That said, similar concerns with Ahman Green coming out of Nebraska, and he had a nice run for a few years there (including the year my brother-in-law got him and Deuce McAlister with his first two draft choices, before picking up Brian Westbrook off waivers in his rookie year, en route to coasting to the FF title on the shoulders of those three combining for like 40-50 FF pts per week). Point being, is he worth a late round flier in case he emerges? Sure, sure… plenty of time to see what happens before the draft, given that minicamps haven’t even started yet - much less actual training camp - but it’s never to early to consider all options. After all, as reigning champs, we now teams are going to come hard at us *every* week - making it very difficult to successfully repeat. You know how that goes.

When Green was hurt last year, Herron and Morency filled in fine. Morency had 100 yards against the Eagles and Herron, the third down back had 20-106 yards against the Rams. (He only had 17 carries the rest of the year.) There was no reason to overpay for Ahman Green, who is now on the wrong side of 30.

As for the Packers, I love their draft. The one thing the Ted Thompson does exceptionally well is draft. Most pundits say that TT reached in the first round for Harrell, but I disagree. Had he not been hurt his senior year, he would have been a very high top 10 pick (maybe #4). Biceps injuries are not career threatening, and he showed in his workout that he was fully recovered. Going into the draft, the “needs” were S, RB, WR, but Thompson took a run stuffing DT because he was the best player by far on the board. Most of Packer Nation was against the pick, but would they really have rather had Robert Meachum? First rounds are for taking the best available player, and what team can’t use a stud DT? Former 6th round pick Corey Williams is that good? Really?

I was glad that Marshawn Lynch was taken before the Packers had a chance to take him. The one thing that I think is very clear is that you do not need a top top running back to succeed in the zone blocking scheme, so wasting a lot of cap room on a Travis Henry or a high pick is not optimizing resources.

The Packers drafted 2 Va Tech players, so I am extatic about that. Aaron Rouse was projected to be a first round pick had he come out after his Junior year, but he decided to stay in school. 2 years ago, Va Tech graduated virtually all of their leaders and Rouse came back in order to hold the defense together. He comes from a broken home, and his father has been in jail since he was very young, so he sacrificed a lot by not entering last years’ draft. Needless to say, I will be purchasing a Rouse jersey post haste.

TT has hit on many second day picks, and I think he got a steal in the 5th round with Va Tech receiver David Clowney. Had Va Tech had a college level QB last year, he would have scored double digit TDs, but Glennon was so pathetic last year, that he overthrew/underthrew Clowney several times. Allen Barbre is the type of Small school player that TT has done a great job in identifying (Missouri Southern State??). He gives the team protection against a Chad Clifton injury.

Anyone see Rutgers play last year? Lenard (the fullback) got all the press, but Clark Harris made several huge plays last year, especially in the bowl game. DeShawn Wynn, the RB from Florida is a head case, but maybe lasting to the 7th round is the kick in the ass he needs…..

all in all very happy