The elite1) Bryan Bulaga T
2) Kenny Clark NT
3) Jaire Alexander DB
First off, Alexander has the potential to be #1 on this list, but he hasn't been given the chance to do it long enough yet.
Bulaga when healthy did it for a decade, and when asked to switch system he did it quicker than anyone else, and when healthy with the Packers, I think he was always top 3 RT in the NFL.
Clark will never get the credit he deserves, because NTs never do... but he's the only NT in the NFL that can also clearly be a very good starting 3 tech. Switch they have been playing him at 3 tech, which I consider to be out of position, as it's best for the team, and because he's got no other good starter DT to go with him. If they could get a good starting 3 tech and move him back to his natural NT, this pass rush could be great.
Potential to be future elite4) Darnell Savage Jr DB
5) Rashan Gary DE
Savage should be on the bottom of the top list, but he's been held back by having to baby sit the CBs too often and not allowed to be a play maker. I think that's partly due to the CBs (outside of Alexander) have been bad, and due to scheme (though that scheme might of been set up that way because the CBs were bad). Get better CBs and let Savage be more aggressive and this defense could potentially get a lot better quickly.
Gary; he has elite potential, and effort, but just can't quite put it all together. And he might not ever be able to turn the corner around an OT like you'd prefer, but if he ever prefects that bullrush and gets one more inside move off of it, he could be an extremely tough player to handle.
High Quality: Always GoodN/A
Pretty Good6) Ha`Sean Clinton-Dix DB
We needed a Safety and one fall to us we and we grabbed him. Dix was pretty good, but he just wasn't consistently willing to do the dirty work enough, and wasn't a super elite athlete in the NFL to get away with not doing the sorry work more often. Also, I can't help but wonder if Dix's friendship with Randall (whom the veterans requested to release Randall despite him being the best coverage guy on the team).
Incomplete7) Jordan Love QB
Love, unless you got to see him in practice or talk to someone who did, I don't think we have a clue where he is in his development. But one reason he dropped in the draft despite have elite potential, is that he clearly wasn't ready to go and needed muliple years to develop.
What were they thinking? / Wrong Position/Wrong System8) Damarious Randall DB
9) Derek Sherrod OL
10) Nick Perry DE
11) Datone Jones DE
Randall, again, the Packers collection of veterans players group (which I don't think we even knew they had before this) voted Randall to be released immediately despite being the best coverage guy on the roster. That pretty dang back. But in fairness Randall was a college Safety and probably should have been a Safety his entire time in the NFL and he actually stayed healthy and started giving him a on the field lead over these other guys.
Sherrod, I think he would of been a good OG, but not worth drafting nearly so dang high (and we had Sitton and Lang (though Lang by all accounts was a party boy mainly drinking a ton before that year, which I didn't know, and they probably thought Lang was a bust at that point)... but Sherrod was drafted to play OT with Bulaga as they replaced Clifton and Tausher. But Sherrod just simply didn't have the elite ceiling to be a great OT, could he do it? YES! But when Sherrod was drafted Jon Gruden tried to politely say that's not the pick he would of gone with, because he's not an elite athletically (which is correct), but then Gruden started talking how Sherrod is this great mauler and will move people left and right (which watching his college tapes is just plain wrong). Sherrod was a down right excellent technician, his technic was absolutely great for a college player... but he's the thing, his technique was already great, so he's not going to improve much from where he already is, unless you get him to be.more athletic, more aggressive or play meaner (which aren't coachable things). But he wasn't an elite athlete, he wasn't aggressive, he didn't play mean, he would absolutely get in a guys way and us e great technique, but at OT he would always struggle with the more athletic edge rushers and at OG he would struggled with the meaner, stronger more aggressive DTs. I mean overall Sherrod isn't a bad selection in the draft, but he's not an elite selection... and should of been mid-2nd at highest. But injuries took him out.
Perry, short and sweet, Nick Perry was CLEARLY 4-3 DE!!!! Why in the hell did a 3-4 team draft him? That's not Perry's fault! Also since Perry always went up against the LT in college and before, he clearly could turn left, but struggled more in any other direction (which is why he's not an 3-4 OLBer) and putting him against the RT where he struggled to turn into the QB hurt him, where Clay Matthews could turn any which direction on a dime... to put the team in the best position, Perry should of been up against the LT and Matthews the RT (plus easier to drop the OLB over the RT in coverage on the TE as they're usually on the RT side more often and clearly you'd rather have Matthews drop before Perry.) But Perry couldn't stay healthy at all...
Datone, was all over the play in a 3-4 DL in college, including ILB in a specialist rush package, but mostly inside DL in the 3-4, which he could get away in college, but he was too light to do in the pros... in the pros he was a 4-3 LDE, the large DE... why did a 3-4 defense draft him? That's not his fault. But he never developed enough to play much.