Green Bay Packers Last 10 Drafts Ranked: No. 5 Class of 2018
By Kenny Jilek
Tier 2 – Josh Jackson, Oren Burks, J.K. Scott, Equanimeous St. Brown, Hunter Bradley
Unfortunately, the majority of this draft class ended up in this category of guys who have done something to help the team but haven’t secured a spot on the upcoming roster. None of these guys are completely safe, though; Scott and Bradley have a good shot as special teams shakeups don’t happen until drastic changes seem needed.
It’s easy to look at Josh Jackson’s career up to this point and simply ask the question, “What happened?”. He was a great prospect out of Iowa with top-level ball skills, and I was ecstatic when the Green Bay Packers took him off the board. In his rookie year, he started 10 games, played 68 percent of defensive snaps, broke up 10 passes, and only allowed a 62.5 percent completion rate. These are all pretty promising numbers for a rookie, but the next season he didn’t make a single start and barely played. When he got the call again in 2020, he made some big plays but wasn’t consistent, and now he’s on the roster bubble with the Packers getting two corners in the most recent draft.
As a safety converted to linebacker, Burks’ speed and coverage ability were supposed to be big assets, and Green Bay traded up to secure him. While he’s been a big special teams contributor, he hasn’t played more than 12 percent of defensive snaps in a season yet and hasn’t looked great while he’s been out there in coverage or run defense. He’ll be fighting for his job in camp as well.
Once in a while, J.K. Scott boots a 60-yard bomb, and we all think that this is the time he’s finally going to do it consistently and make good on the fifth-round pick that was used on him. Then he shanks a few, and we all come back down to earth. In 2020, he ranked 3rd-last in net yards per punt, and his inconsistency has been maddening.
Equanimeous St. Brown has had a rough time trying to get going in the NFL. An injury kept him out for the entire 2019 season, and when he came back in 2019, it was clear that the coaching staff trusted plenty of other players more than him to get the job done, and he made just 7 catches for 117 yards. He’ll be another guy trying to hold onto his roster spot with Amari Rodgers and Devin Funchess both coming in.
I don’t have much to say about Hunter Bradley. He managed to break into tier two as a long snapper, so good for him. Hopefully, he continues to not make a huge mistake, and he stays on the team.