Packers 2017 NFL Draft position rankings: Building a collaborative draft board

Edge Defender Rankings

1. Myles Garrett, Texas A&M (40 pts)

2. Solomon Thomas, Stanford (34 pts)

3. Derek Barnett, Tennessee (30 pts)

4. Tim Williams, Alabama (22 pts)

5. Charles Harris, Missouri (20 pts)

6. Derek Rivers, Youngstown State (19 pts)

7. Carl Lawson, Auburn (18 pts)

8. Takkarist McKinley, UCLA (14 pts)

9. T.J. Watt, Wisconsin (13 pts)

10. Jordan Willis, Kansas State (11 pts)

Our Breakdown

To no surprise, Garrett was our consensus top edge defender, earning first place nods from all four writers. Solomon Thomas’s spot at the top is also pretty clear, as every writer placed him in their top four, including three who ranked him as their No. 2 edge defender.

Derek Barnett was also held in high regard among all four writers, finishing in the top four as well on each writer’s position board. However, after the top three edge rushers, the four writers viewed the rest of the position quite differently, showing just how difficult it is to come to a consensus about this edge rusher group.

There were plenty of polarizing prospects, like Tim Williams and Derek Rivers. Two writers viewed Williams as a top-three player at his position, while one writer ranked him 7th and another had him outside of their top-10. Similarly, while one writer viewed Rivers as a top-five edge prospect, two writers placed him 6th, while another writer didn’t even rank him in their top-10.

This theme continued with prospects like Carl Lawson and Takkarist McKinley. One writer had Lawson as high as their No. 3 edge rusher, while two others had him ranked 9th. McKinley ranked anywhere from 5th to 8th to unranked.

Charles Harris landed consistently in the middle of everyone’s position rankings, ranging from 4th to 8th, giving him an overall respectable score.

Surprisingly, all four writers had prospects T.J. Watt and Jordan Willis in similar spots on their board as well. Each writer had Willis anywhere from 7th to 10th, while three writers viewed Watt as the No. 8 or 9 edge rusher in the class. One writer was higher than the others on Watt, ranking the former Badger 5th on his board.

Seven other edge rushers also earned points, but they didn’t make the final position ranking. Most notably, Ryan Anderson and Taco Charlton were only a few points away from the top-10.