John Hammonds

If he's able to trade back and still get WR Brian Thomas, he'll do it.

I agree. I think this is another one of those over-hyped QB classes that will probably never perform to the level of the hype. But -- teams still need a quarterback. And will convince themselves that that must take one of these quarterbacks. That it's the only solution to their problem. If I was forced to choose, I would probably go with Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. I'm concerned that Caleb Williams may have some personality issues to go with his lack of measurables, even though he shows strong ability to improvise. Drake Maye has the measurables, but I have questions regarding the level of opposition playing at UNC. It's not the same as playing the equivalent of the Crimson Tide every single week. JJ McCarthy is "good". And he's been successful. He led his team to a BCS championship. And? I see him in the same mold as AJ McCarron. Supremely successful in college, but not good enough to be The Guy in the pros.

What can I say? You and I continue to see the draft in much the same way. Latu, Hart, and Mustapha are all in my MY GUYS list. How can I object? However, I would substitute J.D. Bertrand LB Notre Dame in the 4th round for Audric Estime. Personally, I would rather we went for a WR in round 1 rather than an EDGE. But I'm not gonna complain!

We ought to pick Brian Thomas. But we'll probably pick Terrion Arnold.

Dunno if you've started your Vikings forum draft yet. But if you liked my 1st round trade to get DeJean, here is the thought process behind it. My Packers self realized that I would have to trade up to get to him. But I didn't want to trade too high. My eye fell on Miami at 21, which I also managed. Miami doesn't have a 3rd nor a 4th round pick. And they could be persuaded to trade down just a few picks in order to pick up a 3rd that they don't have. And the Packers had multiple 3rd round picks. They could afford to give one away. I held off making the trade until it got to Miami's pick. If DeJean already came off the board by then, it wouldn't be worth it. I had to wait. And when it hit -- BAM! I pulled the trigger quickly.

I agree. I feel a lot like I did during the offseason going into 2019. We just did a good thing. We have a lot of young players who are still growing and improving. We have an opportunity to add to it, and take the Next Step. (Let's just hope we don't repeat that offseason. Since that's when Disaster struck, and Luck retired literally 5 minutes before the season started!)

Of all the memories of Luck, I still go back to his appearance on Gruden's QB Camp. (excuse me while I go dry my eyes)

I think that's counting both free agents and extensions. I was just compiling only the free agent figures on Sportrac. It was pretty amazing. I already knew from listening to the radio that Ballard was spending the money retaining his own. But when you actually see the numbers, it jumps out at you. Instead of spending 30-odd million dollars signing 12 to 14 players from other rosters, most of whom are bargain basement people, and signing only 2 or 3 of your own, he spent 93 million dollars signing 10 of his own players, while signing only 2 guys from other teams. It's a complete and stunning reversal.

That's no joke. I was thinking the same thing. Why would he want to re-sign any of the players from his wretched 2019 draft? Bleah!

I know, this is really weird. My contributing to a thread that I've already complained about twice. But -- I'm an analyst by trade. And I was looking at a really peculiar thing. Chris Ballard did an incredible turnabout this year, when it comes to free agents. Not saying it's good. Or that it's better. But that it's DIFFERENT. Very Different. Here's some compiled yearly Free Agent stats from Sportrac: 2020 Free agents signed from other teams: 8 agents for $34.5mm / $4.3mm per year / highest: QB Rivers $25mm 1 yr Free agents to other teams: 10 agents for $26.2mm / $2.4mm per year / highest: TE Ebron $12mm 1 yr / 1 of 10 drafted by Colts Free agents retained: 2 agents for $2.0mm / $1.0mm per year / highest: OT Clark $1.2mm 1 yr / 1 of 2 drafted by Colts 2021 Free agents signed from other teams: 12 agents for $22.2mm / $1.8mm per year / highest: OT Fisher $8.4mm 1 yr Free agents to other teams: 9 agents for $36.8mm / $3.3mm per year / highest: DE Autry $21.5mm 3 yr / 3 of 9 drafted by Colts Free agents retained: 5 agents for $16.0mm / $3.2mm per year / highest: WR Hilton $8mm 1 yr / 2 of 5 drafted by Colts 2022 Free agents signed from other teams: 14 agents for $42.2mm / $2.7mm per year / highest: CB Gilmore $22mm 2 yr Free agents to other teams: 14 agents for $54.5mm / $2.7mm per year / highest: OG Glowinski $18.3 3 yr / 3 of 14 drafted by Colts Free agents retained: NONE 2023 Free agents signed from other teams: 14 agents for $64.4mm / $3.4mm per year / highest: DE Ebukam $24mm 3 yr Free agents to other teams: 13 agents for $71.7mm / $4.3mm per year / highest: LB Okereke $40mm 4 yr / 4 of 13 drafted by Colts Free agents retained: 2 agents for $15.2mm / $3.8mm per year / highest: LB Speed $8mm 2 yr / 1 of 2 drafted by Colts 2024 Free agents signed from other teams: 2 agents for $18.5mm / $6.1mm per year / highest: DT Davis $14mm 2 yr Free agents to other teams: 5 agents for $36.8mm / $5.3mm per year / highest: QB Minshew $25mm 2 yr / 0 drafted by Colts Free agents retained: 10 agents for $93.9mm / $6.3mm per year / highest: DT Stewart $39mm 3 yr / 4 of 10 drafted by Colts Instead of signing free agents from other teams, and allowing our players to leave, Ballard had a 100% reversal, signing our own players the kind of money they would have gotten from other teams, and retaining them instead. This isn't just a reversal, it's a HUGE reversal. Almost as if Ballard said, "Well, the plan of not paying our own players didn't work out. Let's try retaining them all, and giving them the money they want. Let's see how this works!"

It's rare that I disagree with you, my friend. But I would like to add a caveat to your comments. It's true that Bruce Arians ran the Zampese/Air Coryell offense -- while he was with the Colts. However, he left after the first year to be the head coach of the Cardinals, and was replaced by Pep Hamilton, Andrew's OC from Stanford. And Pep ran the West Coast Offense, at least according to the Pro Football Reference site. (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/2013.htm) If memory serves, they only retained Pep for two and a half seasons, and replaced him with Rob Chudzinski. My own belief is that even when running the West Coast offense, Andrew's primary receiver was undersized with a small catch radius. This required him to create more separation. Which resulted in longer routes, and longer time for Andrew to sit in the pocket, waiting for the play to develop. Also, this primary receiver was the only guy who could create downfield big plays. Which means that Andrew had two reasons to sit extra-long in the pocket, waiting for the play to develop. Behind a line that wasn't all that good at protecting him for an extended period of time. At least, that's how I look at it. Not saying you were "wrong", just adding a caveat.

I don't know precisely either. But you can see that he really underwhelmed at the combine. 40 time - 5.23 (rank 38 out of 50) Vertical - 29.5" (rank 30 out of 50) Broad - 8'5" (46 out of 50) 3 cone - 7.33 (5 out of 50) 20 yd shuttle - 4.5 seconds (7 out of 50) bench press - 25 reps (18 out of 50).

Fantastic pick! You are totally getting my vibe for my Packers draft this year. A lot of local guys, a lot of Big Ten guys. I've had my eye on Nugent for a long time, even though his draft stock has been dropping. Between the Packers and the Dolphins, I took both Michigan interior offensive linemen.

I will not be available tonight. Enjoy making my picks for me!

You and I have been thinking alike all this draft!

With the 169th pick in the 2024 NFL Mock Draft, the Green Bay Packers select J D Bertrand, LB, Notre Dame

This TE draft is pretty bad. Giants can pick up whichever TE the Colts cut this season.

Sorry, Jacobs or Liufau

LB's Travis or Liufau?

As long as none of them are the guy I've been waiting 24 hours to pick!

I'm gonna be out after the Packers pick at 169. I know, I know. They have THREE PICKS in the 6th round. But I've got to get my * to Planet Fitness. Planning to run in the Indy 500 5K on May 4.

I was looking at both James Williams and Malik Mustapha for my Dolphins pick. With both of them suddenly gone, I was like, ok what the heck.

With the 158th pick in the 2024 NFL Mock Draft, the Miami Dolphind select Joe Milton, QB, Tennessee

RB Will Shipley?

Yellow lab? Or black?