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Top 262 NFL Draft Big Board Shows Receiver Depth

The Green Bay Packers need receiver help. A strong class awaits, as demonstrated by this NFL Draft ranking.
Bill Huber|
Top 262 NFL Draft Big Board Shows Receiver Depth
Top 262 NFL Draft Big Board Shows Receiver Depth

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the 2022 NFL Draft commences on Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers will be shopping for a receiver or three. The NFL Draft’s receiver aisle is stocked.

That’s evident in the Top 262 Big Board produced by Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson.

Nine of the top 49 picks are receivers. That includes Arkansas’ Treylon Burks (No. 20), Ohio State’s Chris Olave (No. 21) and Penn State’s Jahan Dotson (No. 28), who rank in the vicinity of Green Bay’s first-round picks at No. 22 and No. 28. Georgia’s George Pickens (No. 44) wouldn’t be a stretch in the first round.

“Burks plays faster than his timed speed, with the acceleration to run away from defenders,” Hanson wrote of Burks, who had a predraft visit with the Packers. “Due to his physicality, run-after-catch prowess and how the Razorbacks varied his alignments, it’s easy to see how his new team could use Burks similarly to how the 49ers use Deebo Samuel. Burks finished 2021 with 66 receptions for 1,104 yards, 14 carries for 112 yards, and a total of 12 touchdowns.”

North Dakota State’s Christian Watson (No. 49) and South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert (No. 60) also could be options for the Packers, who own No. 53 and No. 59 of the second round.

“Watson has an elite combination of size and speed with a wide catch radius, and is elusive for a big receiver,” Hanson wrote of another player who had a predraft visit. “The son of a former NFL safety (Tim Watson) ran the sixth-fastest 40-yard dash among wide receivers (4.36) and led all combine participants in the broad jump (11'4"). Watson averaged 20.4 yards per reception over his career and returned a pair of kickoffs for scores in 2020.”

In Hanson’s Top 100, 16 are receivers. In his Top 150, 20 are receivers.

While it is a draft filled with receivers, NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah warned against teams betting that the depth will push quality receivers into the second and third rounds. The price of veteran receivers has soared this offseason, meaning there is greater value in a rookie receiver.

So long as it’s the right one for a team that has not drafted a receiver in the first round since 2002.

Also, 12 of the top 64 on Hanson’s Big Board are edge defenders.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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