Packers 2016 Draft: “Red” and “Black Dot” players on defense

Well into the NFL Draft season, many of us have already seen plenty of mock drafts and have a good idea of which prospects the Green Bay Packers could target this spring.

Instead of another mock, I thought it would be interesting to go in a different direction with this article. In many NFL draft war rooms as scouts, coaches, and general managers get together to discuss their board, several teams use a “red” and “black” dot system to prioritize the prospects at each position.

This is a process explained in detail by analysts and former scouts Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks on the fantastic draft podcast Move the Sticks, which I highly recommend if you’re a draft enthusiast, like myself.

Basically, each key member of a team’s draft war room gets a red dot and a black dot to place on the name of one player at each position on their board as the group discusses draft strategy. “Red Dot” meaning this is a player you absolutely want on your team and will vouch for, regardless of his projected round or where he’s placed on your board.

On the contrary, the “Black Dot” is placed on the name of the player you don’t want on your team or you feel is a bad fit for your system, essentially a player you don’t want your team to consider drafting.

To mimic this process, Lombardi Ave co-editor, Freddie Boston, fellow draft contributor, Kyle Fellows, and myself decided to do something similar, looking at each position and selecting our own “red” and “black” dot players.

Today, we discuss the defensive positions, and later in the week, we’ll take a look at offense.

Check out where we agreed and where we had some discrepancy. Also, let us know what you think by putting in your own two cents in the comments section below.

Next: Defensive Linemen