Umfragen » The NFC North is a division stacked with talent. From Aaron

Rodgers and the Packers’ offense in Green Bay to Khalil Mack and the Bears’ defense in Chicago Kingsley Keke Jersey 2019 , no team is without an explosive, game-changing playmaker. For the Detroit Lions, that game changer could be rookie running back Kerryon Johnson.As the Lions’ second-overall pick in the 2018 draft, the former Auburn standout has a smooth and patient running style that has been compared to stars like Le’Veon Bell. Johnson used his natural ability to have an explosive college career, earning the SEC player of the year award in 2017 after rushing for 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns. Now, it seems Johnson is having success translating his standout skills in college into the NFL. After a slow start to the season, the Lions finally snapped a five-year long streak of not having a game with 100 rushing yards thanks to Johnson. The standout rookie rushed for 101 yards on 16 carries and propelled Detroit to a 26-10 victory over New England for their only win of the season. In an ironic twist, the Lions traded up with the Patriots to draft Johnson with the No. 43 overall pick in the 2018 draft. It’s also important to note that New England is the second-worst in the NFL against the run. Nonetheless, following Johnson’s breakout game against the Patriots, it’s looking like he could become one of Detroit’s biggest offensive weapons on a team that has struggled on the ground for years. Much like the Packers’ rushing woes of previous seasons, the Lions have had a difficult time developing a sustainable ground attack. Under Lions’ first-year head coach Matt Patricia, Detroit has made an increased effort to build a much-needed impactful ground game to help relieve some of the pressure on veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford. Through the last three seasons, the Lions have ranked in the bottom five for overall rushing offense, with last year being their worst performance on the ground yet. In 2017, Detroit ranked dead last in the league, averaging just 76.3 yards per game and totaling only ten rushing touchdowns on the season with the bulk of the carries being completed by third-year running back Ameer Abdullah. Detroit also stacked up 61 runs for negative yards to make them the 10th worst in the league. However, through the first quarter of the season the Lions have already seen a significant bump on the run. Detroit currently ranks 20th in rushing yards and seventh in yards per carry (4.6), much of that thanks to Johnson and despite having only one touchdown on the season, he could prove to be the Packers’ biggest rushing challenge to date.It’s no secret the Packers’ defense was absolutely dominant against Buffalo rookie quarterback Josh Allen, but it’s also necessary to point out that the Packers did an excellent job of stifling running back LeSean McCoy who rushed for just 24 yards on five carries. Being able to stop McCoy was even more notable following the Packers’ inabilities to contain Adrian Peterson the week prior. Peterson rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Through four weeks, the Packers rank 16th for rushing defense and have allowed an average of 4.5 yards per carry. On the flip side, Detroit has faced defenses similar to the Packers, with the Jets sitting at 17th overall Kingsley Keke Jersey Mens , the 49ers at 15th and Detroit sitting at 13th against the run. If the Packers hope to continue their defensive hot streak into week five, much of the focus will need to be on stopping Johnson on the ground. Going on the road against a divisional opponent always adds extra weight and Matt Patricia has made it clear that he’s dedicated to using Johnson as much as he can. With the Packers’ previous struggles against Peterson and the Redskins, it could be a weakness he’ll look to exploit even more. If Green Bay can push past Kerryon Johnson and the Lions this week and a banged-up San Francisco 49ers team the week after, they’ll be sitting at a comfortable 4-1-1 in a tough NFC North division going into their week seven bye. Tight end must be considered a need for the Packers in 2019 and has been a popular pick in mock drafts. However, they’re unlikely to consider one at 12 and that’s the right move."“If he’s the best player, you take him.” It’s the common refrain surrounding the potential selection of Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson with the 12th pick by the Packers. The fit is logical: Green Bay needs a blocker next to Jimmy Graham, particularly in this offense, and Hock possesses more than enough pass-catching ability to be the future TE1 for this team as Jimmy Graham makes his inevitable (and relatively imminent) exit. A 21-year-old Mackey Award winner who could be a Pro Bowl tight end sounds like a no-brainer for the Packers, right? Wrong. Let’s set aside for the moment the question of his quality as a prospect. Smart people disagree on these things as they almost always do, outside of a few top players. First, interrogate the base premise here: the Packers should take the best player. It has become common for media people to suggest this and even Ted Thompson defenders will point to Aaron Rodgers and insist the Packers do this. But they don’t because they shouldn’t. Taking the highest graded player doesn’t make for the smartest pick. It may make for the safest pick, but not the most impactful. Best player available, such as that concept actually has merit in the NFL Draft, isn’t “take the player with the highest grade,” because it would be ridiculous for the Packers to take Dwayne Haskins at 12 if he were available. The “best” player available to a team in a given moment is the player who will maximize impact on the team relative to other players available. This takes into account grade, positional value, team makeup, contract situations, and myriad other variables. If we’re setting aside grade for now, what’s the tight end’s true positional value in the NFL? Having one makes the offense better, but the Rams are tight end by committee. So are the Saints. The Patriots rely on Rob Gronkowski mostly as a blocker at this point in his career. And nearly all of the best players at the position weren’t high picks.Marcedes Lewis signed in Green Bay for a song. It wasn’t his fault Mike McCarthy refused to use him. Big Bob Tonyan, the tight end Packers fans are so excited to see, came to the league as a former receiver with talent, but he went undrafted. Look at the All-Pros at the position this season: Travis Kelce was a third-round pick and George Kittle was a fifth-round pick.In other words Youth Kingsley Keke Jersey , you can find a quality tight end in Round 2-7 or even as an undrafted free agent. We are past the point of teams simply looking at college basketball players for options, but only just barely. That opportunity cost matters. If the Packers are taking a tight end at 12, who are they not taking? A blue-chip edge rusher or a starting offensive lineman. There could be an impact overhang defender or a big-play receiver. What is the value of upgrading a position where the team can find a suitable substitute which either much less draft capital or in free agency? In making these calculations, the Packers must also decide what a player like Hockenson would give to the team relative to another player at a more premium position. The league has long prized OT, EDGE, CB, and WR above TE. Although the position has changed considerably over the years, the impact of pass rushers, cover guys, and protectors in particular remain as great as ever. Considering Green Bay’s roster, would a tight end — a player likely to take time to develop and only play 30% of snaps in Year 1 — truly be a more impactful player than someone like Jachai Polite or Montez Sweat who could come in and provide an immediate boost to a flailing outsider linebacker group? Year 1 shouldn’t be the only viewpoint, but the short view is really all the team can have at any given time. The team can change so drastically over a few seasons, and any given player is only so likely to have a long career, that short-term impact calculation stands as the most salient piece of the puzzle. If Alabama offensive lineman Jonah Williams falls to 12, how can the Packers pass on a Day 1 starter at right guard or a future long-term starter at right tackle to add a luxury position piece where someone 85% as good can likely be had at the 30th pick? This part of the opportunity cost equation matters more in 2019 than most years. Green Bay has a luxury pick: it’s at #30. If Hockenson truly is that good and that valuable, package picks 30 and 44 or 30 and 75 to move up to get him in the 20s. Passing on a potential blue chip premium position player of comparable talent to take a tight end just doesn’t make sense for the Packers or any team. Look how often Hock’s teammate winds up in mock drafts at 30: Noah Fant is an outstanding prospect in his own right, as are Alabama’s Irv Smith Jr. and Stanford’s Kaden Smith (no relation). Green Bay can get a quality tight end in the draft without using such a premier draft pick. This discussion can’t be fully had without some discussion of Hockenson’s quality as a prospect. To be fully transparent, I think he’s more of an early 20’s type player. He’s very good, but not a transcendent prospect by any means. He’s an anomaly as someone who can catch and block, but that novelty isn’t indicative of quality. But even if one believes he’s a very good prospect, recent draft history suggests the league doesn’t view tight ends as priority players. In 2018, Mike Gesicki tested as the most athletic tight end in combine history after a productive career at Penn State. He went with the 42nd pick, while Hayden Hurst was the highest tight end selected at 25. The year before, O.J. Howard drew consideration as a generational tight end prospect while Evan Engram crushed the combine after putting him huge numbers at Ole Miss. Howard ended up going 19th and Engram at 23. Every draft brings different situations White Kingsley Keke Jersey , but it’s hard to make the case Hockenson deserves to go before someone like Howard, an athletic receiver who also demonstrated alacrity with blocking. In fact, the only tight end to go in the top-15 over the last 10 seasons is Eric Ebron in 2014, picked when the Lions could have drafted Taylor Lewan, Odell Beckham Jr, Aaron Donald, Kyle Fuller, Ryan Shazier, Zack Martin or C.J. Mosley. That’s not cherry-picking, that’s the literal draft order after Ebron’s selection. Before that, a tight end hadn’t gone in the top-15 since Vernon Davis in 2006, when Matt LaFleur was a 26-year-old quarterbacks coach at Northern Michigan. The NFL transformed considerably in the interim, but the value of the tight end, and the ease with which teams can find them, hasn’t. This should be taken as nothing against Hockenson, who is a tremendous player with the talent to make the Packers better. If he somehow fell to 30, it would likely be a no-brainer for Brian Gutekunst and company. Combine everything from talent to opportunity cost, team makeup, and more; taking a tight end at 12, almost any tight end, doesn’t make sense.