Despite the draft wrapping up today with an influx of new players, I am very excited to see what some of our younger players do this upcoming season. Here is my top 5 of 1/2 year players I will be keeping my eye on in no particular order. Who are yours?

- Joe Thomas LB
- Justin Perillo TE
- Jeff Janis WR
- Mike Pennel DT
- Jayrone Elliott LB

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The guys I'll be watching

~ RB Rajion Neal
~ TE Richard Rodgers
~ DL Luther Robinson
~ DL Khyri Thornton
~ ILB Joe Thomas / Josh Francis

Neal - Last year I said I thought RB Neal could of been the steal of the draft... and to my surprise he wasn't drafted and the Packers signed him as an UDFA. I'm wondering to see if he can maximize his potential.

Rodgers - Love the potential he showed last year, sadly he doesn't have the deep speed but he showed a lot more physicalness than I expected. I think we'll see him be used a lot more as an H-back this year and his blocking will probably be even better. I think he'll take a large step forward.

Robinson - Extremely tough player. As a guy that loves the trenches battles I LOVE it! He's limited in athletic skills, but I think with time and coaches he could have a long career in the NFL. Maybe as a back-up but I also think he could become a top two gap guy, though the Packers don't play much two gap is his biggest problem.

Thornton - His college film showed a lot more potential than he showed in training camp. I wondering which Thornton shows up this year. Confident, aggressive, attacking college Thornton or non-confident, passive Thornton we saw last offseason.

Thomas / Francis - I could be totally wrong... but I'm guessing one of these two guys will be stepping up at ILB.



Also these is Elliot and a number of WRs.

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No love for Abbrederis? I would include him and Janis along with the new guy, Montgomery.

Rajon Neal is still around? Good.

Most of all, Jayrone Elliot. I wish they would try him similarly to Matthews - OLB/ILB.

Also, Thornton. And of course, the new high potential DBs.

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I'm watching some guys from last year to see if they make a jump. Janis, Goodson, Hubbard, Perillo. Also Blanchard & any other QBs that show up.

Carl Bradford, let's see what he's got.

Jayrone Elliot, can he be the real deal?

Perillo, he can be as good as he wants to be, might even need another year to reach potential.

Abbrederis, his niche was gonna be a PR, but now we've drafted a guy for that. He's gonna have to make the team on offense.

I also look for Davante Adams and Richard Rodgers both to become pros in their second years.

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