GREEN BAY PACKERS MOCK DRAFT
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler mocked three Green Bay visits and three players with Jeff Hafley connections to the Packers.
The Athletic’s draft analyst Dane Brugler, who correctly predicted that the Green Bay Packers would select tight end Luks Musgrave, receiver Dontayvion Wicks and cornerback Carrington Valentine in his 2023 mock draft, just dropped his full seven-round mock draft for the 2024 cycle.
In it, he picked several players who have connections to the Packers organization, be with defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley or taking a pre-draft visit with the team — which has increasingly been a sign that the team is interested in a prospect in recent seasons.
Let’s take a dive into Brugler’s mock draft and analyze some of the more interesting selections:
Brugler’s Packers 7-Round Mock Draft
#25 Jackson Powers-Johnson, C, Oregon
#41 Darius Robinson, EDGE, Missouri
#58 Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
#88 Calen Bullock, S, USC
#91 Caedan Wallace, OT, Penn State
#126 Ray Davis, RB, Kentucky
#169 Elijah Jones, CB, Boston College
#202 Ty’Ron Hopper, LB, Missouri
#219 Ryan Watts, CB, Texas
#245 Tulu Griffin, WR, Mississippi State
#255 Nick Gargiulo, C, South Carolina
Brugler wrote up one of the Packers’ selections in his mock, the team’s first-round draft choice: Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson. There are a number of ways the Packers could attack their offensive line in the draft. One of those is the Powers-Johnson selection, which would provide a boost under center and allow Green Bay to keep Zach Thome at tackle while also moving Josh Myers to guard.
The first-round selection of a center is interesting, considering that ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported last week that the team feels current right tackle Zach Thom, who has played center at both the NFL and college levels, has potential. It becomes the centerpiece of the Hall of Fame. Can the team replace Myers in this draft? Or will they be able to find the right tackle to keep Tom in the middle? I’m not sure there will be a clear answer a week before the first round.
Allowing Myers to move to guard, as Brugler stated, would mean that Myers would likely battle third-year lineman Sean Rhyan for the right guard position on the team. Last year, Rhyan was a rotational player at the position, splitting time with Jon Runyan Jr. — who signed with the New York Giants in free agency after his rookie contract expired.
Beyond the Powers-Johnson selection, Brugler also pinned a couple of the Packers’ pre-draft visits to Green Bay. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper of Texas A&M, running back Ray Davis of Kentucky and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper of Missouri all have reportedly made the trip to Wisconsin this offseason with the Packers’ allotted 30 visits.
Last season, Wicks, quarterback Sean Clifford, defensive lineman Karl Brooks and running back Lew Nichols were all drafted by the team after taking visits with the Packers. The team also signed tackle Kadeem Telfort as an undrafted free agent and picked up tight end Ben Sims off of waivers are they had visits to Green Bay. In 2022, safety Tariq Carpenter, receiver Samori Toure, defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, receiver Christian Watson, tackle Rasheed Walker and receiver Romeo
Doubs were all brought in on visits for the Packers, who later spent draft choices on those players.
Three other players, Elijah Jones, Ryan Watts and Nick Gargiulo, have connections to former Boston College head coach and current Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, as we wrote earlier this week. Jones, a cornerback, played for Hafley at Boston College, which is the most direct connection.
Watts spent his freshman year at Ohio State, where Hafley — at the time — was the defensive coordinator of the team. Watts, another cornerback, would later transfer to Texas, where he finished his college career.
Last is Gargiulo, who Hafley offered as a transfer product out of Yale in the 2023 offseason. Gargiulo is also one of the few offensive linemen on Day 3 of the draft that fits within the Packers’ perceived guardrails at the position.
Remember, personal connections to players seem to sway the Packers a bit, right or wrong. Last season, the justification for the selection of kicker Anders Carlson was that special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia had known Carlson for much of his career, as Bisaccia coached Carlson’s older brother when with the Las Vegas Raiders.
So, if this draft is anything like Green Bay’s last few drafts, it’s safe to say that Brugler’s draft, one of the most accurate in the draft, appears to be following a predictable trend. The Packers will likely have their fair share of players invited to team visits and will rely on those personal connections to give them an edge on draft day.
