NFL Draft 2010: The Green Bay Packers Mock Draft

For my overview of the Packer's draft board for the NFL 2010 Draft, click here.

The NFL 2010 Draft begins in less than 48 hours. Still, you will find all team scouts and front office people running around trying to fix their draft boards. It is inevitable that the draft boards of teams will change a lot from now till the time the envelope with the pick is walked across Music City Hall and handed over to the Commissioner. Add to this all the draft day trades, its a perfect recipe for mayhem.

It might be all for naught, because a lot of the players picked in the draft are probably not going to live up to the expectations / scouting predictions. Still, as football fans, we make a big deal out of it, prematurely grading teams right after the draft based on their picks.

This post, I am giving out my prediction of who the Packers should pick round by round in this year's draft.The Packers' philosophy while drafting is usually to pick the best player available at that spot, rather than need. Here, I am assuming no draft day trades involving the Packers. Realistically though, I do hope they trade down and gather more picks in this unusually deep draft class.

Pick 1 (Round 1; Overall Pick No.23): Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State

It is unlikely that the top offensive tackles will last till No.23. For some reason, if one of the top OTs, Russell Okung (OT, Oklahoma State), Bryan Bulaga (OT, Iowa), Trent Williams (OT, Oklahoma) or Anthony Davis (OT, Rutgers) slide to No.23, the Packers will love it. As that is almost impossible considering the number of teams that are desperate to find that franchise tackle, it will be smart for the Packers to take the best available player for their defensive backfield.

2010 NFL Season: Packers Schedule

The 2010 season NFL schedule was released by the league offices today. Here is the schedule for the Green Bay Packers.

Sunday, Sept. 12, at Philadelphia Eagles(1:15 pm PST)
Sunday, Sept. 19, Buffalo Bills at Lambeau Field (10:00 am PST)
Monday, Sept. 27, at Chicago Bears (5:30pm PST)
Sunday, Oct. 3, Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Oct. 10, at Washington Redskins (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Oct. 17, Miami Dolphins at Lambeau Field (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Oct. 24, Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field (5:30pm PST)
Sunday, Oct. 31 at New York Jets (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Nov. 7, Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field (5:30pm PST)
Sunday, Nov. 14, Bye
Sunday, Nov. 21 at Minnesota Vikings (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Nov. 28, at Atlanta Falcons (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Dec. 5, San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Dec. 12, at Detroit Lions (10:00 am PST)
Sunday, Dec. 19, at New England Patriots (5:20pm PST)
Sunday, Dec. 26, New York Giants at Lambeau Field (1:15 pm PST)
Sunday, Jan. 2, Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field (10:00 am PST)

Some key highlights:

• The Packers play one Monday Night game (vs Bears on Sep. 27 2010)
• The Packers are slated for 3 Sunday Night games
• The bye week for Green Bay is not till Nov 14th, which incidentally is the latest it has ever been for the Packers ever
• The Packers finish off the season with 2 home games
• They do not have a road game stretch longer than 2 games

NBA Playoffs: Round 1 Preview

Its spring time! The NBA regular season just ended and all the playoff match ups are locked up. Unlike most sports, the NBA playoff system is very generous to the teams vying to make the post-season. More than 50% (16 of 30 teams) of the teams in the league that play the regular season will make it to the playoffs. Although it seems relatively easy to get into the NBA playoffs, the 2 month long playoff schedule will be brutal for the teams that go the distance.

The Tale of Two Conferences

The last few years, it has been harder for teams in the Western conference to make the playoffs than for the teams in the East. The main reason being that the relative quality of teams in the West has been undoubtedly superior.


In the 2007-08 season, the Golden State Warriors (48-34) in the Western Conference had to sit out the playoffs after a 48 win season, while in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks (37-45) made it with a losing season. The Warriors who missed the cut would have been a 4th seed in the Eastern Conference that year.

The Packer Draft Board

I had already written about the Green Bay Packers' off-season needs. You can find it either in my blog or on Bleacher Report.

For a team like the Packers, that does not delve too much into the free agency market or get involved in high stakes trades, the draft is the only opportunity to improve their roster in the off-season. That makes the NFL draft week a critical period to fill all holes in preparation for next season. With the 2010 NFL Draft only a week away, I thought I should throw out my opinion of how the Packers should prepare their draft board.


The Order

The Packers have a fairly routine set of picks this draft. They have a total of 8 picks in the 7 rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft. They have 1 pick every round with an extra 5th round pick which was awarded to them as a complementary pick by the league (for losing Corey Williams as a free agent last year).