100 Days of Mocks: Two Playmakers Following Rodgers Trade
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Imagine Aaron Rodgers, sitting in his home in Malibu wearing a New York Jets T-shirt, seeing the Green Bay Packers draft a receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002 and a tight end in the first round since 2000.
Much Scotch would be consumed.
There are a myriad of reasons why Rodgers led the Packers to only one Super Bowl championship. One of them is the team never made a bold move to get him another playmaker.
In a live mock draft conducted by Pro Football Focus, Sam Monson and Mike Renner used the 13th overall pick, acquired from the Jets in a potential Rodgers trade, on Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Smith-Njigba was a slot machine at Ohio State. Playing alongside 2022 first-round picks and standout NFL rookies Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, it was Smith-Njigba who led the Buckeyes in receptions and yards in 2021. Most of that production came from the slot, where the Packers have been trying for several years to replace Randall Cobb.
“I feel like I'm a player, wherever you ask me to be, I can be,” he said at the Scouting Combine, which he crushed with a strong workout. “Outside, inside; pitching me the ball, punt return, wherever you need me to be, I'm the type of guy to get it done.”
With Green Bay’s own pick at No. 15, the Packers reeled in the best pass-catching tight end in the class with Utah’s Dalton Kincaid.
“All of a sudden, you look at this group of receivers — if this happens — and you've got the two guys we've just drafted. You've got the guys they drafted a year ago, each of whom showed something … that can form a hell of a nucleus,” Monson said.
At Draft Countdown, Shane Hallam cranked out a seven-round, post-Combine mock draft.
In the first round at No. 15, Hallam also went with Kincaid.
As NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said in a pre-Scouting Combine conference call: “I don't like when you compare guys to all-time great players, but just in his movement stuff, he moves, he kind of looks likes (Travis) Kelce just the way he moves in and out of breaks. I really liked Zach Ertz when he was coming out, the year he was coming out. I think he is a better version of Zach Ertz.”
The Day 2 picks were Texas A&M safety Antonio Johnson in the second round and SMU receiver Rashee Rice in the third round. Hallam went with another receiver, Mississippi’s Jonathan Mingo, in the fifth round.
Rice caught 233 passes in four seasons, including 96 receptions for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior. At 6-foot-1 and 204 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.51 seconds with an outstanding vertical of 41 inches.
His taste for blocking would fit the Packers.
“I enjoy doing the things that other receivers don’t because I know it helps me separate myself from the pack,” he told The Draft Network. “I love football because it allows me to go to war with my brothers. If I have to put my body on the line to block for my running backs, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I want to see them get into the end zone. It’s not just about me scoring touchdowns.”
Mingo caught 51 passes for 861 yards and five touchdowns as a senior. He measured 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds at the Combine, where he ran his 40 in 4.46 seconds with a 39.5-inch vertical.
“Liken his skills-et to an outside receiver with some versatility in the slot or tighter alignments. Utilized on locked hitches and smoke screens in the quick game. Want the ball in his hands where his pace and strength garner yards,” reads a snippet of his NFL Draft Bible scouting report.
Hallam went with a pass rusher in the fourth round and a cornerback in the fifth round, and a kicker was among the team’s five projected picks in the seventh round. Click on the draft to see all the picks.
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100 Days of Mocks
Starting Jan. 17, when there were 100 days until the start of the NFL Draft, we started our mock-worthy goal of 100 mock drafts in 100 days. Here are the last 10 days of the series.
50 days: Rodgers, Jets and the first-round dilemma
52 days: Post-Scouting Combine roundup
All-Packers seven-round mock draft 1.0
53 days: Tight end, receiver in new mocks
55 days: Kincaid and figure-skating safety
56 days: The dreaded third-round tight end
57 days: Three mocks, same tight end
