Gang Green Nation Community Mock Draft Pick #23

by John B on Apr 3, 2010 10:40 AM EDT

The Green Bay Packers are on the clock in our mock. Representing them is psuwxman, who is a television weather man in Michigan. Let's hope he's more accurate selecting players than weather men are at predicting the five day forecast.

With the twenty-third pick in the Gang Green Nation Community Mock Draft, psuwxman picks for the Green Bay Packers...

Mike Iupati

If you followed the Packers at all last year, you probably saw Aaron Rodgers, the face of the franchise, on his back. A lot. Iupati is a mountain of a man, 6'5" and 331 lbs. The Packers need help anywhere they can get it on the offensive line, and his footwork and blocking skills are NFL-ready. Iupati can play guard or tackle, and as such, they'll probably try to plug him in wherever they feel the weakest link is. I thought hard about taking Jerry Hughes here, but Green Bay's defense (other than that meltdown in the playoffs against a hot-handed Kurt Warner) actually shored up over the course the season, and their secondary was hit pretty hard by injuries (their offensive line SEEMED to get better as the year went on, but they didn't really play against any fearsome pass rushes after their first 9 games). Their offensive line was not hit very hard by injuries, and still was pretty awful. You need to protect your franchise QB, and Aaron Rodgers cannot be getting sacked 51 times every year. Iu-PARTY like it's 1999, Green Bay!

My reaction:

Why would Green Bay ever consider going defense here? They have the "Defensive Player of the Year." Sarcasm aside, offensive line is definitely the way to go. I saw a bunch of the Packers last season. The one thing that always struck me was that when the Packers kept Aaron Rodgers on his feet, he found an open man. They didn't do that too well early in the season. It improved as the year progressed, but guard was still not a strong point. Iupati is still a bit raw. He sometimes has issues with his technique such as footwork and grabbing, but he still would probably be a major upgrade over what Green Bay was putting out there. I personally like Anthony Davis in this spot because his experience at tackle and guard gives greater flexibility, but I can't argue with this selection. Hughes would have been a luxury pick. The Packers were fine last year after Aaron Kampman's injury. This was a necessity.

That's what I think. What are your thoughts?

The Draft:

1. St. Louis (David Wyatt)-Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

2. Detroit (TheSanchize6)-Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma

3. Tampa Bay (nrmax88)-Russell Okung, T, Oklahoma State

4. Washington (eighthoursaway)-Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma

5. Kansas City (michael28102)-Eric Berry, S, Tennessee

6. Seattle (arrowshockey16)-Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame

7. Cleveland (chrebetsthebet)-Joe Haden, CB, Florida

8. Oakland (mousie)-Bruce Campbell, T, Maryland

9. Buffalo (MachlinT)-Bryan Bulaga, T, Iowa

10. Jacksonville (Leamg)-Jason Paul-Pierre, DE, South Florida