With Focus on Athletes, Packers Start Fast in NFL Draft
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is building a track team as well as a football team.
The athleticism in the 2022 NFL Draft class is evident by the numbers. Relative Athletic Score combines a prospect’s measurables – height, weight, 40 time, etc. – and puts them on a 0-to-10 scale alongside other players at the same position.
The four picks made over the first three rounds were used on superb athletes.
With the 22nd pick of the first round on Thursday, the Packers selected Georgia linebacker Quay Walker. With a superior combination of height and speed, Walker had a 9.63 RAS. That was the ninth-best among this year’s off-the-ball linebackers.
With the 28th pick of the first round on Thursday, the Packers added Georgia defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt. With the fastest 40-yard dash of any 300-pounder this year, Wyatt had a RAS of 9.60. That was the third-best in the class of defensive tackles.
With the 34th pick of the second round on Friday, the Packers moved up 19 slots to get North Dakota State receiver Christian Watson. Standing 6-foot-4 and completing his 40 in a sizzling 4.36 seconds, Watson had a RAS of 9.96. That was No. 1 among this year’s receivers. Among his athletic comps were Calvin Johnson, Javon Walker and Julio Jones.
With the final pick on Friday, No. 92 overall, the Packers grabbed UCLA offensive lineman Sean Rhyan. A three-year starting left tackle, he might wind up at guard. If placed with the guards, his RAS is 9.35. That would rank 10th in that position group.
What did Gutekunst like about Walker?
“When you go back through the tape, you watch how disruptive he is and his sideline-to-sideline to range,” he said.
What did Gutekunst like about Wyatt?
The speed and explosiveness of him, I think he’s such a disruptor on the line of scrimmage,” he said. “His ability to scrape and get to the ball in the run game is almost linebacker-like.”
What did director of football operations Milt Hendrickson like about Watson?
“He’s big and fast. And he’s a great kid. I just think he’s going to be a great fit for us,” Hendrickson said, adding later: “As fast as he is and his length and his stride, any type of a vertical route, that sort of stuff, it’s exponential what he could ultimately do for our offense that way.”
What did Gutekunst like about Rhyan?
“We just thought his ability to do some of the things we ask of our offensive linemen – being able to play outside, being able to play inside – he would be a good enough athlete to get out with some of the outside-zone and run-game stuff that we do,” he explained.
Football players, not 40-yard times and vertical jumps, win football games. There are exceptions, of course, but history has proven that a lesser prospect with elite athleticism can be developed into a better player than a prospect with better game tape but lesser athleticism.
The Packers chose Walker over Utah’s Devin Lloyd, even though Lloyd had tremendous big-play production and Walker had almost none. They chose Watson over South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert, even though Tolbert is the more polished player and put up better numbers against better competition. They chose Rhyan over Kentucky’s Darian Kinnard and Georgia’s Jamaree Salyer, a pair of All-Americans.
“First of all, it’s about being a football player and playing the game,” Gutekunst, armed with six picks over the final four rounds on Saturday, said as he wrapped up Friday’s proceedings. “That’s the most important thing. Certainly, at this level, there’s a certain amount of athletic traits you have to have. Those of you who have been around here, whether it’s Ron (Wolf), Ted (Thompson), (it’s) the way we’ve been trained. It probably goes all the way back to the Al Davis days with the Raiders – size and speed is important to us. Certainly, I think that’s a reflection of some of the guys we’ve took the past couple days.”
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