Packers fans react to draft: Pass rushers are exciting, tackles are not
GREEN BAY – As with any draft, Green Bay Packers fans are never of one mind on whether a pick was good or not, but the choice of Lukas Van Ness of Iowa in the first round of the NFL draft created less orneriness and more enthusiasm than most years.
The Packers were predicted to take an offensive tackle or a defensive player in the first round, which is a typical Packers move, with a lot of experts leaning toward the tackle. Instead, general manager Brian Gutekunst chose the 6-foot-5, 272-pound pass rusher Van Ness.
"I love the pick. I'm ecstatic as a fan. Offensive tackles are necessary, but they are not exactly exciting. Pass rushers are exciting," Steve Schumer of Gillette, New Jersey, said.
Schumer's buddy, Andrew Larsen of Rockford, Illinois, has been on the Van Ness bandwagon for months. "I’m shocked. It usually doesn’t work out the way I want it to," Larsen said after the Packers made the 13th pick in the draft. "Overall, for years, I’ve watched the Packers with what I consider below-average defensive lines. The teams that are good year after year have great D-lines. I don’t see how you win consistently without it."
But it wouldn't be a Packers draft if the happiness was unanimous.
"I'm kind of surprised they went defense," said Jim Henaman of Knowlton. "There is a lot of disbelief that at this point, with the defense being fairly solid and there are glaring needs on the other side of the ball. As soon as they made the pick, we thought they were just getting another Dean Lowry."
Henaman and a group friends who grew up together near the Thorp/Withee area were watching the draft in Knoxville, Tennessee, because one of the friends had moved there. The shouting in the background was less measured than Henaman's description of the pick.
Hutch Ruggles of Eau Claire was the only one of the friends who picked Van Ness as the Packers' pick, even though he suspected they really would go with an offensive lineman.
"I had a feeling they’d go offensive line like the Packers usually do," Ruggles said. "I wouldn't be surprised if (tackle David) Bakhtiari got traded yet tomorrow. We’ve got to be in rebuild mode. I don’t think Bakhtiari's salary is what we need right now."
Schumer said the Packers are pretty well stocked with linemen.
"They can move Elgton Jenkins out to left tackle. Zach Tom showed he was a natural pass blocker," he said. "They have Yosh Nijman, who is huge and athletic. Rasheed Walker was actually highly touted, and Caleb Jones out of Indiana, who is 6-9, was a pleasant surprise. They have a number of young tackles. True, excellent pass rushers are harder to find than left tackles."
Everything about Van Ness says Packers, Larsen said.
"He’ll be a perfect Packer. He’s just a classic Midwestern, blue-collar, hard-working guy," Larsen said.
Schumer agreed.
"Everything I’ve heard about him, he has a monster attitude. He’s just a badass," he said. "He reeks Packers. He literally looks like T.J. Watt. He’s tall, he’s lanky. Van Ness can rush from the inside. The Packers love that front seven versatility."
Ruggles looks forward to watching Van Ness and linebacker Quay Walker on the field together. He expects Van Ness to play right away.
"You’re drafting a starter with the 13th overall pick," he said. "Walker and Van Ness, we may have the anchor on our defense."
The pick puts even more pressure on defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who's squads have, in the opinion of many fans, underperformed.
"In 50-plus years I’ve followed the Packers, they now have more No. 1 picks on the defense than they’ve ever had in the history of the franchise," Schumer said. "Barry, you’ve got to make that talent produce."
In the second round Friday, the Packers will have the 11th and 14th picks of the day. The consensus among both groups was that the Packers should hold on to those and not try to trade up for a single pick.
"I think with those two second-rounders, you need to stay put. Take the best offensive player you can get," Henaman said. "I think there is a need for a tight end."
The Packers are in need of tight ends, probably more than one. Only one of what is considered to be a deep tight end class was chosen in the first round, Dalton Kincaid of Utah by the Buffalo Bills.
Ruggles favors Sam LaPorta, a teammate of Van Ness at Iowa.
The Packers' positions of need seem to be the deepest in this year's draft, Larsen said, and Gutekunst "is finally not drafting to find that last guy for Aaron (Rodgers)."
Rounds 2 and 3 of the draft begin at 6 p.m. Friday.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers fans react to draft: Pass rushers are exciting, tackles aren't
