Seven-Round Packers Mock Draft: Filling Needs With Elite RAS
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the NFL Scouting Combine continuing Sunday, tis the season for mock drafts, 40-yard dashes and Relative Athletic Scores.
RAS takes a player’s height, weight, 40-yard dash and other measureables from the Combine and pro days and places them on a spectrum of 0 (worst) to 10 (best) relative to other players at the same position. The Green Bay Packers might not use RAS, but they certainly have some sort of athletic grading system that’s important to general manager Brian Gutekunst.
How important? Gutekunst has run six drafts. RAS color-codes the prospects, with 0 to 4.99 being in red, 5.00 to 7.99 being in yellow and 8 to 10 being in green. Gutekunst has drafted a total of nine in the red and yellow and 16 who are 9-plus.
In that light, our third mock draft of the year combines Green Bay’s needs with picking the best players available with superior RAS scores. Pro Football Focus picked for the other 31 teams and I played the role of Gutekunst.
First Round: Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton
There were players with higher RAS on the board, but the Packers need an offensive tackle and I didn’t want to miss out on getting one of most athletic blockers in the class.
At this point in the mock, Washington’s Troy Fautanu, Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton and Arizona’s Jordan Morgan were available among the first-round prospects capable of playing tackle.
Fautanu measured 6-foot-3 3/4 and 317 pounds. While perhaps too short, he critically hit 34.5 inches for arm length. His athleticism was excellent with a 5.01 in the 40 and impressive numbers in the jumps. His RAS was 9.40.
Guyton measured 6-foot-7 3/4 and 322 pounds with 34 1/8-inch arms. He ran his 40 in 5.19 seconds and boasted an elite 34.5-inch vertical. Thanks to elite size, his RAS was 9.74. A right tackle in college, the question is whether he can play left tackle.
Morgan measured 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds. His 5.04 in the 40 was excellent; his 28-inch vertical was not. His RAS was 9.00. With 32 7/8-inch arms, he probably is headed to guard.
With all that, the pick is Guyton. He has the height. He has the length. His 4.71 in the 20-yard shuttle beat David Bakhtiari by 0.03. Oh, let’s not lose sight of the fact he allowed zero sacks and 12 pressures in 2023.
Second Round: Texas A&M LB Edgerrin Cooper
Scouts like when players who look fast on tape are fast on the stopwatch. So it is with Cooper, whose 4.51 in the 40 was second-fastest among the pure linebackers. His 9.34 RAS was fourth-best at the position. What a final season with eight sacks and 17 tackles for losses among his 84 tackles. He also forced two fumbles. According to PFF, he allowed 14 completions all season.
Second Round: USC S Calen Bullock
Bullock didn’t participate in enough tests to get a RAS. By the time he performs at USC’s pro day, that figure is likely to be elite. At 6-foot-2, he ran his 40 in 4.48 – eighth-fastest among safeties. He’ll need to improve his tackling but he intercepted nine passes in three seasons.
Washington State’s Jaden Hicks and Georgia’s Javon Bullard went between the Cooper and Bullock picks.
Third Round: Florida State RB Trey Benson
Benson was one of three running backs to break 4.40 seconds in the 40 on Saturday. That’s really moving for a 216-pounder. His 9.77 RAS trailed only Louisville’s Isaac Guerendo, who had limited college production, and Tennessee’s Jaylen Wright, who went seven picks earlier in this simulation.
Benson averaged 5.8 yards per carry, including 3.5 yards after contact, in 2023, when he caught 20-of-24 targeted passes. He’s got the skill-set to be a No. 1 running back.
Third Round: Rutgers CB Max Melton
Melton, the brother of Packers receiver Bo Melton, had the sixth-best RAS among corners at 9.68. At 5-foot-11 and 187 pounds, he dominated the Combine in the 40 (4.39 seconds), vertical (40.5 inches) and broad jump (11 feet, 4 inches). He’s a pretty darned good player, too, with 40 career starts, eight career interceptions and four career blocked kicks.
Kentucky’s Andru Phillips (9.30 RAS) was available, too. He had zero career interceptions, though.
Fourth Round: Utah S Cole Bishop
The Packers might blow up their safety corps, with a source believing they’ll sign a veteran and draft a couple more. So, let’s double-dip with Bishop. At 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, he finished third among safeties with a 4.45 in the 40 and fifth with a 39-inch vertical. Added together, he ranks second among safeties with a 9.81 RAS.
Can he play? He was a three-year all-conference selection with three interceptions, 14 passes defensed, 7.5 sacks, 21.5 tackles for losses and almost 200 career tackles. Being a communications major can’t hurt, either.
Fifth Round: Washington State edge Brennan Jackson
The Packers are a man down on the edge with Kingsley Enagbare’s torn ACL. So, we’ll double-dip at this position. At 6-foot-4 and 264 pounds, Jackson ran his 40 in 4.69 seconds and finished with an 8.47 RAS. That’s the lowest of our mock – though still an excellent number – with need trumping everything in this case.
A high-effort performer, Jackson had 14.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for losses during his final two seasons.
Sixth Round: Wisconsin C Tanor Bortolini
Bortolini’s estimated “Athletic Score” at NFL.com ranked No. 1 among centers before the Combine.
Nailed it.
At 6-foot-4 1/4 and 303 pounds, Bortolini ran his 40 in 4.94 seconds (second-fastest among the linemen) and added a 4.28 in the 20-yard shuttle (fastest among the linemen). In fact, he aced every test for a 9.97 RAS. Really, the only thing he was dinged for was the weight en route to an all-time great performance. With his numbers run at guard, he ranked sixth out of 1,434 since 1987.
From Next Gen Stats, Bortolini tied for the No. 1 athletic performance among all players at the Combine.
Bortolini allowed one sack each of the last two seasons. He played mostly right tackle in 2021, mostly guard in 2022 and entirely at center in 2023.
Sixth Round: Temple LB Jordan Magee
Magee finished fourth among the pure linebackers with a 4.55 in the 40 and fifth with a 9.29 RAS. He had an impressive final two seasons with 166 tackles, eight sacks, 23 tackles for losses, seven passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
If Magee doesn’t fall to this spot – and I don’t think he will – Kentucky’s Trevin Wallace was on the board. He beat Magee in the 40 (4.51) and in RAS (9.64; behind only NC State’s Payton Wilson’s 9.81). The choice was Magee, who is much more NFL-ready.
Seventh Round: Texas Tech edge Myles Cole
Cole had by far the highest RAS of any edge defender at the Combine with a 9.96. At 6-foot-6 and 278 pounds, he ran a 4.67 in the 40 and did well in the jumps, too.
Cole set career highs with 3.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for losses. So, this is a traits-based pick but, in the seventh round, it’s worth taking a shot.
For those wanting a double-dip at running back instead of edge, all the high-RAS running backs were off the board.
Seventh Round: Mississippi CB Deantre Prince
Prince had the 10th-highest RAS among the corners (8.96). His 4.38 in the 40 ranked seventh among corners, just ahead of Melton’s 4.39. He had six interceptions in four seasons, 11 passes defensed in 2022 and a 46.7 percent catch rate the last two years, according to PFF.
