2013 NFL Mock Draft: Green Bay Packers take Terron Armstead
The folks on the FanSided.com main page do a weekly 2013 NFL Mock Draft, and this week they had offensive tackle Terron Armstead heading to the Green Bay Packers with the 26th pick in the draft. You can view the whole mock draft here, and this week’s edition was done by NFL Spin Zone Hall of Fame member Josh Sanchez. His marquee pick in this draft was the selection of West Virginia Mountaineers QB Geno Smith to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the second pick, so he seems to think that the Jaguars willingness to keep Blaine Gabbert is just a smokescreen.
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Sanchez has the Packers adding some offensive line help to boost the protection for Aaron Rodgers. The Pack would be wise to improve Rodgers’s pocket, because they are investing heavily in him both financially and might not have the best insurance policy behind him at quarterback. The Packers offensive line could also use some upgrading to help out the next Packers starting running back.
In the comments section, Sanchez talks about Alabama Crimson Tide RB Eddie Lacy, who is a popular pick in mock drafts to the Green Bay Packers. However, Sanchez writes that Lacy doesn’t have elite speed and isn’t worth taking in the first round. Although the Packers might need a running back more, there are no backs worth taking in the first. Lacy is worth a second-round pick for sure, but I am also leery about his speed, and I don’t like taking running backs in the first round anyway.
Terron Armstead is a player who has been rising on draft boards recently, and Sanchez notes that and lauds Armstead’s athleticism. He is a freak athletically and showed it with an incredible 2013 NFL Combine performance. However, the Arkansas Pine-Bluff product played against inferior competition and doesn’t seem worth a first-round choice to me. He looked good in college, but he didn’t play like a first rounder when I watch him. Armstead has a lot of upside, but he also has a lot of downside. I don’t like “upside” picks, and I think Armstead is worth a mid second-round pick at most. Lacy is actually the better draft prospect, in my opinion.
So who should have the Packers drafted in the first round? I could see them taking a wide receiver like DeAndre Hopkins, and that’s something Jason Hirschhorn of Lombardi Ave detailed in an excellent piece recapping the Packers pick in the FanSided.com mock draft. Wide receiver isn’t a position of need for the Packers, but it could become one down the road since Greg Jennings left for the Minnesota Vikings this offseason and James Jones is in his last year. Hopkins would be a solid pick at the end of the first round, and he has the potential to be a number one wide receiver.
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