NFL draft Q and A with Mocking the Draft: Green Bay Packers the Underrated Draft Day Winners

Throughout the season Dan Kadar of Mocking the Draft and I had a weekly chat about the 2012 NFL draft. We decided to have one final send off for the 2012 NFL draft where I asked Dan for some of his general reactions to what happened in the draft.

1). What’s a player(s) that you think might not have represented great consensus value, but is a great fit for a team?

1. The obvious answer, still the hot button from this year’s draft, is Bruce Irvin to the Seahawks. The more that pick is examined, the easier it is to see how it makes sense from a scheme point of view. So with that in mind, how about someone else? To me, that player is Ryan Broyles, whom the Lions took with pick No. 54. That pick was largely panned because a wide receiver wasn’t an early need for the Lions and Broyles is coming off a serious injury. But playing the slot in the Detroit offense, Broyles could quickly become a receiver who catches 80-100 passes.
2). .What are a few of the best UDFA signings?

2. Chris Polk going to Philadelphia as a UDFA is intriguing. They don’t have a lot behind LeSean McCoy, so Polk could get a fair amount of carries if he’s healthy. The other injury-concern UDFA who could pay off big is Chase Minnifield going to the Redskins. One guy that should get a fair shot is offensive lineman James Brown, who signed with the Bears. Brown is good enough to be the Bears’ primary backup offensive tackle.

3). Whose a team you think had a much better draft than they are generally given credit for?

3. Maybe because of where they drafted throughout the weekend, no one seems to be talking about what the Packers did in the draft. Going into the draft, they needed a lot of help on defense. They certainly got it using their first six picks on the side of the ball. Because the Packers are such a good team, they can afford to take some chances. They did that in the first round with Nick Perry. He’s a big-time boom-or-bust player. If he hits and is a 10-sack guy, he’ll push that defense over the top. The boom-or-bust ideal is the same with second-round pick Jerel Worthy. He flashed top 20 ability at times. Mike Daniels, Casey Hayward and Terrell Manning should be good depth. Then they grabbed Andrew Datko in the seventh round. When he was healthy, Datko was one of the best offensive linemen in college football. If they can sit him for a year on the practice squad while he gets back to 100 percent, he could be a steal. Then they got an excellent developmental quarterback in B.J. Coleman.

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