Yes, but what if one doesn't believe HaHa is the safety equivalent of Hawk. I explicitly said I don't consider the quality the same.

IMO, if there is a comparison quality-wise, HaHa offers less than Hawk, but a bit more than George Teague.

IMO, if you are going to draft a safety in the first, you need to think he will be at least as good as Nick Collins (who wasn't drafted in the first, by the way).

And, by the way, Collins was not the Collins we're trying to replace in year one OR year two. He took a lot of bad angles, had a number of "communication issues". Because of his speed, he was able to recover from some of them.

Dix does not have that speed.

Dix will improve the defense at safety right out of the box, no question. So would about ten of the safeties in this draft.

If you buy a new $30,000 hybrid car, you're going to improve on the gas-guzzling clunker in your garage.

But if you spend $80,000 to buy that car, you're going to regret the other things you could have done with the extra $50,000.

Originally Posted by: Wade 

We didn't spend 80,000 dollars for a 30,000 dollar car though we spent 30,000 for a 30,000 dollar car.

Originally Posted by: steveishere 

So the only time you should take a S in round 1 is if he's a possible Hall of Fame calibre player? We've got a bit of a problem around here it seems with fans lacking respect for just how good Collins was. No as a prospect he wasn't that highly rated but as an actual player he was. Stop using him as the bar for how good our S need to be. There are probably not more than a couple players left in this entire draft who are going to end up being as good at their positions as Collins was at his.

The only thing that kept Collins from being considered the best S in the league was 2 all-time great S playing at the same time.

Originally Posted by: steveishere 

Here’s what they say about him over at nfl.com:

Hype exceeded his performance in Tuscaloosa, but Clinton-Dix offers starter-caliber instincts, range, coverage skills and tackling ability as a free safety. Should be a Day 1 starter.

A first round draft pick should be a day one starter. That’s why they make more than any other rookie and why the expectations should be high. Mike Mayock on the pick:

“That pick made a ton of sense for the Packers. Of all safeties in draft, this guy had the best range. He plays faster than his NFL Scouting Combine 40-yard dash time (4.58 seconds). He misses surprisingly few tackles, and as a center fielder he’s a natural. For a big guy, his movement skills are very natural.” — Mike Mayock

I would love to hear more specific scenarios about what some would have preferred the Packers to do other than draft Ha Ha. It sounds like Ted discussed some trades, but there's no guarantee anything worthwhile was even an option. It may sound good in theory, but it's not enough to say "Ted should have traded down." Perhaps he wanted to and it just didn't work out. Or perhaps Ha Ha was truly the BPA on his board. That would be my guess. It seems to me any other players would have been basically equivalent. Some maybe had higher ceilings, but had as many question marks, or more, than Ha Ha.

Ha Ha should be a solid safety who has the potential to be better. It's not the most exciting pick ever, but how many later round picks really are? The Manziel scenario is just silly to me. I'm thankful people like that aren't running this team, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by: DoddPower 

I would love to hear more specific scenarios about what some would have preferred the Packers to do other than draft Ha Ha. It sounds like Ted discussed some trades, but there's no guarantee anything worthwhile was even an option. It may sound good in theory, but it's not enough to say "Ted should have traded down." Perhaps he wanted to and it just didn't work out. Or perhaps Ha Ha was truly the BPA on his board. That would be my guess. It seems to me any other players would have been basically equivalent. Some maybe had higher ceilings, but had as many question marks, or more, than Ha Ha.

Ha Ha should be a solid safety who has the potential to be better. It's not the most exciting pick ever, but how many later round picks really are? The Manziel scenario is just silly to me. I'm thankful people like that aren't running this team, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by: DoddPower 

The bolded part is why I am comfortable with Ha-Ha and was worried about taking Pryor if both were available. Pryor has more upside but at the same time I can see him turning into a Brandon Merriweather who leads with his helmet and gets himself knocked out.

Originally Posted by: Mucky Tundra