Packers: Ranking the top 10 options in first round of draft

8. Ross Blacklock, DT, TCU

The Packer defense fooled people into believing they were actually any better than they had been for so long under Dom Capers last year. The additions of the Smiths and the two new safeties made the team flashier, but the defense still stunk all season. The NFC championship against the 49ers was an embarrassing debacle by the defense, who got humiliated by a far superior team at the line of scrimmage.

Regardless of how much he may need “help” along the defensive line, of which there is already plenty on either edge, Kenny Clark remains among the most overrated players in football. Re-signing him to such an exorbitant contract that puts him in Aaron Donald territory is laughable, and the Packers ought to reconsider his long-term worth. Re-signing Dean Lowry made even less sense, and the Packers cannot get out of his new contract soon enough.

The Packers should consider Ross Blacklock, a sturdy interior player who would shore up a run defense that’s been bad since Bronco Nagurski was power blasting holes through the Packers’ swiss cheese defense. Blacklock had 40 total tackles and added 3.5 sacks to his profile last year.

7. Jordan Love, QB, Utah State

It’s beginning to be about that time in Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers is now the oldest player on the team under contract, and while still among the best in football, he’s not his 2011 or 2014 self, and that form is not going to come back. Rodgers’ accuracy over the last two seasons has diminished somewhat, and while he can still deliver the most pinpoint of lasers down the field on a regular basis from any platform, his prime is gone, and the Packers have wasted it.

Jordan Love is the type of quarterback the Packers should give some thought to under the circumstances. He is your classic high-risk, enormous-reward prospect. He has enough talent to throw for 10,000 yards, and enough rawness to break Brett Favre’s interception record in a single quarter. But similar to the way Aaron Rodgers let an old man finish out his last ride, the Packers can sit Love for a couple of years and coach him up into the player he could potentially be.