The Green Bay Packers have a lot to work on this off-season. They’ll do everything they can to improve offense, defense, and special teams with free agency signings and trades no doubt about it.
As far as the draft is concerned, the Packers can be a hard team to predict, but 2 things are certain – when a franchise QB is up there in age the team will draft a QB to sit behind them, and they’ll almost always draft offensive weapons (RB, WR, TE) in the mid rounds.
This year would be a great year for Green Bay to get a WR or TE in the 2nd round while picking an RB in the later rounds.
Currently, as the receiver goes, there’s a lot of excellent talent falling to the 2nd round. Based on the current mock draft boards the Packers could take someone in the 2nd round who would be an absolute steal – here are the candidates that could shake up the Packers offense immediately.
Adonai Mitchell
Adonai Mitchell is a very talented receiver projected to go no earlier than the 20th overall pick. Many analysts have the Packers picking him in the first round, but why not let him fall and select him later?
Adonai played at Texas and had 55 receptions, 845 yards, and a whopping 11 TDs. Considering where he played that’s pretty good.
Deon Coleman
Coleman might not be the sexiest pick in the draft, especially with his abysmal combine performance (he scored a 4.6 on the 40-yard dash).
The FSU alum certainly has some solid abilities, even if he isn’t the fastest receiver around. He’s a bit of a jump ball type of guy with a pretty good football IQ. He isn’t a bad route runner by any means, so he fits the mold of your average Packers wideout.
Brian Thomas Jr
What may be the most underhyped player in the entire draft, Brian Thomas Jr. is believed to be a five-tool WR coming from one of the best receiver schools in LSU. Odell Beckham Jr, Ja’marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson all came out of the proverbial WR lab, and this year a couple of wideouts are coming out that look special.
Thomas Jr most resembles Jefferson as far as his talents go. Not saying he’ll reach that ceiling by any means, but he’s tall, fast, runs great routes, and plays the ball well at every level. The term five-tool fits Thomas Jr like a glove, and for whatever reason he’s projected to fall 2nd and 3rd round in some drafts.
Troy Franklin
Troy Franklin is very similar to Thomas Jr in terms of his playstyle. He’s tall at 6’3″ and is pretty darn fast. He also seems to be pretty good with ball awareness and can jump up and make plays.
Franklin played at Oregon, so it makes sense why he’s projected to fall pretty hard. His stats were solid, but no one trusts offensive players from Oregon for some reason.
Will The Green Bay Packers Draft Xavier Worthy?
Worthy isn’t exactly a nobody now that he broke the combine record, running a 4.22 40-yard dash, the fastest ever recorded. Before that, however, Xavier was a Texas University receiver who really didn’t get to see much time as a full-time receiver.
Instead, Xavier’s mainly been used in trick plays such as screens and sweeps. He’s also been a pretty solid returner, but his main claim to fame being his combine performance is a yellow flag.
Speed is insanely important, but Worthy will need to prove he can play as a good all-around receiver and maybe a project of sorts. Whether the Packers want to take the gamble is up to them, and it definitely could be worth it – but it’s nothing something they would typically do.
