably the position on the team that needs the greatest overhaul.

I'm sure I'll be writing something similar to this a few times before the draft.

Myth 1) Top draft picks are sure-fire superstars. You only need to look back at the draft over many years to see there are just as many busts as great players taken high in the draft. The real issue is how ready is the draft pick to play at the pro level? It's clear he can compete at the college level but the next level finds everyone bigger, faster and smarter.

Myth 2) You can't find impact players outside of the top picks of the first round. All you need to defeat this argument is look at the Packers draft last year. With the exception of Carlson, Nichols(injured and gone) and DuBose(practice squad) the rest of the picks contributed heavily. If you use the draft logic that only top picks are any good, how do you explain the work of Wicks, Valentine, Brooks, Wooden and others? If the Packers make the Super Bowl soon Gute's 2023 draft might be compared to the Jack Vanisi drafts of the late 50's that enabled the 60's championships.

Myth 3) Taking a player late in the first round is a waste of time. Jordan Love is about to sign a $50 million per season contract. Enough said.

Don't fall into the trap set out by the draft gurus. Good players are found everywhere. They need good coaching, some ability and a desire to succeed.

A little premature to write Stokes off already.

"Chances are we will be disappointed at first, then as we learn more about the player, we’ll feel better and better about it, and by summer camp we’ll be ready to anoint him as our next super star. "

This one cracked me up... especially the anointing part... and totally TRUE!! 😁

I think there are so many different ways to attack pick 25 that I'm keeping an open mind and looking for **gasp** BPA. There's going to be plenty of churn this off-season and next--that's the way of the NFL, and you need to be planning ahead--and there are plenty of positions needing help as a result (not to mention being redefined by a shift in defensive philosophy), but they might be looking at those early day 1-2 picks in the lens of who departs after 2024 rather than just plugging holes this season, too.

Safety is definitely the weakest position on the roster right now, but we're about to enter 6 weeks of free agency prior to the draft. I expect the landscape on this roster to look very different at a couple key positions by that time. Gute has made a habit of shoring up glaring holes by finding depth pieces and reclamation projects leading up to the draft...it gives him more latitude to chase opportunities on days 1-2.

Here's the difficulty in predicting when DeJean is drafted. I point this out only to reflect how the league views this, no reflection of my own views.

There hasn't been a white starting cornerback in the NFL since 2003 (Jason Seehorn) for whatever reason. There is currently only 1 white cornerback in the league, Riley Moss with the Broncos and coincidentally, another Iowa guy.

If teams hold true to this league wide perception, teams will view DeJean (consciously or subconsciously) as only a safety prospect. Teams looking only for a cornerback will give him less consideration on their boards regardless of his ht/wt/40 time.

It will be interesting to see if he drops (and I expect he will) in the draft. The good news is the Packers need both positions and if DeJean drops to them they can determine which spot suits him once he's on the field. Although, my expectation is, if the Pack drafts DeJean it will be to play safety.

From what I read about this class, it seems OT (quality and depth) and IOL (solid depth). The Packers have a talented QB and receivers. Give Love time and he will find them. Expect 2 OL will be selected in the first two days.

CB is a strong class and I would not be surprised if Gutey selects 2 in the first two days...unless he trades up for a guy like DeJean to give Hafley his FS.

Like Josh Jackson, DeJean played CB/zone at IA. Jackson may have been a better fit at S as he was exposed as a press corner. And DeJean is also more athletic and has been consistently productive (Jackson was a one year wonder). I think DeJean could be ideal playing the deep Center Fielder. And the S class is very weak this year.

LB has good depth...especially with heavier prospects. Still have some good hybrid types, but I believe the LBs have to be good thumpers and tacklers for Hafley's room. The new DC seems to insist on solid tackling skills. That would be nice!

RB is weak. So I remind myself Jones was a 5th rounder and Jamaal Williams a 4th.

But who knows...Gutey may again surprise...like last year when he traded from #45, not once, but twice for additional 5th and 6th round picks while moving down to #50. Netting Reed, Wicks and Brooks looks like a sublime move.

DT, Edge, TE are weaker this year. However, those Packer position rooms are well stocked. Always a chance for a BAP/value picks.

Last year about this time I was listening to XM NFL channel with Bill Polian (sp?) and his take on prospects was that once the all-star games were done, they have their rankings done.
Here was what I thought was interesting...after the Combine, they may move a player higher or lower within the round they have slotted him. According to him, it takes an act of God to move him up a round. They can move him down for character issues but never did they move a player up 2 rounds.
Saying all of that, teams right now have their boards 80 to 90% done. The only key to look at right now is to see what some draft boards look like. After the Combine the internet draft experts (sarcastic statement) change their boards to match what the best performers did during the testing. Lately, it's getting better but the pre-combine draft analysis is usually a better indication than post Combine particularly for the first round.
The reason I've posted all this is to look at all the 1st round guys 3 before and 3 after that 25th pick and see what makes sense for Green Bay. Bottom line.. expect a CB to be taken with their first pick.

If you don't think the OL needs a big upgrade at C and IOL or even OT. Go watch the Raider game again. By the way let's trade for Crosby.

Getting an all pro would be ice cream on that apple pie. I hope at least we get a quality starter who can fill one of the several needs we have on the team. One other thing, I hope he is a "football player" and not a player who is injured with supposed great potential that may or may never come to fruition. We have a goodly number of earlier picks this year and we need to draft quality players.

I had previously read up on Cooper DeJean and I will admit, I did like what I found out. He appears to be a solid football player with talent who fills a top need for the team. At this juncture, I would be happy to have him, but if he is unavailable, I do like a couple of offensive linemen who might still be on the board for that first pick.

There's so much flawed analysis here.

1) If you are dictating a "star" player is a player that is voted 1st team all pro, and you are selecting the last 6 drafts as your sample size, you are effectively giving older draft classes up to 6 times as many years to develop into a 1st team all pro selection. A player drafted in 2023 has only been in the league one year, but a player drafted 6 years ago is well into his second or third contract. All-pro selections in general are typically established players, true veterans who have developed and are generally 26 years of age or older (there are always some young players, of course. Offense tends to trend older, Defense younger, linemen are typically much older, Dbacks often very young.) If you are going to pull a 6 year data set, it may be best off to look at draft years 2012 through 2018. This would provide all the players you are assessing for "star" status at least 6 years to develop into their best form and hit that 26, 27 year old sweet spot that roughly half of all 1st team all-pro selections fall into.

2) You note there were 191 first-round draft picks in the 6 draft years you reviewed, and only 17 of those players received 1st round all-pro honors. You also go on to say "Misses such as these (non-"star" first round selections) really hurt a team." Disregarding my above statements about player maturity for a moment.. there are roughly 30 to 40 1st team all pro selections every year (depending on whose list you refer to.) That means during the same 6 year period you've analyzed, there were between 180 to 240 selections. Only 17 1st round draft picks earned a spot amongst that group of 1st team all-pros. That means that between 163 to 223 1st team all-pro selections were drafted in round 2 or later.

If that is the case, then why is it that NFL fans assume if you're not "hitting" on a star player in the first round, it ends up 'really hurting' your team? If the majority of "star" players are being found outside the first round, maybe the first round selections aren't as important as everyone makes them out to be. It's long overdue that we start accepting that drafting is a crap shoot and assessing a player's ability to develop is as much art as science. People need to start assessing drafts as an entire body of work, not grading it based on how an individual player grades on on a sliding scale based on where he was selected.

At the end of the day, you have to assess the pool of talent you have assembled as a group. You have a yearly salary cap in which to put together the best collection of talent you can- it doesn't matter what round drafted, free agent, walk on.. And for every overpaid first round "bust" getting paid "too much", there's probably 3 lower-round or undrafted free agents who are playing at an all-pro level who aren't getting "paid enough". It all comes out in the wash in the end.. or it doesn't. The NFL places too much weight on draft status when you look at how talent actually pans out. First round is, generally, boom or bust. The rest of the draft produces talent, too.

Btw, DeJean is not going to compete at Combine. So there is first red flag. Maybe at Pro Day later. So he may well “drop” to #25. But now you have a risk factor with the injury.