Who’s Packers’ Best Draft Value of Last 16 Years?
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Since the start of the 2006 season, Mike McCarthy’s first as coach, the Green Bay Packers have won 166 games. That’s the second-most in the NFL, trailing only Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
There’s an obvious reason for that. With Aaron Rodgers running the show since 2008, the Packers have had an overwhelming advantage at the game’s most important position just about every week. There’s more to it than the quarterback, though.
A quarterback doesn’t play defense. He can’t protect his own blind side. He can’t catch his own passes.
Those critical components can’t be acquired solely through free agency. And a roster can’t be constructed through first-round picks.
Every round is important, whether it’s finding a late-round starter, a key backup or a reliable playmaker on special teams. While the first round gets all the hype every April, the other six rounds are hugely important, too.
To that end, PFF’s Michael Renner highlighted the best draft value for every team since 2006. Renner gave the late Ted Thompson a well-earned tip of the cap for his late-round handiwork.
“Former general manager Ted Thompson was the late-round king,” Renner wrote. “Name a round, and he probably found some high-end players there.”
Renner highlighted these picks in particular:
Second round: Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb, Davante Adams and Casey Hayward.
Third round: James Jones, Jermichael Finley and Morgan Burnett.
Fourth round: Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, Mike Daniels, David Bakhtiari, Blake Martinez and J.C. Tretter.
Fifth round: Micah Hyde, Aaron Jones and Corey Linsley.
Renner chose Bakhtiari, a fourth-round pick in 2013, as Green Bay’s best draft value. It’s impossible to argue for anyone else.
Left tackle is a premium position. Of the NFL’s projected 32 starters, 25 of the quarterbacks were taken in the first round. No surprise there. But did you know that 18 of the projected starting left tackles were taken in the first round? Or did you know that there are more left tackles being paid $12 million per season (19) than cornerbacks (16), even though there are only 32 starting left tackles compared to 96 starting corners?
A great left tackle is worth his weight in gold. For the Packers to get a potential Hall of Famer in the fourth round is the steal of steals.
From the 2013 draft class, of players taken during the final four rounds, Bakhtiari ranks No. 1 in starts (119) and first-team All-Pro selections (two). In fact, over the past decade of drafts, only two Day 3 offensive linemen have earned first-team All-Pro status: Bakhtiari (twice) and Linsley (once).
“I started my senior year in high school; that was my only year,” Bakhtiari said when he signed a contract extension in 2016. “I had a couple offers, one-star recruit, signed and got a second star because … I don’t know why. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder. That’s what’s always drove me. Even now, people go, ‘You’re on top.’ I guess from the outside looking in, they want to be like, ‘You’ve made it.’ No. I have always said this: The day I’m complacent is the day I don’t have a job.”
His value is obvious when he’s on the field, with his ability to stop all the NFL’s top pass rushers in their tracks. His value also is obvious when he’s not on the field. Had Bakhtiari not turn his ACL on the practice field, there’s a good chance the Packers would have defeated the Buccaneers in the 2020 NFC Championship Game. And had Bakhtiari successfully returned from that injury, there’s a good chance the Packers would have at least defeated the 49ers in last year’s playoffs.
Green Bay’s championship credentials for 2022 hinge on Bakhtiari’s successful comeback.
