Grade: A.

The Packers are as proficient as any team in the league at building through the draft, and gifts like this one will help them stay on that path. Clinton-Dix and Calvin Pryor were neck-and-neck as the top safety in the 2014 class, and Clinton-Dix probably is a better fit for the Green Bay defense anyway (Pryor was selected at No. 18).

Alabama prospects have drawn a bit of a stigma recently, with several of them struggling to make the transition to the NFL after taking on heavy workloads in college. Clinton-Dix should help put an end to that opinion. He gives Green Bay a rangy, smart defender on the back end of its defense, in a division filled with passing offenses and talented tight ends.

Prospect after prospect the Packers held in high regard and held out hopes might be available at their No. 21 position had to be removed from their draft board.

Finally, it came down to the slot just ahead of Green Bay. What would have been the reaction among the Packers' decision-makers if the New Orleans Saints would have selected safety Ha'Sean "Ha Ha" Clinton-Dix of Alabama with pick No. 20.

"I would have been crushed," general manager Ted Thompson said.

Instead, the Saints took wide receiver Brandin Cooks leaving Clinton-Dix for the Packers to fill an immense void in their secondary.

Clinton-Dix, 6 feet 1½ inches and 207 pounds, is a third-year junior and two-year starter. He isn't overly fast, athletic, physical or cerebral.

What he is, according to Thompson, is complete.

"I think it's the fact that he's all-around," Thompson said. "There's not a lot of holes in him. We think that's good. And I think he's got really good ball skills."

Clinton-Dix was a teammate of Eddie Lacy's on the Crimson Tide in 2011-'12. Lacy won rookie of the year honors, and Clinton-Dix, given the sorry shape of the Packers' safety position, will be expected to be a plug-and-play starter.

"He's an accomplished football player," Thompson said.



http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/Ha-Ha-Clinton-Dix-picked-to-help-fix-back-of-Packers-defense.html#ixzz31DcG1Vcp 
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Why did this guy fall down to 21?

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

That's great, but he'll be defending guys like Megatron, Cordarrelle Patterson and Alshon Jeffery and Eric Ebron... all are a good deal faster... Ted got feisty with the charge that Dix ran a 4.62. All this talk pre draft how we needed speed to stop guys like Kaepernick and we take a turtle. I truly don't understand what Ted Thompson does in Round 1.

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

I'm just disappointed in the way that it fell... it is possible Dix was the highest ranked guy on their board...if he wasn't he had to be close. I would've loved to see where Ted Thompson had Manziel on his board. I don't believe that Manziel was rated lower than Dix but he wasn't ever going to consider taking a QB in round 1 after saying all positions were up for grabs and they would go BPA. Did I really want Manziel over Dix? Absolutely. Manziel has a real chance to be one of those once in a lifetime guys. Would it make sense? I would LOVE knowing that if Aaron got injured, again, we had this kid coming in for him. What if we're 12-2 and slugging it out for home field advantage throughout the playoffs and Rodgers goes down for the rest of the season? Is Matt Flynn going to carry us to number 14? No. A guy like Manziel very well could.

Although, just as unlikely, what if Rodgers suffers a career ending injury Week 1 vs. Seattle? Are you then happy he took a safety because it filled a need vs. taking a QB who could be incredibly special? That is where BPA philosophy really helps you. Ted Thompson is a NEED guy and I don't care what he says...it's ALWAYS need for him in Round 1 and I HATE that. Ha Ha seems good because it's having a need filled even though he may not have been the best player on the board. It really isn't any different than the person who lives paycheck to paycheck who gets paid and goes out and blows all of his money the first weekend he gets it because he has this need to party because he hasn't partied in a long time vs. saving it away for when he might actually need it. Manziel was a rainy day pick who could've paid unbelievable dividends whereas Dix is a guy who'll be an improvement because of the absolute slop we've trotted out there recently.

You don't get many opportunities for special players like Manziel...we had it happen to us, twice, with Favre and Rodgers... I fear we missed our 3rd op. Manziel would've come with a 5th year option...that is when Aaron would be 35-36 and in need of replacement. The way we miss on our 1st round picks with regularity, I would've taken the potential limited immediate dividends of Manziel and considered him one heckuvan insurance policy.

Houston has JJ Watt and some other talent that can rush the passer quite well, but they took the guy who was the most potentially special even though it seemed a little greedy.

Dix better not be the next George freaking Teague another Bama failure in the secondary.

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

No need to apologize- although, I DID say all along he would probably be there at #21. The other teams needing Safetys needed other things more.

I'm just damn pleased he fell to us and Ted had the good sense to take him. This guy is gonna be a star. I won't say better than Nick Collins; I won't say the same kind of player; But he will be a ball hawk and a coverage guy. As for the speed, he seems to have football speed. I can't explain the fairly slow forty times, but I'm confident he will play faster than his time. And pairing him with Burnett will make Burnett better also.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 

I'm just disappointed in the way that it fell... it is possible Dix was the highest ranked guy on their board...if he wasn't he had to be close. I would've loved to see where Ted Thompson had Manziel on his board. I don't believe that Manziel was rated lower than Dix but he wasn't ever going to consider taking a QB in round 1 after saying all positions were up for grabs and they would go BPA. Did I really want Manziel over Dix? Absolutely. Manziel has a real chance to be one of those once in a lifetime guys. Would it make sense? I would LOVE knowing that if Aaron got injured, again, we had this kid coming in for him. What if we're 12-2 and slugging it out for home field advantage throughout the playoffs and Rodgers goes down for the rest of the season? Is Matt Flynn going to carry us to number 14? No. A guy like Manziel very well could.

Although, just as unlikely, what if Rodgers suffers a career ending injury Week 1 vs. Seattle? Are you then happy he took a safety because it filled a need vs. taking a QB who could be incredibly special? That is where BPA philosophy really helps you. Ted Thompson is a NEED guy and I don't care what he says...it's ALWAYS need for him in Round 1 and I HATE that. Ha Ha seems good because it's having a need filled even though he may not have been the best player on the board. It really isn't any different than the person who lives paycheck to paycheck who gets paid and goes out and blows all of his money the first weekend he gets it because he has this need to party because he hasn't partied in a long time vs. saving it away for when he might actually need it. Manziel was a rainy day pick who could've paid unbelievable dividends whereas Dix is a guy who'll be an improvement because of the absolute slop we've trotted out there recently.

You don't get many opportunities for special players like Manziel...we had it happen to us, twice, with Favre and Rodgers... I fear we missed our 3rd op. Manziel would've come with a 5th year option...that is when Aaron would be 35-36 and in need of replacement. The way we miss on our 1st round picks with regularity, I would've taken the potential limited immediate dividends of Manziel and considered him one heckuvan insurance policy.

Houston has JJ Watt and some other talent that can rush the passer quite well, but they took the guy who was the most potentially special even though it seemed a little greedy.

Dix better not be the next George freaking Teague another Bama failure in the secondary.

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

I'll just say this: problem with trusting Ted's word based on his "expertise" is that Ted has been downright horrible with first round picks in his tenure (he has busts in Harrell, Sherrod; and non-impact players in Perry and Datone). When it comes to the first round, saying "trust Ted, who must've seen something in him" is pretty much the last thing I want to hear based on Ted's 1st round draft record.

That said, I can live with Ha-Ha. His combine numbers suggest that not only is his speed a problem, he is just mediocre in agility and change of direction. That will hurt in the pass-happy NFL. Yet, I swear whenever I watch some film on him, he plays (speed, agility, change of direction) much faster than his combine times. He looks fast and agile enough, and relative to MD Jennings that is a damn steal.

Plus, given that the two other safties I would've liked over Ha-Ha both went in the 1st round, I'm fine with any talent upgrade at S. Having hindsight of how highly sought after S was in the late first round, I am open to Ha-Ha proving his combine numbers were not a true indicator of his abilities.

Originally Posted by: all_about_da_packers