Packers News: Former USFL MVP Alex McGough moves to receiver
1 HR AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
McGough was signed to Green Bay practice squad Expand
1 HR AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
McGough was signed to Green Bay practice squad last season after joining the team in July. The Green Bay Packers appear to be clearing the road for 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford and 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Pratt to have a legitimate quarterback battle this preseason as Jordan Love’s backup. In the team’s most recent roster update, the Packers have listed former third-string quarterback Alex McGough as a receiver — which leaves the team with just three quarterbacks on their 90-man roster.
McGough, a 2018 draft choice by the Seattle Seahawks, bounced around the NFL for four seasons before landing with the Birmingham Stallions in 2022. In his second year at the USFL level, McGough was able to earn the starting quarterback job for the Stallions, earning the USFL MVP as he passed for 2,105 yards and 20 touchdowns over nine starts for Birmingham. He also recorded eight passing touchdowns in the team’s two playoff games — which Collapse
11 things to know about the Packers' 2024 draft class
7 HRS AGO - Green Bay selected at least 10 players for third consecutive year
Packers agree to terms with eight rookie free agents
1 DAY AGO - Two defensive linemen, long snapper among Green Bay's latest undrafted class
Tuesday Cheese Curds: Grading the 2024 Packers draft class
1 DAY AGO - Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
It’s time to see how the 2024 draft class checks out. The ink Expand
1 DAY AGO - Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
It’s time to see how the 2024 draft class checks out. The ink is barely dry on the draft cards but across the football internet, every class has already been dissected, graded, re-graded, and thoroughly assessed.
The grades, of course, are meaningless, and not only because we all suck at draft analysis. It’s more than that. There are things about this draft class that we don’t know and therefore can’t predict, but even more importantly, there are things we simply can’t know. The variables are endless. The permutations are impossible to assess.
That won’t stop us from trying. We’ve already published our own roster prediction here, and there will be many more to go around before the Packers finally hit the field for training camp (checks notes) almost three months from now.
But who cares? Let’s grade these classes. Let’s talk about who was a genius pick and who was a reach and how it all doesn’t matter because the Packers drafted eight Hall of Fame Collapse
Inbox: 'If Sam says the kid can play, you better pay attention
2 DAYS AGO - They were drafted for what they’re projected to do
2024 NFL Draft Grades: Packers’ class graded mostly positive
3 DAYS AGO - Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
Outside of one particular media Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
Outside of one particular media member, the Green Bay Packers’ 2024 draft crop received above-average grades. Now that the Green Bay Packers’ 11-man draft class is finalized, it’s time to check in on the knee-jerk reactions that the national media has to the new crop of talent. For the most part, the Packers rank slightly above the middle of the pack for their 2024 draft class, which is solid considering that their first draft choice came at 25th overall. There is one major exception, though, as one particular media member was not a fan of what general manager Brian Gutekunst did this week.
Let’s dive into the published draft grades so far and highlight the analysis from the biggest fan and biggest hater of the Packers’ 2024 class.
Packers Draft Picks
#25: Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona
#45: Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
#58: Javon Bullard, S, Georgia
#88: MarShawn Lloyd, RB, USC
#91: Ty’Ron Hopper, LB, Collapse
The Packers will consider playing Jordan Morgan at left tackle in 2024
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“That’s naturally where you’d look. Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“That’s naturally where you’d look. That’s where he’s played his whole career,” said Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur. When Arizona tackle Jordan Morgan was drafted by the Green Bay Packers 25th overall on Thursday, Packers fans immediately revisited Rob Demovsky’s report that the team considered returning right tackle Zach Tom a potential Hall-of-Fame center. The assumption was that Morgan could move from left tackle, where he played for the Wildcats, to right tackle, allowing Tom to push inside to center.
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur has different plans.
When asked if Morgan will play left tackle for him, LaFleur stated Saturday, “That’s naturally where you’d look. That’s where he’s played his whole career.” He later mentioned that he just wants to get the best five offensive lineman on the field — the company line that general manager Brian Gutekunst has been repeating all week — but it’s at least notable that Collapse
Competitive fire burns bright in new QB Michael Pratt, CB Kalen King
3 DAYS AGO - The Packers’ seventh-round picks are highly motivated to succeed in Green Bay
Packers select Penn State CB Kalen King with final pick in NFL Draft
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Green Bay snagged a former All-American with their Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Green Bay snagged a former All-American with their second pick in the seventh round of the 2024 draft. Just one year ago, some draftniks believed that Penn State cornerback Kalen King was a better NFL draft prospect than former Nittany Lion teammate Joey Porter Jr. — who went 32nd overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2023 draft. If you had told people that King would go 255th overall to the Green Bay Packers in the 2024 draft, hardly anyone would have believed you.
Posting 21 pass deflections in 2022, many expected that the first round was in King’s sights. Unfortunately, he had a down season last year, posting just two pass deflections and lost a head-to-head battle against future first-round pick Marvin Harrison Jr. when Penn State played the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Still, King declared for the draft before he had even turned 21 years old. At the combine, he didn’t help himself, though, when he ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash. He Collapse
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Packers’ 2024 draft class receives their jersey numbers
1 HR AGO - Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images
It didn’t take long for Aaron Jones’ #33 to find a new Expand
1 HR AGO - Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images
It didn’t take long for Aaron Jones’ #33 to find a new owner. The Green Bay Packers’ official roster has already been updated with the new uniform numbers that the Day 1 and Day 2 selections from their 2024 class will wear. First-round pick tackle Jordan Morgan will don #77, a number previously worn by practice squad tackle Kadeem Telfort — who will now wear #76. #77 was the number that Morgan wore during his college career with the Arizona Wildcats.
Unlike Morgan, though, the Day 2 selections for the Packers are changing numbers from their college days. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper will wear #56 (#45 in college), safety Javon Bullard will wear #20 (#22), linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper will wear #59 (#8) and running back MarShawn Lloyd will wear #32 (#0). Based on the team not allowing Lloyd to have #0, it doesn’t seem like Green Bay is interested in giving that number out, despite the NFL rules allowing it to be in the rotation. Coopers’ #56 was Collapse
Inbox: They need to be determined and undeterred
8 HRS AGO - His job is to give the Packers a really tough decision
5 things learned about the Packers' offseason thus far
1 DAY AGO - News and notes, outside of the draft, since veteran players returned for workouts
Packers’ Brian Gutekunst Believes That Leadership Matters
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
The Packers prioritized leadership in the 2024 NFL Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
The Packers prioritized leadership in the 2024 NFL Draft. Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst made double-digit picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. One thing stood out more often than anything else when looking at the incoming rookies.
Leadership.
That theme started in the first round, with the Packers taking Arizona offensive lineman Jordan Morgan.
“Really athletic,” Gutekunst said when asked about Morgan. “Really feel like he could probably play four positions for us, two-time team captain — just our kind of guy.”
Morgan was far from the only captain or leader taken by the Packers this year. Here are the leadership credentials for some of the team’s noteworthy draft picks:
Jordan Morgan: 2-time team captain
Javon Bullard: High school captain. Viewed as team leader at Georgia
MarShawn Lloyd: High school captain
Ty’Ron Hopper: 2023 team captain
Evan Williams: 3-time team captain at Fresno State
Jacob Monk: 2-time team captain
Kitan Collapse
Packers 53-man roster predictions after 2024 NFL Draft
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
We asked six of our writers to make their 53-man Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
We asked six of our writers to make their 53-man roster projections and built a composite prediction off of the final count. With the draft behind us, let’s take a look at how the Green Bay Packers’ team might look like when the squad has to get down to a 53-man roster at the end of the preseason. Based on reported undrafted free agent signings, the team has already over-signed — meaning that cuts are likely already on the way.
For this exercise, six of our writers at Acme Packing Company have made their 53-man roster predictions. We’ll go through which players made every writers’ list, which players are on the roster bubble and which players are on the outside looking in going into camp. At the end, we’ll also include our composite 53-man roster, which shows you what the average roster would look like.
Players Who Made Everyone’s Cut
QB: Jordan Love, Michael Pratt (2)
RB: Josh Jacobs, Marshawn Lloyd (2)
WR: Bo Melton, Christian Watson, Collapse
The Aaron Rodgers trade has officially concluded with the 2024 NFL Draft
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
The Packers turned Rodgers into six players, including Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
The Packers turned Rodgers into six players, including picks used in trade-ups in the 2024 NFL Draft. 12 months and change ago, we all wondered just how much compensation the New York Jets would be willing to give the Green Bay Packers for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had clearly moved on from the franchise following his darkness retreat. Ultimately, the Jets parted ways with the 13th, 42nd and 207th picks in the 2023 draft along with a conditional selection in the 2024 draft for Rodgers and the 15th and 170th picks in the 2023 class.
The conditional pick in 2024 centered around Rodgers’ playing time during the 2023 season, which was cut short when he tore his Achilles tendon in his first game as a Jet. Because of that injury, the would-be first-round pick in 2024 turned into a second-round pick — the 41st selection in this class.
This week, the Packers traded down from #41, turning that pick into the 45th, 168th and 190th picks of the Collapse
Packers ‘have a lot of confidence’ in cornerback room
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
With only a seventh-round pick spent on the Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
With only a seventh-round pick spent on the position, Green Bay appears to be running it back at cornerback in 2024. Many Green Bay Packers fans expected the team’s first-round selection to be turned in for Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean when he was still available at the 25th overall pick on Thursday. The Packers had other plans, though, as they waited nine draft choices before finally selecting a player at the position: Penn State’s Kalen King, who was taken 255th overall.
When asked about the lack of activity at the cornerback position in the draft, head coach Matt LaFleur stated, “First of all, we have a lot of confidence in those guys, anyways,” and later added that former first-round pick Eric Stokes “looks great” in organized team activities. LaFleur said that Stokes was a “full-go” in the Packers’ offseason program and that Jaire Alexander is “in great shape. He’s been busting his butt.”
When general manager Brian Gutekunst was Collapse
Packers News: Kingsley Enagbare did not tear his ACL in 2023
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Some rare good veteran news on draft day for the Green Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Some rare good veteran news on draft day for the Green Bay Packers. In the post-draft press conference, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur addressed the team’s pass-rushing situation, a question that was asked due to the fact that the team did not spend any of their 2024 draft picks on 4-3 defensive ends. When the name Kingsley Enagbare came up, though, he broke a bit of news: Enagbare actually never tore his ACL in 2023.
Enagbare went down in the playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys and told the media that he “tore it,” on locker cleanout day, per The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman. LaFleur, though, said that a tear was never confirmed and that Enagbare never had surgery on the knee.
When he was pressed on if there was still an expectation that Enagbare would miss the start of the season due to the injury, the head coach pushed back and stated that he was looking good.
So that’s probably why the Packers chose not to add anyone to their Collapse
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Wednesday Cheese Curds: Jeff Hafley gives Packers defense a fresh start
7 HRS AGO - Tork Mason-USA TODAY Sports
The Packers defense could benefit from starting over under Expand
7 HRS AGO - Tork Mason-USA TODAY Sports
The Packers defense could benefit from starting over under Hafley. Fresh starts are fun, and they’re rare in the NFL. Careers are so short both on and off the field that players and coaches really only get one good crack at being their best. But opportunities to start new do come along on occasion, and a couple of key, young Packers defensive players have such an opportunity this year.
Trying to be as fair as possible, 2022 first round picks Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt have both shown flashes of success in their young NFL careers, though neither has really sustained that success over long periods.
It’s possible, even likely, that the reason for some of their underwhelming (or maybe just whelming) performance so far was Joe Barry. Perhaps the most consistent criticism of Barry was his failure to maximize players’ individual talents, to say nothing of his ability to craft a cohesive defense overall. But if we assume that Walker and Wyatt struggled Collapse
No NFL team has made more draft picks than the Packers since 2022
1 DAY AGO - Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
The NFL draft has changed a lot due to NIL and the Covid Expand
1 DAY AGO - Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
The NFL draft has changed a lot due to NIL and the Covid season in college football, allowing for opportunities for GM Brian Gutekunst. College football has faced changes in recent seasons, which has changed the composition of draft classes. The most obvious factor altering recent classes is that the 2020 college football season didn’t count against student-athletes’ eligibility, allowing players to pick up fifth and sixth seasons in the NCAA. The other influence potential draft prospects are dealing with is the NCAA’s name, image and likeness (NIL) policy, passed in 2021, which allows student-athletes to make money via “sponsorships” while maintaining their amateur status.
Due to those two reasons, the 2022 through 2024 drafts — the first three drafts since NIL was passed — have been flooded with more players with significant playing time under their belts and fewer underclassmen declaring. In 2024, only 58 underclassmen declared for the NFL Collapse
Inbox: That'll work itself out. It always does.
1 DAY AGO - You can’t win in this league until they win
Cheese Curds, 4/29: Recapping a wild three days of the 2024 NFL Draft
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Smolek/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Let’s take a look back at a busy Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Smolek/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Let’s take a look back at a busy several days. After weeks and months of anticipation, the 2024 NFL Draft has finally come and gone. The Green Bay Packers made 11 picks over the weekend, filling up positions on their roster that had major holes.
In total, the Packers and general manager Brian Gutekunst drafted multiple players at three different positions — offensive line, linebacker, and safety — while taking three players each for the line and safety spots.
Not only did the Packers fill needed positions, but they also got some excellent prospects at each of them. Their first three picks went in order at those three spots listed earlier, and the players they landed on defense were right at the top of most lists of players at their positions.
With the draft behind us, let’s take a look at the team’s overall class, a few new Packers on an individual basis, and much more.
Here’s what the Packers got in the 2024 NFL Draft | Collapse
Nerd says Packers’ 2024 draft class has negative value
2 DAYS AGO - There has to be a better way of framing a draft class than this methodology. There are plenty of Expand
2 DAYS AGO - There has to be a better way of framing a draft class than this methodology. There are plenty of ways to skin the cat on draft grades. This one takes the cake, though.
Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald wrote an article on Sunday titled “The Salary Cap Costs and Value Added from the 2024 NFL Draft.” In it, his data claims that the Green Bay Packers lost value with the draft choices they turned in this week.
According to Fitzgerald, his numbers show how much the expected cost per season each team’s rookie class is going make — which in the Packers’ case is a collective $16.7 million for 11 draft picks. Then he calculated the “expected value” for a blind pick at each draft slot. For Green Bay, that number translated to $46.6 million per year in value.
The last step was to compare the draft slot’s value to the “expected value” of a player‘s position drafted at the slot, which he admits himself skews heavily in favor of teams that select a quarterback. How heavily does it favor Collapse
Here's what the Packers got in the 2024 NFL Draft
3 DAYS AGO - Across the board, Green Bay found what it was looking for
Packers Draft Grades: First-round selection of Jordan Morgan satisfies Green Bay fans
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images
Green Bay’s fans generally approve of the team’s first Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images
Green Bay’s fans generally approve of the team’s first pick in 2024. The Green Bay Packers’ first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft probably would not be described as a “sexy” pick. Rarely is drafting an offensive lineman described that way, but that is no matter — building out in the trenches, particularly on the line in front of a young quarterback, is usually a good option.
Ultimately, the Packers drafted offensive tackle Jordan Morgan from the University of Arizona. That pick came with a few popular mock draft picks for the Packers still on the board — notably, Graham Barton and Cooper DeJean — but later reports seem to suggest that Morgan was about to be in very high demand around the NFL and the Packers were probably wise to snag him when they did.
After the selection came in, we at Acme Packing Company asked our readers to give the selection a letter grade, and the vast majority of fans are pleased with the pick in some respect. An Collapse
Packers Undrafted Free Agent Tracker: Following Green Bay’s 2024 signings
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
The Packers have just seven roster spots available after Expand
3 DAYS AGO - Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
The Packers have just seven roster spots available after making 11 draft picks, so UDFA slots will be few and far between. The Green Bay Packers made 11 selections in the 2024 NFL Draft, the same number of picks that the team had coming into the weekend. However, they moved up and down the board quite a bit, moving back once in the second round to add a pair of picks, then trading up twice on the third day of the draft.
That number of draft picks means that the Packers have a smaller number of open roster spots than usual coming out of draft weekend. In fact, Green Bay has just seven slots available on their 90-man roster to add undrafted rookie signings.
The undrafted free agency process gets underway now, however, as the Packers and the other 31 teams are making their pitches to plenty of young players across the college football landscape who did not hear their names called over the past three days. Green Bay has a long track record of Collapse
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