#285 Packers Unscripted: Wild first round

Show me one mock draft that had the Packers trading back from fourteen and then up to eighteen. You never see those mocks. But that's the you know, the reality of drafts, and the Packers to be able to do that much flux suation. They end up and we'll talk about this in a second, they end up gaining a first round pick next year, an extra one from the New Orleans Saints, and still end up with the field that they feel a player that they feel has comparable value.

And jaire Alexander the Louisville cornerback. I think Brian Goodkins for his first night on the job, as GM in terms of the draft, I was pretty happy with what the Packers walked away with. Yeah, he seemed pretty excited, not only to be able to add Alexander and a cornerback. The Packers obviously thought very highly of the second pure cornerback to go off the board, the fourth defensive back to be taken there at the eighteenth pick, but then

to be adding a first round pick in en. Now, the way he described it to us afterwards when he met with the media was he was, you know, exploring some trade possibilities of moving up from fourteen. You know, in the early stages of the draft, nothing really came together there. Then it was Okay, am I gonna sit and pick at fourteen? Or am I gonna move back? I think they were probably ready to sit and pick.

But then when that offer came of a first round draft pick for next year, that's going to give any general manager pause. You've got to stop and really think about that. And uh and he basically said it was just it's too good an opportunity to pass up. Yeah. And when you look at the numbers of this thing, Mike, I mean, the fact of the matter is the Packers

got the first round pick seven overall from the Saints. Traditionally, I think you end up acquiring a second rounder, but since the Saints were so far back, they had to bring more in order to make this deal happen. So they offer up their first round pick for twenty nine. And it is interesting. I ran the math. If you go off the draft value chart the Packers for this year alone, the Saints come up. I think it was seven points ahead. But next year, the worst that that

picks value could be. Let's say the Saints would win, win it all right, and their thirty second, thirty second that value pick is five and ninety. The difference between five, three eight seven basically a high third round pick. So at the very least, that's the advance image for which the Packers are getting, and then any spot up from that only adds more to it. Um it is. I'm

sure it was very tempting. You know, Derwin James was still on the board, Tremaine Edmonds still on the board, Marcus Davenport, who the Saints ended up drafting, was still on the board. But in those days leading up to the draft, Mike, you heard some rumblings that the Packers might potentially be interested in Alexander. He was a guy that I think, coming off of the year that he had being banged up at Louisville, some people really weren't sure if he was gonna be a first round pick.

But four point three eight speed in the forty denzil Ward, who went fourth overall to the Browns, was four point three to um not the tallest cornerback you're ever gonna find, but he plays bigger than that. And at the end of the day, the Packers need to playmaker and this is a versatile guy that can play inside or outside

for them. Yeah, it's really interesting how this played out because earlier in the week we were both talking and as we made our predictions, for whatever those were worth, but both of us essentially predicted that the Packers in some way, shape or form, would get one of those top read dbs in the group being Denzel Ward, think of Fitzpatrick or Derwin James. And as it turns out, the Packers did get a defensive back, and they did

have an opportunity to take Derwin James. But really with Goodakoots making the moves that he did to trade out of the fourteen spot and go down and then come back up to eighteen. He basically declared that you know Alexander, he had they had Alexander rated essentially an equivalent player to Tremaine, Edmunds, Derwin James, maybe Marcus Davenport, that if they look at their board and they've got equivalent value there. And essentially he gave up a third round pick to

Seattle to move back up to the eighteenth spot. So he moved back four spots in a net of the two trades, gives up a third round pick this year, but gains a first rounder next year and gets the number two cornerback off the board. He really can't ask for it to fall any better. There are two different varying avenues in which I look in you this this trade through. The first one is and I I talked about this an insider impact, so I'm sure you read

it this past week. I was really interested to see if a scenario would play out where it wasn't just one of one player that the Packers could potentially take at fourteen, that two or three of them are available. And that's so that's what I continued to say too. I thought he would somehow, some way it would happen where he'd have some options there at fourteen, and it

did happen that way because the four quarterbacks went. Mike McGlinchey went number nine, the offensive tackle that pushed those some of those defensive guys down, and he did have choices. And the reason I really wanted to see it is because we can talk until we're blew in the face about who the Packers should pick, but ultimately that's the only opportunity for us to ever look into the mind of Brian Goodacuins and see what exactly the Packers were thinking.

Because if Edmonds isn't on the board, and James isn't on the board, uh, if Davenport's not there, certainly the names changed and you have to figure some stuff out. But it tells you that the Packers viewed Alexander in the same area, the same stratosphere as those other players, and they were able to move back and acquire another first round pick in order to do that. The other thing that stands out to me, you and I both put a lot of emphasis on these two defensive backs,

Derwin James and make Offense Patrick from Alabama. The one thing I like about Alexander, though he does have experience in the slot, and last year he played the boundary. Boundary cornerbacks can play the slot, Safeties can play the slot, but you don't see a lot of safeties hybrid defensive backs that can play boundary cornerbacks outside. And when you look at this situation, now we've being able to bring Alexander and he gives Joe Wit in that secondary that

kind of flexibility. Yeah, well, I want to get into some more details about Gyrie Um Sorry year Alexander will do that after the breakback with more and Packers Unscripted right after this, Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, West, hodkit wits in that one. Okay, West. So the Packers trade back thirteen spots, trade up nine for a net move before and they take Jayar Alexander

the cornerback out of Louisville. And when you look at the measurables, four point three eight is the number that jumps out at me. That's some speed, and that's the kind of speed that can't be coached. It's it's one of those god given type of things. And this is a guy who is going to add some speed to Green Bay's defense need for speed. Uh, and he certainly fits the bill in that regard and he uses it

to to his advantage. I thought. Director of college Scouting, John Eric Sullivan, came down after the pick was made and mentioned he didn't want to draw comparisons between Alexander and Sam Shields. But the one thing he did mention that and you go back and it was the number one thing that Sam Shields did, especially early in his career when he was still working on his technique, was the recovery speed, the ability to close on a receiver.

Alexander possesses that, and he plays with a certain swagger as well. I mean, he is a nasty streak um and he plays within the rules. I'm not trying to, you know, say anything other than that, but he definitely rises up to the occasion. You can just tell how much that motivates him. Even last year, you know, battling through the knee injury to get back and to play

in six games and make five starts for Louisville. He's a gamer, and he's a guy that went there as a walk on, not a walk on, but you know, it kind of looking like he was gonna play receiver. He said, he ended up moving to cornerback because they just had three guys that had left. There was opportunity there. Played right away from the get go, played the slot, played the boundary, and with having speed like that, I

think that is ultimately what enables you as a defensive back. That, especially in those early years when maybe you're still trying to find yourself and find what you do well, it gives you a larger room for error. Yeah, and this is a player that that the Packers, you know, I should say he would have liked his seventeen season to go better. You mentioned the knee injury they had cost him about half the season. You look back to he

played every game in or scepted five passes. Um he uh, the Packers did not have any injury concerns, having watched the film from the end of when he came back and going through all of the workouts and everything like that, and and and really the Packers kept there, kept their interest in him somewhat quiet. I know, he he said, well, I never talked to anybody from the Packers. That wasn't

exactly true. But the Packers were not uh, um, you know, we're not overly uh you know, open about about their interest or you know, their intentions here, so they were able to keep it fairly quiet. And uh and Brian

Goodakun's got a guy that he really likes. Thing I love the most about it is Good said afterwards too, He's like, we were watching this guy from the beginning, and they followed up with him at the combine just seeing how he was gonna look coming off that kne injury and the fact he ran a fourth three a forty tells you I think he's gonna be okay in the long run. He mentioned it was a bone bruise that he was diagnosed with. It happened on I blocked

field goal recovery, I believe, he said. He said he hyper extended. Yeah, so, and you know that ended up costing him four games. He ended up sitting out of their bowl game just to be cautious at the end of the season. But what a player in terms of just being able to be able to do what he did in that time at Louisville. Only played in thirty one collegiate games. He declared as a true junior um.

So you're getting a guy that's a little bit on the younger side of things, but you know, he mentioned it. He doesn't know a whole lot about Green Bay. He knows it gets a little bit chilly in the wintertime, but he did say, I mean, the track record speaks for itself. You look at Charles Woodson and Nick Collins and the guys that have come through that room. He's really relishing that opportunity now to come in there and

show that he belongs. Yeah. And I had done a prospect primer on Alexander for our website, you know, when we came back from the combine and had all of those prospects to sift through, and and the one thing that stood out to me that was really funny from his combine interview, his his press conference there when when we went back through everything was um that his teamates started calling him Alexander Island because because of you know, they could just leave him one on one shut down,

you know, the top receiver, you know, the guy on one side of the field. And uh, he was somewhat you know, flattered, a little bit humbled by by getting that name, that that nickname from his teammates. But he's the guy who who seems to you know, to take that kind of a moniker and feed off it. You know, he's not he's not afraid to try to get into a receiver's head, you know, to play the jawing game out on the field, you know that that kind of thing.

I'm really excited to see what what this guy can do now. I mean, the NFL can be the most humbling league in the world for any young player, but this is a this is a player not lacking for confidence by any stress. Yeah, and he doesn't shy away from the moment either, he said, you know, he's seen plenty of six, four, six, five receivers in the a SEC and he wants to step up to that challenge and believes he's ready for it. The other thing, it's

interesting too, Mike. You mentioned the five interceptions he had his sophomore year. Uh, this wasn't against you know, cupcake type quarterbacks either. Two of those were against Deshaun Watson. So I mean, this is a guy that has done it against the very best, not only in college football

but now the NFL. So I think, and you go back and I saw some of the videos already of him in some of the plays he made, and in this kind of banter after the play as well, Uh, there's a lot of confidence in young man, and that is I think, other than probably quarterback, that's the one position where you need to be confident. Yeah. Well, we've got more to talk about from this first round of the NFL Draft. Back with more on Packers Unscripted right

after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here, Wes Hodko, it's all the way over there, So okay, West the Packers. They got a little bit more than just a cornerback here in this draft, and Alexander is a good one, but they also got a guy who's done some things in the punt return and a guy who not right away maybe, but later on down the road, can be one of these locker room leader types. He's

a team captain and whatnot at Louisville. A lot of good things that we heard about his character and what his teammates and coaches and whatnot have said about him. Um, you know, really kind of this guy looks like he kind of brings the brings the whole package. Yeah, I mean, first off, starting just quickly touched on the team captain side of things. I thought that was one of the things that you know, John Eric Sullivan when he was talking with the media mentioned is the fact that he's

kind of an outgoing, fun loving guy. I mean, look at the photos of him and in Dallas with his family everybody. I mean, he was he was enjoying the moment, reveling in the moment. And then you know, had a teammate, Lamar Jackson, who ends up getting taken at the end of the first round too, so big night for them, and you could just see he really appreciated. Uh, you know, he had the confidence, Mike to go down to Dallas and you know it's gonna say, I'm gonna be a

first round pick. I'm gonna walk across that stage. And that was no guarantee. Based on the analysts and the projections, there was no guarantee he was going to be a first round but but it paid off. But he's certain he did. And when you look at the skill set though,

it makes a complete sense. You know, Brian Goodacuns drafted this kid because they think he can be a lockdown type player, whether they're using him in the slot or the boundary where he's playing, He's going to be one of those top eleven defensive players that we always talk about when the packers are charting out their their depth chart in their packages. But he does give you something as a punt returner, and that was a small part of the whole little package that that I think Brian

Goodakunst and everyone liked. I think it was forty four punt returns in college, average just under ten yards a punt return, and had one brought back for a touchdown. It appeared as if he was going to do that again during his junior year, but because he ends up sustaining the knee injury when he came back, they did not put him back on that that group. But you know early on Mike, you gotta find ways to get involved.

Randall Cobb did it in two thousand eleven. I thought Time Montgomery did it in two thousand and fifteen as both a returner and also you know, blocking some punts as well. Uh. He gives you that kind of versatility. And when you're when you have so many defensive backs in this equation, I mean, there are fourteen guys returning right now on this roster with NFL experience, you have to find ways to make yourself valuable from day one,

and I think that's another thing that Alexander does. Yeah, and when you look down the road, obviously the Packers have used their first pick in the draft now the last two years on these young cornerbacks and Kevin King and now Alexander. I know, Tremont Williams, Devon House are here right now for the Packers and they're going to

play into girl roles in eighteen. But when you're looking down the road, if the future is King and Alexander as your top two cornerbacks, you kind of like that combination because King is six three, you know, the taller, got the length and all of that, and then Alexander only five eleven but has that four three eight speed that allows him to to potentially match up in in some different situations. It looks like it could be a

really good combination for the future of this defense. I remember talking to Jimmy Lake, the defensive backs coach for Kevin King at Washington actually now I believe is their defensive coordinator last year, and he said, this is a guy that could play inside. He could play outside for you, but when you're six three and you run in the fourth fours, you want that guy up against des Bryant Julio Jones and those top receivers that we saw last year when he was healthy. He is your prototypical press

man corner. You look at now, conversely, what Alexander does well. He has history operating in a single high scheme and cover three looks, and it sounds like he has the strength to be able to challenge guys at the line of scrimmage. But because of that size and that explosiveness and the word we just kept over hearing over and over again, and you know, Johnny Rick Sullivan told you it as well. And one of the post uh one of the post conference uh, you know interviews that you

guys did is twitch is a twitchy guy. He has that kind of quick fibers in his body that that allows him to be where he needs to be in the very second that he needs to be there. And when you look at what King did well last year, and you look at what Alexander does and then this boatload of cornerbacks the Packers have coming back with House Williams,

Quentin Rollins will be coming off an Achilles. But I mean they have a lot of different options there to compliment that core um this is and the work isn't done. Goodkin said that, I mean, they still would like to get some more done this weekend. But that being said, it was a very good start. Yeah, really be interesting to see how this comes together now with an addition like this guy. But with that, we're gonna go to

a breakback with more Unpackers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted Mike Spofford alongside West hod Kuit's okay West. Before we wrap up this, uh this first round recap here, I want to take a look at a little bit of the bigger picture of what happened here in the first round because we had talked about

it all during the week. With the Packers sitting in the middle of the first round, you needed those four quarterbacks to be taken up high some other offensive guys, and as it turned out, you know, Sae Kwon, Barkley, Quentin Nelson not a surprise, Mike McGlinchey, as I mentioned, ended up sneaking into the top ten. So that pushed some of those defensive players down into the Packers range. And as it turns out, the four quarterbacks in the

top ten made NFL history, did it not? They did first time ever that with Josh Rosen going number ten to the Cardinals after they traded up, first time that's ever happened in NFL history. I think that shows you again the importance this particular year with having this many different prospects that are considered, you know, top level potential franchise quarterbacks. Uh, the teams had to go for it.

And you look at Buffalo trading up as well. I think the Jets they already did their trade, you know, months ago now, it seems like, but this was the year to jump on it. And it made a lot of sense for me going into this draft, Mike, I thought there was really seven things that needed to happen in terms of the players in that top third team before the Packers for things to really work out and going the sweet spot for Green Bay. You needed those four,

those four quarterbacks to go before fourteen. Uh, and then you needed McGlinchey to sneak in there because everyone knew Quentin Nelson at some point was going to get taken. And I thought you needed like Vita Vea or Doron Payne to go in those first thirteen picks, and both of them ended up. Yeah, they ended up both getting

those two big guys. So ultimately that's what allowed the Packers to sit in their spot at fourteen, with all these different options and how they wanted to address their defense. I thought the board really lined up well for them, other than the fact that I'm sure if you're Green Bay, you would have loved to have seen Denzil a Ward make it a little bit farther down the board, But John Dorsey was having none of that. He grabbed him at number four, right after he had taken Baker Mayfield

with the number one pick. Yeah, and I still I've said this to you before I said it to you right afterwards. I would have been very interested to see what Dorsey does if say, Kwon Barkley would have been there, But the Giants obviously felt like they wanted to go with the best player in the draft over the quarterback

at least know a lot of people's eyes. But all that being said, with Chubb being off the board, I just thought, other than somebody making a remarkable fall, whether it was a Rokan Smith or somebody like that, this was as good of a scenario as Brian good. Yeah, and quickly I wanted to get your thoughts on what the rest of the NFC North. Did you mentioned Rokuan Smith, the linebacker from Georgia. The Bears ended up taking him

at number eight overall. Later on in the first round, the Detroit Lions take an offensive lineman, Frank rag Now from Arkansas, probably a center. It sounds like um and then uh and then beyond that, the Minnesota Vikings take cornerback from UCF Mike Hughes Um Roquan Smith. I mean, is it is he brian or lack or light so to speak? I mean, you know, he maybe has the potential to be that kind of player. This is what's

interesting with with Vic Fangio b in in Chicago. Now, maybe it'll change a little bit now with Mike Petton and Green Bay, but they always him and Caper's look for the same type of players. So to me, Smith really projects is that every down, you know, three down inside linebacker, dime linebacker type that you can always just count on, you know, playing and play out. More So,

I think reag Now is a great story. Obviously lost his father a number of years ago, but still really persevered and put together a really nice stretch of football despite some of the ups and downs that Arkansas had so it was it was interesting to see how I'll play, don't yeah, And with the Minnesota Vikings taking a corner Mike Hughes, I think it'll be, uh, it'll be prudent to watch, you know, Hughes's career with Alexander's because really the only reason Hughes lasted that long is most likely

because of the off field concerns. A lot of analysts had him rated, you know, just as good as Alexander Um, you know, and maybe just below Denzel Ward, who was pretty much the consensus top cornerback in the draft. So so we'll be watching, uh, watching their careers closely here in the NFC North. But with that we need to sign off on Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and the rest of

the draft on Packers dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hod I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in every Undy. We'll see you next time. M HM.