Big, big news: a new, “wild” mock draft has surfaced! And by “wild,” I mean that in the overused meme sense – there’s really nothing all that wild about it. But bet I’ve got your attention now!
NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, a “NFL media analyst,” just released his latest mock draft, which reads pretty much like every other well-informed mock out there. (I’m starting to think mock drafts are created specifically for aggregators.)
For Packers fans, Jeremiah’s mock gives a glimpse into what Green Bay could do next month. The general consensus is that they’ll focus on wide receiver or defensive back, given their desperate need for both. This makes it easy to avoid any out-of-left-field first-round picks, which is why pretty much everyone online has the Packers picking a replacement for Jaire Alexander. Jeremiah’s no exception: he has Green Bay selecting Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston.
Jeremiah writes: “It’s unclear if Jaire Alexander has a future in Green Bay, so the Packers turn to the dynamic Hairston at cornerback.”
Alright, I’ll go along with that, Daniel. Here’s a bit of what NFL.com’s own scouting report says about Hairston, a redshirt junior:
“Lean outside cornerback with long arms and impressive ball skills. Hairston excels in both zone and man coverage. He anticipates plays well with his eyes and has the burst to make big plays, recording six interceptions (three returned for touchdowns) over his last 20 games. He stays tight in man coverage with good agility and fluidity but could improve at locating the football downfield.”
Replacing an All-Pro talent (when he’s healthy, of course) with someone who is projected as “an eventual solid starter” doesn’t seem like an ideal trade-off, but maybe that was an unrealistic expectation from the start. My bad there. The headline probably should be: “Packers select a potentially-reliable replacement for Jaire Alexander in new mock draft.” But “possibly-reliable” doesn’t quite have the same ring as “perfect,” does it?
Leave a Reply