The NFC North Had a Great Draft Weekend, Except for the Packers

Folks, there are several reasons why I’m not an NFL GM, the most prominent of which being that I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough. When it comes to evaluating drafts, then, readers should likely choose to side with the opinions from actual professionals rather from your humble author. That being said, the sense I have from this past weekend’s NFL Draft is that the NFC North did great, except for the Packers.

Let’s begin at home with our Minnesota Vikings. Was it a perfect draft? By no means. It was a rock-solid draft, though. Getting Christian Darrisaw after trading back to 23rd is a win, especially when we remember that the trade allowed us to pick Kellen Mond (a much-needed backup QB) and then Wyatt Davis (a much-needed iOL). There were a few picks I was uncertain about, but we could say that about pretty much any draft. To my mind, Minnesota did quite well.

I don’t say this often, but Chicago and Detroit did better than quite well. Take a look at the chart above. The consensus is that both teams did excellently over draft weekend.

It was costly, but the Bears made the right decision to trade up for Justin Fields. He should be their starter on opening day and he gives them potential for a true franchise QB moving forward. The Detroit Knee Biters also did excellently with their first choice. Getting Penei Sewell at 7th is an absolute steal; we may look back in a few years and see that Sewell was the best player in the draft. Getting two upside DTs in rounds 2 and 3 were also great moves for Detroit.

Green Bay, on the other had, continued to confuse and confound. Why reach for Eric Stokes at 29? Perhaps he’ll go on to be an excellent corner, one who is more than worthy of that draft slot. That being said, the consensus appears to be that he would have been available much later. With Aaron “Voldemort” Rodgers apparently looking for a trade, wouldn’t it make more sense to continue trying to appease the continually discontent QB? Most teams recognize that Super Bowl windows are fleeting, prompting them to load up when the window is actually available. Not these Packers.

Of course, no one really knows how the NFC North did in the NFL Draft. The only thing we know is how they did based on various evaluations, projections, and mock drafts. None of these things will really matter in the end. The only thing that matters in the NFL is production on the field. If the Packers end up performing better than the rest of the division, then all of this criticism doesn’t mean a thing.

The early opinion, though, certainly suggests that Green Bay made some peculiar choices (for the second year in a row). Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit appear to have done the opposite. We’ll have to wait until Week 1 before we can even begin to get an answer of whether we’re right or wrong.

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