Second-round draft pick Worthy should add much-needed juice to the pass rush
How bad was the Green Bay defense last season? Bad enough to get general manager Ted Thompson to trade up twice in round two – something he had only done three times in the previous seven drafts. The objects of his affection were Michigan State defensive end Jerel Worthy and Vanderbilt cornerback Casey Hayward. Coupled with first-rounder Nick Perry of USC, the Packers have added two potential starters and a likely nickel or dime back to a defense that couldn’t slow down anyone a year ago.
Thompson had to give up third, fourth and fifth round picks to get Worthy and Hayward, but so what? Green Bay still has a pair of 4s, a 6th and four 7s – not to mention arguably the deepest roster in the National Football League. Here’s my analysis of the two players picked on Friday and a look at how they’ll fit in with their new team:
JEREL WORTHY (6’2 1/2, 308, 5.03) – I didn’t think he rushed the quarterback well enough to go in the first round, but he’s a bargain at 51. A little short for a 3-4 end, but he has more than enough strength to anchor against the run. And while he didn’t put up big sack numbers at Michigan State (12 sacks in three seasons), he was around the quarterback an awful lot. He’ll need to improve his bull rush at the next level. He was too reliant on quickness to beat guards and centers in college and he was too quick to let up when his initial charge was stymied. It’ll be up to highly respected defensive line coach Mike Trgovac to get the most out of this young man, and if he can, watch out.
VERDICT: Worth moving up for. At best, Jerel will prove to be a Worthy replacement for former Packer Cullen Jenkins. At worst, he should still be a sizable upgrade from Jarius Wynn, C.J. Wilson and the 2011 version of Mike Neal.
CASEY HAYWARD (5’11 1/4, 192, 4.53) – Corners who run over 4.5 at under 195 pounds aren’t supposed to go in the second round, but there are always exceptions. A handful of more physically impressive defensive backs were still on the board at 62, but none of them possessed this young man’s ball skills or football IQ – two things that are very important to Thompson, coordinator Dom Capers and assistant Joe Whitt Jr. All three men love corners who can pick off passes – something Hayward did 15 times in college (including 7 as a senior). And after watching so many blown coverages in 2011, I’m guessing they also kinda like the idea of adding a Vanderbilt man to the secondary.
VERDICT: Sam Shields regressed and rookie Davon House was a bit of a disappointment, so the door is open for Hayward. He’ll either play well enough to win the nickel job from Shields or he’ll push him to get better. It’s a win-win either way.
The Packers won’t pick again until the end of the fourth round, and by that point, Thompson will have no choice but to take the best player available regardless of position. A young quarterback to challenge weak-armed Graham Harrell, an interior offensive lineman to challenge journeyman Evan Dietrich-Smith and a safety to compete with veteran Charlie Peprah and youngsters Anthony Levine and M.D. Jennings would seem to be the top remaining priorities, but that doesn’t mean Thompson would pass up a talented running back, tight end or wide receiver. Remember, Ryan Grant is unsigned, Jennings can be a free agent in 2013 and Finley could hit the open market a year later.
Will Heyward play safety?
No, he’ll play corner.
Heyward has short arms (30″). He also seems to be a beauty is in the eye of the beholder type guy. Many analysts regarded him as a late 3rd day pick with little to offer. Some even claim he shys away from contact. While others say he is physical and could be starter quality CB. Strange to see such widely divergent opinions. On limited tape I have watched, he almost always looks/is beaten but recovers at the last instant to break up the pass. I wonder if he will be able to do same at this level. I also wonder why TT felt it necessary to trade up for a guy that many regard as a reach. I know, it only takes one to like your guy and he’s gone. But there were only 2 CBs taken in R2, our guy and Janoris Jenkins. Robinson went a bit later and the real run didn’t happen till late 3rd.
Packer fans will get to watch Hayward’s development side-by-side with Josh Robinson (my pick) as the latter was drafted by the ViQueens a few picks later. As always, I hope TT is right and I’m wrong but my gut tells me this will be another Troy Vincent/T-Buck type mistake.
re: Worthy – Pack obviously liked him better than Devon Still and Brandon Thompson. Still went a few picks later and Thompson lasted till end of R3. Like you said, at 51, he seems like a value/need combo pick.
Look what letting CJ go has cost the Pack at this point: a wasted R2 pick on Mike Neal; a foregone opportunity for a 2nd consecutive Super Bowl; and now R2 and R4 picks for Worthy, who, if we’re lucky, will be as productive as CJ. Really Mr. Thompson, for $5MM (less than you paid AJ Hawk), you let all this happen. Why? What happened to re-sign your own?
All that said, TT gave me what I was calling for, a defensive hat trick in the top 2 rounds. Now I just hope TT knew what he was doing and went after the right 3 guys. His draft record on defensive players in the top 3 rounds has been pretty poor. The Heyward pick seems like a head scratcher to me at that point in the draft.
Hayward has lots of production, along with great character and high football IQ. That is why he was picked.
True or so I read.
I’m just surprised a CB described as not fast or athletic and needs to play mostly zone would be worth trading up from R3 to R2. R2 picks should be quality NFL starters. I hope he proves to be a smart pick but, until he proves he’s a quality NFL starter, I will remain surprised by that pick at that point in the draft. After all, even the 2nd coming of Einstein would need some speed and athleticism to handle today’s WR/QB combos. I don’t doubt the guy is a great person with a great football IQ. I also don’t doubt he was worth a flyer at some point. I’m just surprised that TT felt he was such a value proposition in R2 that he had to go up and get him for fear of losing him. But, hey, we shall see.
btw – the best thing about Hayward is it only cost us a 5th to move up from R3 to R2.
Couple really nice CBs just got drafted in mid-R4. If TT was right and Hayward is worth a R2 pick, we have ourselves a helluva CB.
Archie,
By now you should know TT’s m.o. – don’t sign 30+ guys if they are injury prone or fading. Will that backfire?Occasionally – but more often that not, sacrificing a guy with limited upside, who will cost too much is not worth the gamble of finding someone younger, hopefully hungrier, with room to grow.
Drafting Neal was not a bad thing (drafting d-linemen never is – i.e. Giants) and I don’t think even if we had Jenkins last year, tell me how he would have helped the three fumbles our offense had – We didn’t beat the Giants because we didn’t have Jenkins, they lost because they just had an awful game.
G
There were lots of reasons we lost last year. One was the death in the family. Another was we were demoralized by the weak play of our defense, including the worst pass rush in the league. The only difference in personnel was the loss of CJ.
re: Neal – Was it really that hard to figure out that the strongest guy in the draft, who happened to be the son of a weight lifting champion, and who happened to be chronically injured throughout his college career, would be on the juice? Sorry, I can’t excuse the Neal pick and I can’t excuse letting your one DL who is a proven pass rusher go. 30 years old was not too old to give him a 3 year contract. look at the contracts he gave Tauscher and Clifton when they were clearly at the ends of their career. And was it a coincidence the Philly DL increased their sack total by a huge amount with the presence of CJ? Again, sorry, we will have to agree to disagree, that was a bonehead move by TT that the team has paid dearly for.
“The only difference in personnel was the loss of CJ”
I guess Nick Collins doesn’t count? Nice try.
Philly took CB Brandon Boykin with R4 pick acquired from GB in Worthy trade. Philly is having a monstrous draft!
When GB was managed by Ron Wolfe he owned the 3rd round ( his best players all seem to be 3rd rounders) while TT owns the 2nd round, just look at his hit record there ( Jennings, Colledge, Collins, Mathis, Nelson, and Cobb ) and many were panned when picked (never forget the draft guru who wrote that Collins was a huge reach and Jennings would never have the career Chad Jackson would so if he believes that the CB was worth trading up for I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Brian Bohm and Pat Lee were R2 picks too. So was Brandon Jackson. And Colledge isn’t much of a brag. Who is “Mathis”? Buster Mathis?
With two R7 picks to go, GB has drafted six consecutive defensive players yet TT keeps telling us it has nothing to do with anything i.e., it’s just the way it happened to work out and not a reflection of how pathetic our defense was last season. Is anybody buying that? Either he has himself completely fooled, grossly underestimates the public’s intelligence, or is a pathological liar. Take your pick.
That aside, let’s hope TT’s picks were good ones. God knows we need a much better defense to get back to the Super Bowl while #12 is still in his prime.
Is this a make or break draft for TT? Given the current state of our defense, I think it is. Back-to-back all-time worst defensive performance in NFL history and I would think heads would have to roll. Given how poorly the defense played in 2011, the addition of 6 or 8 rookies, if they are good, should result in significant and immediate improvement in our defense.
The Packers have won 29 games and a Super Bowl in the past two years. Thompson is as secure as a Supreme Court judge. If he ever did become a free agent, you’d have 20 teams begging him to be their GM.
Archie -are you trolling?
I have been a Packer fan for 50 years.
That said, I think it is pathetic how everyone now grovels at TT’s supposed GM greatness. We learned last week that he didn’t even want to draft Rodgers but nobody would take the pick off his hands. And I’ve been told he was advised by everyone to trade down a few picks and draft CMIII. He chose Raji instead. Then he lucked out when CMIII fell to late in R1. So, the two picks that most account our for W-L record and SB win that you are so proud of were not picks that he initially wanted to make. Add to that the sad state of our defense and the years it took him to rebuild our OL. And all the trades he failed at because the price was always slightly too high. I would say Aaron Rodgers is important to this team as Peyton Manning was to the Colts. And I would say that w/o A Rodgers, the Packers might be picking first in the draft instead of the Colts. That’s my opinion. I’ve stated it here in different ways quite frequently. Nothing new. You have a short memory. prior to their SB year, TT was on the hot seat. The difference between then and now is AR and CMIII. Were he unable to draft/develop a defense good enough to win with, two years in a row, yes, I think he would be on the hot seat again. Think forward a couple of years, would you be content with having the best offense in the game yet be one and out in the playoffs three years straight because your GM was clueless at building a competent defense? I know I wouldn’t be. So I conclude that the task of building a defense is make or break for TT. Getting only one SB out of AR/CMIII, would, IMO, be tantamount to failure.
That’s one warped view of TT’s past draft experiences…
Don’t give TT any credit for Nick Collins, using a 2nd round pick on a small school safety most people have never heard of…
As someone else said, don’t give him credit for taking Jennings, who everyone said was stupid for taking him, a small school WR, over SEC UF’s Chad Jackson (FSU alum here btw loved watching that guy fail in New England lol…)
Don’t give TT any credit for taking Bishop in the 6th round, or Crosby, who arguably has the strongest leg in football after Janikowski (more FSU bias I know lol)
Don’t give TT any credit for Trading Out Of the First Round For A White Receiver, which was laughable at the time, or for taking a raw 3rd round TE named Finley. Let’s also not mention a 4th round Tackle from UCF who has turned into a Top 5 Guard in the NFL, Sitton. Matt Flynn…7th round???
The way you describe the 09 draft is laughable, we needed a NT for our new 3-4 defense so we took Raji, then TT “listened to people”, WHICH IS WHAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO DO, and traded up for CMIII. Oh he also got yet another starting guard in the 4th round by the name of Lang…
I could go on, but I think you get the point…I hope. Is TT perfect? Heck no, no GM is, but as someone else pointed out, if he got fired today, every team that missed the playoffs would be handing him a blank check to come there.
Alzheimer’s does terrible things to a mind.
I know Archie gets under people’s skin, but you’ll never hear me criticize him. At least he takes the time to post comments. Interaction with its readers is how a relatively small site like this grows. Heck, I wish there were a hundred more Archies.
Got it Archie. TT gets no credit for the good picks he made. Next! The desperation of the TT haters. It is hilarious and rather pathetic.
what is archie smoking hehe
Damn Archie, I’m not a huge T.T. supporter but even I have to give him his props sometimes! Wolf missed on picks, so does Bill B. of New England, a lot! I’m not sure where you get all this information because all I heard about that 09 draft was Capers is coming and the Pack is taking Raji. Like Ryan pointed out, several times, and excellent examples at that is T.T. has nailed it many times! Your right about his picks with the D-Line but lets just hope he nailed this one. It’s a crapshot