Upscale Cheese

I try really hard not to look too much into the NFL Draft.  In my opinion, there is only so much people can get out of a 40 time, how many times someone bench pressed, or even how they played in college.  For every Ryan Leaf, there is a Tom Brady. Also this has a lot to do with how much of the draft I actually watched on Friday and Saturday. I watched a minimal coverage on the second and third round then kept myself updated through Twitter for the final three rounds.

I am not trying to dampen an event that had better ratings than the NBA Playoffs, I just try to not to get caught up in the knee-jerk reactions that I am known for at times. But I will say this about the Green Bay Packers draft, the rich got richer.  

I thought  the Packers draft showed confidence, swagger, and the attitude of a team who if this season actually happens is ready to repeat as World Champions.  Everybody including myself thought the Packers would draft defense in case they needed a replacement for Cullen Jenkins, or a better edge-rusher to create bash brother situation with Clay Matthews. Nope, Ted Thompson, the general manager believed guys like Erik Walden, Jarius Wynn, Brad Jones, Frank Zombo, and others have what it takes for the Packers to get it done defensively.  They did add some pieces in the later rounds with Davon House (CB), D.J. Smith (LB) Ricky Elmore (DL), and Lawrence Guy (DT). But the early focus stayed on the offense. 

Randall Cobb gives the Packers
their first special teams talent in
a long time.

I started to wonder why this was? I mean the Packers lit teams up like Christmas trees for most of the season, so I began to explore this topic. At first, I thought it might be due to the lack of red zone efficiency. Nope, wrong about that one, USA Today tells me the Packers scored a touchdown 60 percent of the time when they got inside the 20 (only five teams were better than the Pack by the way).  For whatever it's worth, I think  one of the reasons the Packers went offensive was to guaran-damn tee that if injuries like 2010 happen again, there will be some up and coming pieces ready to contributed.  Thompson wanted make sure his team is protected for 2011, and I assume he feels confident in his role players on defense. 

The other reason to draft new offensive talent is they need to replace guys like James Jones, Brandon Jackson, and Donald Lee, all major role players from the Super Bowl who are owed money in the next couple of months. Additionally, they will get more than their market value due to having a Super Bowl ring on their finger. Randall Cobb, Alex Green, and DJ Williams hopefully can fill the holes left by the players above. Who knows, they could be better, and if that is the case?  Tim Masthay might have a couple games where his uniform doesn't need to be washed by the Packers' staff after the game. 

I want to see a season for a laundry list of reasons, but one is to see if these players can develop. With the track record of Mr. Thompson, it's hard not to think one or two of these guys will be great additions to the Green Bay Packers

-Charlie.