A couple of things;
1. Saw Mike Lombardi on McAfee show. He showed a graphic on the percentage of First Round picks by position that are successful (I missed the measure of "successful", may have been "signed to a second contract") O-Line had the highest percentage of success. They are the safest pick.
2. My experience with athletes and knee injuries is that they don't fully regain their athleticism until 2 years removed from it. No reason to think that Morgan won't get better.
@RochNyFan posted:I'm ok with this pick, but not sure they draft OL well. , Tony Moll, Jason Spitz, might disagree with you.
How dare you try to rip on Moll & Spitz. Tony Moll is a great guy that pours wine now. (I met him) Him, Spitz and Colledge have a winery.
https://www.threefatguyswines.com/
@Boris posted:How dare you try to rip on Moll & Spitz. Tony Moll is a great guy that pours wine now. (I met him) Him, Spitz and Colledge have a winery.
https://www.threefatguyswines.com/
Maybe good winemakers, but still were bad o-linemen. Henry's use of Spitz as his avatar was the best ever.
It will be very interesting to see the effect the draft will have in determining what the Packers OL will actually be.
IMO, some guys are bound to be locked into a starting position (Jenkins and Tom at the least). Rhyan and possibly Walker should be at least a 50% candidates.
They have experience (starting experience in Walker's case), that I think gives them an inside edge, but either one of them could lose out to a rookie. Rhyan could have to fight off Monk or Myers if Tom moves to C.
Speaking of, I can't figure out Dillard. Ideally he would become the starter at RT if that moves happens, but who knows how he will do? I want to be hopeful, and who doesn't love an underdog making it, but I just can't count on it.
In the end, however, I can't see where the Packers shouldn't have a very good starting 5, and quality, experienced depth.
And for all the comments that are made about wanting to see an aggressive, nasty, hard-hitting defense, I want the same for the OL. Road-grading, pancake-making, stonewalling hogs that will knock somebody on their ass!
I would think Dillard, at a minimum, would be a bar raiser. 1st round talent hungry to reestablish himself - if he's motivated (knowing little about him).
I read that Dillard does not take coaching well. Seems evident from his play and his technique needs correction.
Like MM, he does what he does.
from Chongo's link above ^
“He was an easy guy for us to know we want to invite, right?” Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said in a lengthy phone call to cover Green Bay’s Senior Bowl standouts. “The athlete jumps off the tape. We’ve been on Jordan for a couple of years now. We thought we would maybe get him a year ago and then he tears that ACL in November of ’22.
“I think the Packers will be getting an even better player next fall. What we just watched this year was him less than a year removed from ACL surgery.
He’s going to be stronger and probably more confident next year coming back.
I think you’re even getting a better player than what you saw on '23 tape.
But I think he’s a left tackle athlete."
MLF is going to use Morgan as a weapon on these outside screens. Lots to clean up with his overall game, but just crazy how clean he moves downfield. pic.twitter.com/iiNWS9ZwOV
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) May 1, 2024
@Boris posted:A 7th round draft pick beating out a consensus first round talent at LT. That will be quite impressive if it happens.
Don’t give a shit where someone was picked. He was one of the best LTs in the NFL down the stretch and in the playoffs. He’s a gamer.
The rookie is going to have to be amazing to beat him out. If Monk can’t beat out Meyers our Ryhan, then maybe you move Tom inside and play the rookie at RT. Another good option is to give him a chance to win the RG job.
Left side was damn good last year, C and RG need improvement. Walker is certainly in the “best 5” so unless he somehow ends up at RT, I just don’t see the rookie at LT.
I have no idea what the actual numbers were, but I would be curious how often Kraft stayed in to help block (or chip) the OTs...was it more than Frenchie wanted or was he able to run his normal playbook? Kraft and a healthy Musgrave are seam-busters that we have not seen in G&G since Keith Jackson/Jermichael Finley...both of those guys elevated the danger of Favre/Rodgers-led offenses.
All I know is that I feel better about our OL depth now, and the likelihood that Newman will be elsewhere next season.
I for one like the competition and believe there is no Way that Walker won't be one of the five. Calling it now: he goes to RT if he gets beat out and Tom is our Center. Still not sure about RG.
@Boris posted:I'm pretty sure the Cowboys are the ones that "got cute" with the trade down thinking they could still get Morgan with the Lions pick at #29. 😈 🖕🏼🖕🏼 Cokeboys!!🖕🏼🖕🏼😁.
It's very clear at this point they had Morgan rated in Tier 1.
This is like TJ Watt in reverse 😄
They, like everybody, believed the slam dunk pick of DeJean to GB.
Oops.
@Koopla Krash posted:I have no idea what the actual numbers were, but I would be curious how often Kraft stayed in to help block (or chip) the OTs...was it more than Frenchie wanted or was he able to run his normal playbook?
MLF and shanahan use some other tactics in order to put their OL in favorable positions. There's still chipping, but a lot less of it because of all the pre-snap shifts, misdirection, jet sweeps, WR screens and play action.
Those get the defense to either move in the wrong direction or have their eyes on the wrong player. And that split second of hesitation or false steps allow the OL to get better leverage on the defenders.
You'll hear MLF talk about making a pass formation / run formation look exactly the same to the defense and that illusion of complexity gives the OL a leg up on beating their man
That hesitation is also what you want for Kraft and Musgrave- because it allows them to slip behind a flat-footed defender who thought it was a run play
Back to Jordan Morgan. Gute has harped about competition in every room and at every position - and there just wasn't any at LT before the draft.
Now there will be. Quantity begets Quality through competition.
If Morgan is going to mount a serious challenge to Walker, then he's going to be spending a lot of time early at LT.
May the best man win
Athletic AF...
First-round pick Jordan Morgan working with OL coach Luke Butkus #Packers pic.twitter.com/PLMdbUCm8W
— Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) May 3, 2024
As evidence that RAS doesn’t matter? If only Bahk could have jumped higher, he could have high pointed that TD pass attempt.
Packers first-rounder Jordan Morgan not bothered by skeptics of him playing LT: 'Obviously you haven't watched film'https://t.co/lvdrA0AhAE pic.twitter.com/QMFGtx6a1P
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) May 4, 2024
“People” were skeptical about Bakh playing LT in the NFL too…
Jordan Morgan rebuilt both his knee & draft stock during an All-Pac-12 season last fall.
— Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) May 8, 2024
Now, the #Packers' 1st-round pick is motivated by a new goal: Blocking for Jordan Love, whom Morgan met for the first time last week.
"He dapped me up and said what's up to me. When I… https://t.co/hzKqw2voXG
WedHod's post about a "rebuilt knee," got me thinking about a conversation I had a couple months ago with a friend who is a retire orthopedic surgeon, specialized in knees for over 30 years. Did NBA guys, did NFL guys and a bunch of college guys.
I was talking to him about the Bakhtiari situation...he didn't have all the particulars, just what I shared with him, and his thoughts were essentially there was more to the story than we were being told. Said it could be any number of things from botched procedures, which he said was very unlikely since ACL surgeries, even the most heinous ones, are about as routine and uncomplicated these days as a tonsillectomy.
Said the patient possibly could not have followed instructions, which is very common...but given it's an NFL guy, doubts Bakh did anything but what the doctors told him to do. I asked if he could have overworked it and caused damage, he said probably not likely...said they have very specific rehab protocols and unless you are an absolute bozo about it...like totally ignoring pain from overuse, it's hard to overwork it in rehab. Underworking and building more scar tissue is more likely.
Said another possibility, while extremely rare, has seen it happen...said some people's bodies just don't heal as you'd like. Could be genetic, could be their body is prone to excess inflammation, or any number of things. His opinion, based on what he heard, was an extreme outlier...basically bad luck for Bakh.
He also said he would assume being an NFL guy that Bakh also had access to stem cell therapy, which also improves healing and speeds it up...so that should have also improved the chances for success.
So seeing that Morgan had his knee done, and likely by a run of the mill orthopedic surgeon that most college athletes would have access to, it's not terribly surprising he came back and performed well enough to justify his draft position.
People also forget that Jenkins also tore his ACL, but because he came back so quickly and hasn't had any issues nobody really thinks about it.
Bakh just had some dumb luck that doesn't apply to many players, but it's fresh in our minds because of how long it was and what an important role he played on the O Line.
Morgan keeps a fairly low profile off the field. He doesn't have an X account and keeps his social-media interactions to a minimum.
This might be the best thing Josiah is doing
