COLUMN: NFL Draft '21

     There are two things I watch for every year during the NFL draft. One, who are the Packers selecting and two, which Hawkeyes are getting their names called this year. The answer to number two is four: DL Chauncey Gholston, picked number 84 by the Dallas Cowboys in round three, WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette, picked number 157 by the Vikings in round five, followed immediately by Daviyon Nixon, a DL at pick 158 by the Panthers.

     The first pick in round number six was Iowa LB Nick Nieman at pick 185 by the Chargers. It will be interested to follow these four and see if they end up making an NFL roster come this fall.

     UNI had a couple of players also selected. In round three at pick number 93 to the Bills was OT Spencer Brown. At pick number 116 in the fourth round was Elerson Smith, a LB who went to the Bills. Shortly after that pick a Cyclone came off the board, RB Kene Nwangwu at pick 119 to the Vikings.

     Every year I contact one of my Packer friends and we quickly speculate who we think the Packers may draft. None of the names that either of us threw out there were picked by Green Bay. We mostly discuss position needs before actual players. And like most Packer fans, we hope they pick a wide receiver early, which they never do.

     Green Bay’s first selection was a DB from Georgia which draft expert Mel Kiper thought was a terrible pick that early. I’m going to give the Packer coaching staff the benefit of doubt that they know a little more about scouting players then an ESPN guy who claims to be an expert.

     Every year Kiper and the other ESPN draft expert, Todd McShay, list their draft predictions several times prior to the draft. This year I decided to see just how good these two were. Kiper correctly guessed 5 out of 32 first round picks. Not very good. McShay didn’t fare much better, guessing 9 out of 32 picks correctly. McShay started off hot picking the first seven draftees correctly. After that he was terrible.

     Sometime during the broadcast Saturday, he was bragging to Kiper how he picked better than Kiper and he threw out the number 12 correct first round guesses. Sorry dude, the number was only nine.

     This draft was the year of the quarterback. The first three picks were signal callers as was expected, Trevor Lawrence to the Jaguars, Zach Wilson to the Jets and Trey Lance to the 49ers. The Bears also took a QB at pick number 11, Ohio state Buckeye Justin Fields. That may end up being a good pick for the Bears. Mac Jones went to the Patriots four picks later.

     Now that the draft is over, all of us Packer fans get to wait and see what happens to the Aaron Rodgers debacle. Will he or won’t he ever suit up again for Green Bay? I think he needs to quit being a whiny baby and honor his contract and remember he has a lot of fans out there. That’s my two cents!