The NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday night in Detroit where the Green Bay Packers currently have the 25th overall pick. Meanwhile, a week earlier, two friends, one a Packers fan and one a Chiefs fan, have their annual dueling mock draft.
The first mock draft we had was a traditional run through. Trades were a no for us in the first mock. We just had to stick and pick. Considering the Packers are an odd number, 25, I was tasked with drafting the odd selections. Luke, the Chiefs fan, selected the even number allowing him to pick for Kansas City.
Mock Draft: Interesting Nuggets
By me drafting all of the even selections, not only did I get the right to select for the 13-time world champion Green Bay Packers, but I also had to select for each of the NFC North teams – including both of the Vikings and Bears first round selections. Although I was tempted to select a kicker with the first overall pick, I wanted to keep this mock realistic. So you’ll see that Caleb Williams goes to the Bears.
Let’s look at some picks in more detail before I share the entire mock draft:
Joe Alt
Being mocked to the Titans seems like a constant for this Notre Dame tackle but not in this draft. I had the Chargers forgo the selection of one of the talented wide receivers in this draft and select Joe Alt. He probably is the best tackle prospect in this draft. I just think Jim Harbaugh will look at the depth of this wide receiver class and pick the best tackle. This of course made the Titans selection much harder for me later on.
Quarterbacks
We had five quarterbacks go in the top twelve selections. The most notable is Michael Penix Jr. The Broncos select him with the 12th overall pick in this mock. Having no second round pick in this year’s draft could force the Broncos to select a quarterback like Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix much higher than they normally would. Maybe they could trade backwards and recoup some more picks and still get one of those guys but why risk it? Also, we couldn’t trade in this mock!
Kneeland and Robinson
The edge defenders, Marshawn Kneeland out of Western Michigan and Darius Robinson from Mizzou do in fact make the first round in this mock draft. At 29, the Detroit Lions select Marshawn Kneeland. Outside of the fact that he is seems like a Dan Campbell kind of guy, he also has a couple of other things going for him. One: he is from Western Michigan and may have been scouted more frequently by Detroit because of him being a hometown guy. Two: he has the word “knee” in his last name and for some reason Dan Campbell has a fascination with knees.
Attending this year’s draft in Detriot, Robinson has to have some reason to believe that he will be drafted in the first round. We found a home for him when we had the Ravens select him at 30 in this mock draft.
Cooper DeJean
Cooper DeJean, the versatile defensive back out of Iowa, doesn’t quite fall far enough for the Packers to pick him. Steelers select him at number 20 in this mock draft. If you have been following PackersTalk throughout this entire draft process then you know that me and many other Packers fans would love for Cooper DeJean to join the Green and Gold.
You will also know that any time I like a prospect, he won’t be selected by the Green Bay Packers. So, sorry all of Cooper DeJean fans, he won’t be coming to Green Bay.
Now, without further adieu, the annual 2024 Dueling Mock Draft:
Mock Draft: The Packers Select…
The Packers select Kool-Aid McKinstry cornerback out of Alabama. McKinstry was not targeted much this past season at Alabama. Opposing teams already knew how dangerous he was as a defender from the year prior and refused to throw his direction. Funnily enough, this is what cued people in to the greatness of Terrion Arnold and allowed Arnold to be a higher draft selection this year.
Playing aggressive and confident is in McKinstry’s identity. This is essential for great cornerback play. Just ask Jaire Alexander. Kool-Aid loves to play man coverage which will be perfect for this new Jeff Hafley defense. He would be the perfect addition to a defensive back field, that include Jaire Alexander and Xavier McKinney. And hopefully a Cole Bishop, but I digress.
The other option I had at pick 25 was the versatile offensive lineman out of Duke Graham Barton. Barton is as Packersy as it gets. I mean check out this article I wrote about him. However, I leaned on what I know about the Packers and that is that they just don’t draft offensive lineman in the first round. They haven’t done so since 2011. So all of these reasons are why I drafted Kool-Aid McKinstry for the Packers.
Mock Draft: Extra Draft
We also did an extra draft.
This is a draft that is kinda wacky as we have to spin a wheel that determines what sort of pick the selection has to be. We also swap picks and pick for each other’s team. This means that Luke picked for the odds and the Green Bay Packers while I picked the evens and the Kansas City Chiefs. Here is what the wheel looked like:
Things got pretty crazy to begin with in this one as the wheel forced Luke to draft a small reach with the first overall pick. That is why Caleb Williams is not a Bear in this mock but actually a New York Giant. Like I said, this one got weird. There are some picks that certainly won’t happen, but but there are others that very well could happen.
And to add to some credence to the wheel, we did this last year and we actually got three picks right. That’s the fun part of the draft, you never know what could happen. One might as well spin a wheel.
Here is how this mock draft went:
See! I wasn’t kidding, it got crazy!
Anyway, cross fingers that some how Troy Fautanu actually falls to Green Bay. That would be nuts!
Hope you enjoyed. I know I had fun!
Go Pack Go and Happy Draft Week!
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Damon is a diehard, fully-immersed cheesehead who currently lives in southern Missouri. He teaches at a local high school and has a family YouTube channel about all things Packers. You can follow him on twitter at @packersfamily and on YouTube at The Packers Family.
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