The Athletic’s Dane Brugler mocked three Green Bay visits and three players with Jeff Hafley connections to the Packers.
The Athletic’s draft analyst Dane Brugler, who correctly predicted that the Green Bay Packers would select tight end Luks Musgrave, receiver Dontayvion Wicks and cornerback Carrington Valentine in his 2023 mock draft, just dropped his full seven-round mock draft for the 2024 cycle. In it, he picked several players who have connections to the Packers organization, be with defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley or taking a pre-draft visit with the team — which has increasingly been a sign that the team is interested in a prospect in recent seasons.
Let’s take a dive into Brugler’s mock draft and analyze some of the more interesting selections.
Brugler’s Packers 7-Round Mock Draft
- #25 Jackson Powers-Johnson, C, Oregon
- #41 Darius Robinson, EDGE, Missouri
- #58 Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M
- #88 Calen Bullock, S, USC
- #91 Caedan Wallace, OT, Penn State
- #126 Ray Davis, RB, Kentucky
- #169 Elijah Jones, CB, Boston College
- #202 Ty’Ron Hopper, LB, Missouri
- #219 Ryan Watts, CB, Texas
- #245 Tulu Griffin, WR, Mississippi State
- #255 Nick Gargiulo, C, South Carolina
Brugler wrote up one of the Packers’ selections in his mock, the team’s first-round draft choice: Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson.
There are several ways the Packers can attack the offensive line in the draft. One of those is to select Powers-Johnson, who can provide an upgrade at center and allow Green Bay to keep Zach Tom at tackle while moving Josh Myers to guard.
The selection of a center in the first round is interesting, considering that ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported last week that the team feels as though that current right tackle Zach Tom, who has played center in both the NFL and at the college level, has the potential to be a Hall of Fame center. Will the team simply replace Myers in this draft or will they draft a right tackle to bump Tom into center? One week away from the first round, I’m not sure we have a clear answer.
Allowing Myers to move to guard, as Brugler stated, would mean that Myers would likely battle third-year lineman Sean Rhyan for the right guard position on the team. Last year, Rhyan was a rotational player at the position, splitting time with Jon Runyan Jr. — who signed with the New York Giants in free agency after his rookie contract expired.
Beyond the Powers-Johnson selection, Brugler also pinned a couple of the Packers’ pre-draft visits to Green Bay. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper of Texas A&M, running back Ray Davis of Kentucky and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper of Missouri all have reportedly made the trip to Wisconsin this offseason with the Packers’ allotted 30 visits. Last season, Wicks, quarterback Sean Clifford, defensive lineman Karl Brooks and running back Lew Nichols were all drafted by the team after taking visits with the Packers. The team also signed tackle Kadeem Telfort as an undrafted free agent and picked up tight end Ben Sims off of waivers are they had visits to Green Bay. In 2022, safety Tariq Carpenter, receiver Samori Toure, defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, receiver Christian Watson, tackle Rasheed Walker and receiver Romeo Doubs were all brought in on visits for the Packers, who later spent draft choices on those players.
Three other players, Elijah Jones, Ryan Watts and Nick Gargiulo, have connections to former Boston College head coach and current Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, as we wrote earlier this week. Jones, a cornerback, played for Hafley at Boston College, which is the most direct connection. Watts spent his freshman year at Ohio State, where Hafley — at the time — was the defensive coordinator of the team. Watts, another cornerback, would later transfer to Texas, where he finished his college career.
Last is Gargiulo, who Hafley offered as a transfer product out of Yale in the 2023 offseason. Gargiulo is also one of the few offensive linemen on Day 3 of the draft that fits within the Packers’ perceived guardrails at the position.
Remember, personal connections to players seem to sway the Packers a bit, right or wrong. Last season, the justification for the selection of kicker Anders Carlson was that special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia had known Carlson for much of his career, as Bisaccia coached Carlson’s older brother when with the Las Vegas Raiders.
So if this draft looks anything like the last few in Green Bay, it’s safe to say that Brugler’s mock draft, which tends to be one of the more accurate ones in the draft community, seems to follow predictable trends. The Packers will probably draft a fair share of players who were brought in on visits with the team and lean into those personal connections to hopefully find an edge on draft day.
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