Green Bay Packers fans have every right to be absolutely giddy about the 2024 NFL Draft. The Packers have 11 selections and a loaded young roster that had the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers on the brink of elimination.
The opportunity is there for general manager Brian Gutekunst to continue adding key pieces to this roster, and this particular class of prospects looks really good at positions of need for Green Bay.
As you might expect, having 11 selections gives the Packers tremendous flexibility. They are going to be able to move up, down, and all around the draft board as they see fit. Ultimately, the Packers will be able to go into this draft targeting specific guys to fill the holes on the roster.
Could we see the Packers add even more with the trade of a player like Christian Watson? We're going to explore it all in this seven-round mock draft scenario.
Round 1 (12) Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
Packers trade with Broncos
Giving up the 41st overall pick would be a tough pill to swallow, but the Packers guarantee themselves the top cornerback on their board (potentially) in this case. We know the Packers emphasize and prioritize RAS when it comes to their selections, and Quinyon Mitchell has an outstanding combination of on-field productivity and athletic traits to work with.
Mitchell turned heads at the combine, earning a Relative Athletic Score of 9.75 out of 10.
Over the last two seasons, Mitchell had six interceptions and 35 passes broken up. He's got tremendous ball skills and would give the Packers flexibility with whatever is going to come up over the next handful of weeks/months with Eric Stokes, whose status this offseason is in doubt.
Mitchell's combination of size, athleticism, explosiveness, and ball skills are pretty much ideal for what the Green Bay Packers look for.
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Round 2 (46): Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
Packers trade with Giants
Alright, bear with me for just a little bit on this trade scenario.
We saw the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns come together on a similar type of trade last offseason when the Jets sent Elijah Moore to Cleveland and did a pick swap in rounds two and three. This deal is even better than that. There's some good precedence there for a trade of Christian Watson, and the Packers add another premium pick.
It's a steep price to pay for Watson, given some of his injury history, but let's say the Giants go after a non-WR in the first round. They could make a deal like this to get the talented Watson, leaving the Packers with a shot at one of the most athletic linebackers in this year's class.
Edgerrin Cooper exploded onto the scene this past year at Texas A&M with a whopping 17 tackles for loss, eight sacks, and a season-best 84 total tackles. Cooper's combination of size and athleticism will undoubtedly endear him to the Green Bay Packers' front office, especially his quickness.
The Packers could be looking to move on from De'Vondre Campbell and his contract this offseason, and moving to the 4-3 defense with Jeff Hafley, players with the kind of range we see from Cooper will be a necessity.
Round 2 (58): Trey Benson, RB, Florida State
With AJ Dillon hitting free agency and Aaron Jones potentially heading into his final year with the Packers, this team needs to go after the running back position this offseason. The 2024 NFL Draft class certainly isn't being revered for its running backs, but there are some gems to be found between Day 2 and 3.
As always with their picks in the top 100, we assume the Packers will hold true to their RAS threshold. Well, Trey Benson certainly fits the bill with a whopping 9.78 in the RAS department. He's big, fast, strong, and explosive. Over the last two years at Florida State, he averaged 6.1 yards per carry and racked up 23 rushing touchdowns.
Round 3 (88): Calen Bullock, S, USC
Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens, and Rudy Ford are hitting free agency. New defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley will get the chance to help revamp that side of the ball in terms of player personnel and I wouldn't be shocked if the Packers identify Calen Bullock as a tremendous fit on the back end of that unit.
Bullock needs some refinement coming up and supporting in the running game, which will potentially give Packers fans nightmares, given some of the struggles of Darnell Savage, but he's got the type of playmaking ability and range you covet at this position.
Round 3 (91): Max Melton, CB, Rutgers
As we have typically seen in recent years, the Green Bay Packers double up at a position, and it happens to be at the cornerback position.
Earlier in this mock draft scenario, we saw Green Bay go up the board and get Quinyon Mitchell, paying the price to do so. Here, they get Rutgers cornerback Max Melton, whose inclusion in Green Bay's draft class would be a lot of fun because of the presence of his brother Bo Melton on the offensive side of the ball already.
And look at the RAS...
Max Melton is a CB prospect in the 2024 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.65 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 79 out of 2222 CB from 1987 to 2024.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 1, 2024
Splits Projectedhttps://t.co/fj1y7BiChA pic.twitter.com/ujzYFK7IVk
Melton had eight interceptions and 21 passes broken up over the last three seasons at Rutgers, along with an impressive 8.5 tackles for loss.
Round 4 (126): Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington
In this mock draft scenario, the Packers traded away Christian Watson. As the board fell, you would love to see them take a receiver a little bit earlier than this, but trading Watson isn't necessarily about going 1-for-1 replacing him with a high draft pick. The Packers have done outstanding work identifying fits at receiver in just about every round.
Jalen McMillan is a fast, explosive playmaker at receiver who could give Green Bay yet another downfield weapon. He is a smooth operator as a route runner with soft hands.
Round 5 (168): Roger Rosengarten, OL, Washington
Especially with 11 selections in this draft, there's really no way you could not draft at least one offensive lineman. Brian Gutekunst has an excellent track record of finding talented offensive linemen on Day 3 of the draft. Especially with David Bakhtiari not likely being in Green Bay much longer and with Jon Runyan Jr. hitting free agency, the Packers will understandably be looking out for some more young offensive linemen for Adam Stenavich to mold.
Roger Rosengarten is an intriguing athlete on the offensive line who will probably have to start going higher in mock drafts after his Scouting Combine performance. But he fell to this pick slot in this simulation, and if that were to happen in real life, perhaps the Packers wouldn't hesitate to call his name.
Round 6 (204): Cedric Johnson, EDGE, Ole Miss
Another prospect with explosive traits that could be of interest to the Green Bay Packers on Day 3 of the 2024 NFL Draft, Cedric Johnson had some consistent production over the last handful of years at Ole Miss.
With his traits, he could contribute instantly on special teams and perhaps be a factor down the road in the pass rush rotation. The Packers add some depth at edge rusher for Jeff Hafley.
Round 6 (216): Garrett Greenfield, OL, South Dakota State
Garrett Greenfield is 6-foot-7, 320 pounds, and he posted an NFL Scouting Combine record 38.5-inch vertical jump, the highest ever by an offensive lineman. That tells you just about all you need to know about this guy, who is obviously also a tremendous football player.
At South Dakota State, he was an All-American multiple times over. This All-RAS draft class for the Packers continues into the late rounds.
Round 7 (243): Kendall Milton, RB, Georgia
Kendall Milton is a 220-pound back who averaged 6.7 yards per carry over the last two years at Georgia. Milton "only" scored an 8.68 on the RAS scale after his performance at the Scouting Combine, but he posted some elite explosiveness traits, like a 1.51 in the 10-yard split, which ranks in the 97th percentile.
The Packers load up on some young running back depth.
Round 7 (251): Ryan Flournoy, WR, Southeast Missouri State
We started this Packers mock draft with an emphasis on RAS, and we end it with an emphasis on RAS. Ryan Flournoy is one of the top FCS prospects in this class. He's got strong hands and elite athletic traits, with a 39.5-inch vertical jump and a 4.44-second 40-yard dash.
Flournoy would be well worth a late-round dart if he's still on the board for the Packers here, even as strong as their wide receiver depth already is.