Green Bay Packers: One Stat to Know About Each Draft Pick

We are about a month removed from the NFL Draft, and I’ve recently finished my series where I take a look at each of the Green Bay Packers individual picks — along with the UDFAs — and what a few draft analysts had to say about each of their games. Now I wanted to provide some additional insight by taking a look at some of the individual stats from each player.

Stats, of course, need proper context in order to truly be useful, so I carefully picked one for each member of this draft class that I believe helps illustrate an important part of their game as well as what they can add to this Green Bay Packers team.

So let’s not waste any more time and dive in!

Green Bay Packers’ First Round Pick: Eric Stokes’ Shutdown Ability

Like just about every cornerback who has ever entered the NFL, Eric Stokes’ game needs some fine-tuning—that’s to be expected. But the draft is about selecting who you think that player will become, not who they are on draft night. And this past season at Georgia, Stokes showed us that he has that shutdown ability.

When watching Stokes’ film, there are times where it’s actually a bit boring because it’s clear that the opposing offense’s game plan is just to simply avoid him—basically what several opponents did when facing Jaire Alexander last season.

Now, this isn’t to say that Stokes is going to become Alexander, but this did lead to one of my favorite stat lines from PFF, and that was that out of nine games during the 2020 season, Stokes allowed 10 or fewer receiving yards in five of them–including two games with zero. And he did so in the SEC against some of the most talented receivers in football. As I already mentioned, that is some legitimate shutdown ability.

Josh Myers and his zone-blocking experience

I thought that this was an important stat to note because, like what I can only assume was just about everyone else on draft night, with Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey on the board, I was surprised that the Green Bay Packers selected Josh Myers. If Humphrey wasn’t the consensus top center in this year’s draft class, then he sure was close, but ultimately — and as it should — this selection came down to fit.

As we all know, the Green Bay Packers utilize a wide zone running scheme under Matt LaFleur, and that is an area that Myers has plenty of experience in coming out of Ohio State with almost 79 percent of his career run-blocking snaps as a zone blocker. Humphrey, on the other hand, was primarily a power/gap blocker, and only 40 percent of his total run-blocking snaps came in zone. While I don’t believe this was the sole reason for the selection, I do believe it was a big factor.

Amari Rodgers and YAC

Receivers who can make plays with the ball in their hands is one area that this already potent Green Bay offense can try to improve upon in 2021–and the addition of Amari Rodgers will certainly help. Over his final three seasons at Clemson, Rodges totaled 1,353 YAC, including 613 in 2020, which was the second most that season behind Alabama’s DeVonta Smith.

Rodgers’ 8.0 YAC average was the fourth most out of 46 eligible receivers last season as well, and he would force 17 missed tackles, which was the seventh most and an area that this Packers team can certainly be better in after ranking near the bottom of the NFL in broken tackles forced. His 11.5 YAC average in 2019 was also the fifth-highest mark that season. As a true slot and gadget player with some serious YAC ability, Rodgers is going to add a new, and needed, element to this Packers’ offense.