Green Bay Packers: Grading round one of the NFL draft

On day one of the draft, we saw the Green Bay Packers make a bold pick at 12 to take Rashan Gary and trade up to pick 21 to grab Darnell Savage, here is their round one grade.

After tons of speculation, and many mock drafts, we finally know who the Green Bay Packers selected in round one of the NFL draft. General Manager Brian Gutekunst was aggressive in free agency making four splash signings, and as expected that mentality carried over to draft night.

In what many would consider a surprise, the Green Bay Packers took EDGE rusher Rashan Gary with the 12th overall pick and later on, they would make a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to move up to pick 21, in order to take safety Darnell Savage. Which once again, came as a complete shock to most.

All drafts are important, but for a team that has Aaron Rodgers and has missed the playoffs the last two seasons, hitting on this year’s draft picks is absolutely critical. Rodgers is on the back nine of his playing career and with that window shrinking with each passing season, these draft picks need to pay off.

Of course, we won’t know for a few years whether these were good or bad picks, but I am going to give my gut reaction grade to the Green Bay Packers round one selections.

Rashan Gary

To me, this selection is either going to be a boom or bust with little in between. Gary who was a top recruit in the country coming out of high school, truly never lived up to that hype during his time at Michigan, where he would total under ten sacks over his entire career. It is a bit concerning that during his time there, we didn’t see a ton of development from Gary, but what did continue to show up on tape was an inconsistent motor.

With that said, the potential is there and he has an incredibly high ceiling, perhaps one of the highest of any EDGE rushers in the draft. Gary is an incredible athlete and had the highest Relative Athletic Score of all EDGE rushers. He is also a versatile defender that can line up on the edge or can move inside, which he did both of at Michigan, but once again the production was not there at either position.

Gary has all the tools to become a very good player in this league and I imagine that’s what caught the eye of Gutekunst. However, time will be needed to develop those tools and we hope that Mike Pettine is able to do so. Having Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith on the roster is going to help immensely since Gary won’t have to step in and be “the guy” from day one.

With players like Brian Burns and Montez Sweat still on the board at pick 12 for Green Bay, I would have much rather had one of them given their more immediate impact, as well as there is less development needed and I see them both as more certain draft picks. I’m also not a fan of selecting a “project” at pick 12 in the draft.

Darnell Savage

In order to land Savage, the Green Bay Packers had to trade away their 30th pick and both fourth rounders to Seattle to move up to pick 21. It has been just recently that Savage was reportedly flying up most big boards and came as a bit of surprise that he was the first safety taken, given all of the hype around Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Nasir Adderley.

While I do find this trade to be a bit rich, I do love the aggressiveness from Gutekunst. If you love a player, go and get him. Being passive and hoping something falls in your favor rarely works out in this league and Savage is a player that will step in and make an immediate impact on day one.

Savage is going to bring two things in particular to this Green Bay Packers team, versatility and playmaking ability. As a safety, Savage can line up just about anywhere on the field. Whether it’s filling gaps and making plays in the running game, playing down in the box as a linebacker, or dropping back into coverage, Savage can cover all three areas quite effectively. Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine is going to love having Savage as a chess piece on his defense.

In recent years this secondary has been lacking consistent playmaking ability, but hopefully Savage can change all of that. During his time at Maryland, we saw his interception total increase every season as he would finish with eight all together, and he would add 13 pass break-ups as well.

His route recognition is top-notch, along with his ability to break on the ball and the angles that he takes, Savage consistently puts himself in a great position to make a play on the ball. He has often compared himself to Eddie Jackson of the Chicago Bears, Adrian Amos’ former teammate and for good reasons. Let’s hope we see the same kind of results in Green Bay as that duo did in Chicago.

As you can probably tell, I am not in love with the Rashan Gary pick, especially at pick 12 and while I originally thought the Packers may have overpaid for Savage, I love the aggressiveness and can’t deny that he will step in and make an immediate impact. I also just love Savage’s aggressive style of play and the mentality that he will bring to this secondary.

Overall grade: C+