Jan 1, 2012; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson (87) catches a touchdown pass behind Detroit Lions cornerback Alphonso Smith (27) during the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Now that the mini-camps have begun, rookies and reserves get a new chance to show what they can do for their teams. Unfortunately for them, the Packers’ offensive rotation is going to be the league’s toughest to crack into.

What’s not to like about this offense? Well, there are a couple of concerns. First, their draft:

1 28 Nick Perry LB USC
2 51 Jerel Worthy DE Michigan State
2 62 Casey Hayward CB Vanderbilt
4 132 Mike Daniels DE Iowa
4 133 Jerron McMillianSS Maine
5 163 Terrell Manning LB North Carolina State
7 241 Andrew Datko T Florida State
7 243 B.J. Coleman QB Tennessee-Chattanooga

Obviously, they wanted to help their NFL-worst-in-history pass defense. More on that later.

The main concern on offense is their lack of ability to run the ball. Some say James Starks is poised for a breakout year and the Packer offense, while highly prolific, lacked much of a running threat last season. They still went 15-1.

The fact is, while they’d certainly like to improve the ground attack to where opposing defenses at least have to respect it, you can win championships in the NFL without it. It’s just a bit more difficult when you have an underdeveloped ground attack.

The Packers, Patriots, and Colts all have won the Super Bowl in the last decade without having any potency there. They’ve just decided that the rules are easier for passing and developed the passing game, route trees, and styles to the n’th degree. The Giants have shown what a balanced attack can do for you and the league is finally taking notice.

Yeah, you really do need a semblance of running game to put you over the top. Or, at least, it helps.

With that in mind, the Packers feel Grant is ready to be the guy heading into his third professional campaign. They’re the NFL’s most loaded team at the skill positions by FAR – even 2011 rookie sensation WR Randall “Tex” Cobb is 5th on the depth chart and gets most of his action in the return game. Okay, so I labeled him with the nickname of a kickboxer from 30 years ago. Sue me.

Starting will of course be the league’s best QB, AR-12. He’s got a strong arm, is accurate, throws a great deep ball and is mobile. He has no weaknesses.

On the outside are deep threat Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson. James Jones and all-time Packer receiving record holder Donald Driver work the slot and backup the outside guys. The aforementioned Randall Cobb is next, but could move up a little bit on the depth chart with another good preseason. He has that speed that cannot be coached and is a nightmare in the open field.

TE Jermichael Finley is as good a target as there is at the position anywhere, including “Gronk” of the Patriots. The difference is that the Packers have multiple threats everywhere while the Patriots do not. The Patriots find their favorable matchups in other ways like double TE sets but get the job done.

The big problem was the massive yardage they gave up through the air. And I mean BIG. Despite the presence of All-Pro CB-turned-Strong Safety Charles Woodson, the 2011 version of the Green Bay Packers gave up more yardage passing than any team ever has. Similarly, the Patriots had the second all-time worst pass defense the same year and still nearly won the Super Bowl.

I think this demonstrates the evolution of the rules and the league’s transition into a pass-happy league as much as anything. After all, the Packers DO have Clay Matthews but last year proved he needs help.

If you’ll look at the draft, that’s exactly what the organization did. Nick Perry will likely start at OLB opposite Matthews in their 3-4 defense and the hope is he’ll be able to bring some heat down on enemy QBs with Matthews wreaking havoc on his side.

Jerel Worthy is listed as a DE, but played defensive tackle in college. However, the 3-4 defense requires larger, stronger ends to set the edge against the run and occupy blockers, so a transition to end for Worthy is not unusual since they already have massive NT B.J. Raji at the 0-technique. Ryan Pickett will probably start, but Worthy should push him early and see his own snaps in the rotation and provide some depth until he gets his NFL DE legs under him. Jarius Wynn anchors the other side.

A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop provide a decent ILB duo against the run, but for practical purposes opposing teams are pressed into passing just to keep up with the Aaron Rodgers machine so stopping the run is really only a big concern in short yardage and goal line sets in the first place.

Tramon Williams should get the starting nod at the right cornerback spot while Sam Shields holds down the left. Both guys are statistically above-average players with Shields having the biggest upside at this point. It’s strange, because the Packers have a decent back-seven but then again it just underscores the passing rules favoring the offense.

It is the New York Giants that have provided us with the blueprint for defeating or at least slowing down vaunted passing attacks with their “NASCAR” package being the exclamation point. Since the Giants are deep in DE/pass rusher types, they decided to use a package with 4 DEs all playing the line. When you’ve got Justin Tuck, Osi and JPP, you have the personnel to do it. Other teams are taking notice and the quickest path to improving pass defense is NOT getting 2 wonderful cover corners as it is putting at LEAST two wonderful pass rushers on the field at the same time.

That’s how Denver improved their defense last season – adding DROY Von Miller to one side and getting Elvis Dumervil off of Injured Reserve from 2010.

The Packers only used one draft pick on a corner, taking Vandy’s Casey Heyward at the end of round 2. He’ll help provide depth initially or possibly be the nickelback in sub-packages. You still need to TRY to cover but in today’s game, you just cannot cover WRs for 4, 5, 6 seconds. About 31 of the 32 NFL franchises have a QB good enough to move the chains if he’s not pressured (sorry, Jacksonville).

Given the improvements within the division like Chicago suddenly having some talent at their non-backfield skill positions, Detroit’s draft adding help for their WRs and depth on the OL, and Minnesota’s consolidation-type draft which poises them to make moves next season, I say the Pack took….

…one step forward. Remember, they were eliminated from the playoffs in their first playoff game in 2011. Given their current talent level and adding almost exclusively to the softer side of their roster (defense) via the draft, they should improve their pass defense enough to make a difference. They still will have a ways to go before their defense is feared again, but they should regain some measure of respectability there.

Next up….the Houston Texans!

Carolina got off to a good start yesterday with the selection of Luke Keuchly (LB, Boston College). He’s a guy, who regardless of how healthy Thomas Davis is, should come in and see immediate playing time in some capacity. The Panthers only had one pick on this second day of the NFL draft. They traded away their 3rd round pick last year to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Greg Olsen. The Panther’s lone pick came in the second round where they selected Amini Silatolu, who was a left guard out of Midwestern State. Now I know what you’re thinking; yes it’s not a very attractive pick, but Silatolu should be able to come in and compete for a starting job from day one. As of right now he’ll be competing with Bryant Browning and Mike Pollack for the starting left guard position and neither one of those guys is anything special. Cam Newton is the biggest piece of this team, so you have to provide him with the proper protection in order to be successful and that exactly what Marty Hurney and Ron Rivera are doing.

I was initially hoping to grab Janoris Jenkins with our 2nd round pick, but he was taken one pick before us by the St. Louis Rams. I also would have loved to see us draft Trumaine Johnson, the cornerback from Montana who is just an absolute physical specimen and looked great in his game tape as well. However, the Panthers filled a need by drafting Silatolu and although it may not be sexiest option it will definitely prove to be worthy in the long run.

September 10, 2011; State College, PA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Mark Barron (4) makes an interception during the third quarter action at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey G. Pittenger-US PRESSWIRE

One team that is having a great draft so far is a division rival of the Panthers. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made 3 solid selections so far. They drafted Mark Baron (S, Alabama) in the 1st round along with Doug Martin (RB, Boise State), and then they took Lavonte David (LB, Nebraska) who was suppose to be a first round talent at the end of the 2nd round. Martin gives the Bucs a great one-two punch being paired with Legarrette Blount, who is a more physical type of runner. And they also added Vincent Jackson in the off-season who was regarded as the best receiver available in free agency. It looks like the Bucs are going to be solid at both the offensive and defensive sides of the football, and they also still have some late round picks remaining in this weekend’s draft.

Oct 13, 2011; San Francisco CA, USA; Southern California Trojans defensive end Nick Perry (8) after a play against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at AT

The Green Bay Packers are one team that has disappointed me a little bit in this year’s draft so far. They entered the draft with 10 picks to play with and a lot of those picks were in the first 4 rounds of the draft. They took Nick Perry (DE, USC) in the 1st round, which I thought was a decent pick, but could have been better considering Courtney Upshaw (LB/DE, Alabama) was still on the board. Then they traded up in the 2nd round to get defensive tackle Jerel Worthy (Michigan State), which isn’t even a position of need for them (and Worthy wasn’t even the best DT still available). And then they made another move in order to obtain an additional 2nd round pick (62 overall) in which they selected Casey Hayward (CB, Vanderbilt). I think Hayward is decent, but doesn’t have as much upside as Trumaine Johnson or Josh Robinson (CB, UCF), who were both on the board at the time Green Bay was picking. However, you can never really tell about any of these guys until you see them on the field competing against other NFL players. But I definitely think the Packers are one team that could have gotten a lot more value considering the position they were in.
The third and final day of the 2012 NFL Draft starts tomorrow and the Panthers will be looking to fill some holes along their defensive line as well as in their secondary.