Here's the answer: Yeah, we're gonna do a value board. We'll call it "Vic's Value Board" so nobody thinks it is in any way, shape or form the Packers' value board. It is not; it's all mine, baby.
It'll be the frivolous intent of a sportswriter to play general manager. It'll be an attempt to have some draft-time fun. Hey, it's the draft; it's all about opinion and speculation, right?
Please, don't think I will have spent painstaking hours watching tape in coming to these evaluations. My rankings are the result of:
Having watched too much college football on TV last fall.
Midnight meetings with anonymous scouts at places such as "Steak and Shake" in downtown Indianapolis.
Junk I've read in the draftnik publications.
Conversations with some of my draftnik buddies, such as Tony Pauline, who I helped make famous some years ago when I made him jaguars.com's official and lightly paid draft analyst. See what I mean? It's all about having fun.
Combine times and pro-day workout numbers, etc.
Instincts at how a player might fall on draft day, as a result of the position he plays and the school and conference that produced him.
Guesses based absolutely on nothing at all. I'll keep those to a minimum.
We're working on the first-ever "Vic's Value Board" for packers.com right now. We wanna make it look real nice; you know, pictures of the guys and the whole bit.
Hey, this is for you. We want you to have fun with it. We want you to make your own value board and compare it to mine.
I'm not gonna treat it as though it's a joke. I'm gonna give you what I genuinely believe should be the 1-32 ranking of draft prospects. I'm gonna give you my honest thoughts on these prospects and I've certainly had my hits and my misses in the past. What GM hasn't?
Adrian Peterson was at the top of my board in 2007. That was a hit. A year later, I had Vernon Gholston at the top of my board. That, obviously, was a miss.
Pick your own hits and misses. See what I mean? All fun, baby, all fun.
So get ready for it. The "Duker," our ace production man, is working on my value board right now. He vowed to have it ready to be posted next Wednesday. I told him to make it nice; make it look real nice.
Vic Ketchman is a veteran of 39 NFL seasons and has covered the Steelers and Jaguars prior to coming to Green Bay.
