He loves reaches. Drafting a 20 yo kid with very little experience for the DL in the first round is right up his alley. By the time Clark is really coming into his own, his rookie contract will be over and Teddy (if he is still around) will be tormented trying to decide if he should pay him what he is worth or let him go so he can get a 5th round comp pick instead.
2. What make you think drafting this kid was Teddy's idea to begin with? The draft in the last 2 years has been moving away from the ol Teddy MO. It sure looks like he is getting more and more help.
Originally Posted by: wpr
Ted loves potential, because IF said player can develop that potential then they're getting a lot more value. If you/they can't develop that potential, then they're bust. But undeveloped players with potential and reaches can often be seen as one in the same.
Clark was young but he also has two years of starting and three years of playing every game. On top of that, I read an article that said Clark was one of the college leaders in DT snap counts as his team was one of the few that weren't forcing DL rotation so Clark was trying to get as many snaps as he could.
Clark might already be into his own... PFF grades Clark out with a 89.0 grade which is good for 12th best interior DL for the year of 2017, which doesn't count Jr Watt, but does count Mike Daniels who they got with a 86.7 for 19th best interior DL. And I know not all trust PFF (and I'm not saying you should), but the kid is asked to two gap, he is dominated in the run game. Still working on the pass rush but he's showing some nice stuff recently and he's never going to be the quickest or most athletic.
Under Thompson they seem to have a strong history of drafting UCLA, as they seem to really trust their western division scout and really like the Pac-12 (which has me nervous for this years draft that seems to have a weak Pac-12 class)... so I do believe that this pick was Thompson listening to that Western scout, plus he was 20, and can be dominant at times.
Though I agree, it seems as if something has changed the last two drafts, though Capers defense is different too the last two years... a lot less 3-4... so maybe the Packers just changed what they're doing and looking for.