There's no permanent answer

Don from Cedar Rapids, IA ARE WE THERE YET??!! (Repeat every 15 minutes until 7 p.m. Thursday.) T-minus one day and counting … Paul from Ellensburg, WA Hey fellas, are 2-3 “solid contributors” really worth a “game-changer”? It must be true in the long run based on how we draft, but it seems like it’d be worth sacrificing 2-3 of the former for the latter. **Of course it would. Every team would make that trade in a heartbeat. Elite players change teams and change seasons. But there’s no guarantee you’re actually getting a game-changer. You never know when a guy hasn’t played in the NFL yet. That’s the draft.* Monty from Hazen, ND So I like to describe the draft as Christmas morning for football fans. Can’t wait to open those presents and see those new players we have! How would you describe the draft to non-football fans? Competitive shopping. Eric from Oshkosh, WI A comment yesterday asked if TT was able to anticipate the Bears trading up to take Trubisky. But did TT have to actually anticipate that? Even if it did come as a surprise, he just needed to be ready to make the right selection from who was available when his pick came due. When a big move is made long before you’re on the clock, you have plenty of time to react and adjust your thinking, if necessary. The Trubisky move at No. 2 was 27 picks before the Packers were up. A move that’s made one or two slots in front of you is a different story, though. James from Orlando, FL I'm tired of all the hot air coming from ESPN about this upcoming draft. I get a kick about one day they have the picks going in a certain direction, then you watch the next day and lo and behold, they've changed their minds again. What a hoot. I'm looking forward to this draft because of who we wind up with and all the wheeling and dealing that's going to happen. I think the latter will start big-time if Cleveland picks Barkley No. 1. That could work out quite well for Cleveland, as they would have a stud running back and can pick from at least two good quarterbacks at No. 4. Do you see this as a possibility? *Only if Dorsey has those four quarterbacks rated fairly equally and doesn’t have one as “his guy.” If he’s cool with letting whichever quarterback fall to him, he might take Barkley or Chubb No. 1. But if he has “his guy,” he has to grab him.* Tim from Charlotte, NC In response to Kyle from Smyrna, WI: I’m no elitist. I’m a purist. There’s a difference. This is fun. Blaine from Menomonie, WI Everyone keeps thinking about cashing that third-round pick in to move up from 14. I look at it and see a chance to stand pat at 14 and let the draft come to me and use that third-rounder to move up from 45 to 28 or 29 and sneak back into the first round in front of the Vikings. Best your rival and get another fifth-year option starter. Plus you can still use 101 to move up two slots in the first if it's the difference between getting one of the "elites" or not. Knowing what you know of Brian Gutekunst and Ted Thompson, which of those moves with the third-rounder do you speculate each of them would consider to have more value? *It depends how the board looks at the time. If there’s a player on whom the Packers have a solid first-round grade who’s still there in the high 20s, like Clay Matthews nine years ago, that would be a value move. If there’s a top-five-rated player dropping out of the top 10, that would also be a value move. There’s no permanent answer for any GM each year, because each draft unfolds differently.* Don from Green Bay, WI Good morning. Can the Browns, with the first pick, negotiate a trade or deal prior to the start of the draft, or do they have to wait until Goodell announces “the Cleveland Browns are now on the clock”? Any team can execute a trade at any time. Stephen from Neenah, WI Something something something draft pick, something something something wild idea that won't happen. Sure. Anton from Green Bay, WI The Green Bay Packers football team will be significantly better a few days from now. I like it. *So will every team in the league. That’s why I like the NFL.* Kurt from Frisco, TX In my mind Green Bay has the 10th overall pick. That’s assuming the QB-driven NFL follows suit and four are off the board when the Packers pick. We better hit on an impact/All-Pro player. We might not pick this high for a while. My prediction: Tremaine Edmunds. The wild cards might be Lamar Jackson and Mike McGlinchey. If the fifth QB and the top LT are guys some teams won’t let get away, more top defensive options become available at 14 … or maybe Green Bay’s guy gets pushed down to where a trade is palatable. Andrew from Dayton, OH I think some of my fellow fans are forgetting that it takes two teams to make a trade. Speculate all you want about whether Gute makes a trade up or down, but someone has to be on the other end of the phone. Or someone on the other end of another phone might have more to offer. JT from Whitewater, WI Is it Thursday yet? You didn’t wait 15 minutes. Mike from Somerset, WI Mike, Brian has been involved in the process for 20 years. The Packers chose him as the GM. He has worked with some of the best draft-and-develop college scouts and GMs in the NFL. This is not his first rodeo. We can all breathe, he is not a loose cannon. I look forward to continued success but am not naive to believe this will be a big change in philosophy. I agree, but I just keep wondering if going into a draft with 12 picks will allow an opportunity to present itself he might not get again for a while. Jim from Westland, MI Bears matched the Packers’ bid for their CB and outbid them on a targeted receiver. Since the Bears draft before the Packers, we now have a clear idea of which positions won't be targeted by the Bears, I wonder if it "just played out that way" or if Gute manipulated it. Best case, worst case. He was still in control. *Let’s not get carried away and give credit where none is due. The Packers wouldn’t have signed Fuller to an offer sheet if they didn’t really want him, and I wouldn’t rule out the Bears still drafting a receiver or corner high. Not at all.* Josh from Lexington, KY There appear to be a good number of talented prospects coming out of Alabama, which is expected. If you could only draft one prospect from the U of A who would you take? Fitzpatrick. Pete from Las Vegas, NV Wouldn't it be in the Packers’ best interest to stay out west, after the Rams game, before going to Seattle? Then who would play the Patriots and the Dolphins? Ross from Hudson, WI Gute said they’ve been working on “scenario-driven things.” Sounds an awful lot like mock drafts to me. Do they do serious scouting to detail after whom the other teams are going, or just enough to have a general idea? They study other teams’ depth charts, no doubt. You can never be sure what another team will do, but you try to at least narrow down the realistic possibilities. Jake from Loveland, CO Insiders, thanks for all your hard work! Simple question for you...if you could choose only one behind-closed-doors location, which would you choose: Supreme Court discussions or draft-day war rooms? I’d prefer the roster cut-down meeting. Dale from Owatonna, MN In answering the Hall of Fame question yesterday, I think Mason Crosby will kick long enough and have good enough career stats that they will have to consider him for the Hall, even though not many kickers have made it. *I think it’ll come down to how high Crosby gets on the all-time scoring list, and if he makes a few more big postseason kicks, like the ones in Dallas two seasons ago. He’s at 1,345 points through 11 seasons. If he kicks all the way through a second decade and puts up another 1,000 points, he’ll be just shy of No. 3 Gary Anderson (who’s not in), No. 2 Adam Vinatieri (who will be in) and No. 1 Morten Andersen (who is in). And stats aside, Anderson is most remembered for a playoff kick he missed, while Vinatieri has three Super Bowl game-winners. I would love for it to be a meaningful conversation 10 years from now.* Nick from Garner, IA Who will be the most dominant running back for the Packers this season? I think Aaron Jones is the one who can put the most fear in a defense. Gary from Sheboygan, WI Insiders, first-rounders sign a four-year contract with a fifth-year option. Is there a standard for subsequent rounds? All draft picks get four-year contracts. Only the first-rounders get the fifth-year option. Darren from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Gutekunst seems more at ease in front of the press than TT ever was, or at least a bit less coy. Yet from the press conference I still walked away thinking “man, nice job...I still don’t know that much more of what you are thinking for this draft.” Was there any takeaway you had which you didn’t have insight into prior to Monday? It was more of an off-hand comment, but when he mentioned most trades being discussed well in advance and very few “first calls” coming when you’re on the clock, I found that interesting. I always thought it was more a mix of advance discussions and last-minute deals, but it sounds like there are very few of the latter. I also had no idea my good friend Danny Mock was in charge of preparing for an electrical blackout. He said that actually happened once when he worked in Atlanta years ago. Cody from Kenosha, WI Mike, you talk about the playoffs as being a crapshoot, and I tend to agree. The most talented team doesn't always win. I look at the draft in a similar way. The most talented prospect doesn't always work out. You can do all the scouting in the world, but some guys still don't make it in the NFL for reasons you cannot see or measure (off-the-field issues, work ethic, etc.). Instead of going all in on free agency for a playoff run, or trading multiple lower picks for a higher draft pick, get more cracks at the plate. Do you agree with the quantity over quality approach to the draft? Last year for example, instead of spending a high draft pick on a single running back, Ted picked three running backs in the later rounds, and hit on two out of the three. I’m not closing the door on three out of three, because Devante Mays hasn’t yet shown what he can do. Be that as it may, I do subscribe to the theory of more swings, especially in the middle rounds (3-5). When the Packers hit it big in the fourth round with picks like Josh Sitton (2008), Mike Daniels (2012) and David Bakhtiari (2013), they had multiple fourth-round picks. Same thing in the fifth round with Micah Hyde (2013) and Corey Linsley (2014). There’s something to be said for the draft capital the Packers had in the years/rounds they found those players. Mark from Sturgeon Bay, WI Spoff's comment about Equanimeous St. Brown got me curious. He said he didn't think the third round would be a reach. Do you guys spend that much time looking at draft-eligible players, the rankings, their potential, etc., that you can make a statement like that, or is it more what you hear from the so-called gurus? *I commented on Brown because I did a Prospect Primer on him, which meant I had researched him a little. Those are the only mid-round guys I really know anything about. Otherwise, they’re just names to me.** Pete from Perham, MN I finally watched “Draft Day.” Very entertaining. Also, Wes did a great job as the intern. My question is what kind of beer are you going to pour on Saturday night once the work is done? Does it matter? Robert from Harris, MN Now that the draft is almost here, is there a question about the draft you wished had been asked but hasn't? If so, I respectfully submit said question. I’m just glad no one brought politics into the discussion. Wayne from McFarland, WI How much do you think interference from the Russians will impact the draft? Has it been 15 minutes? HAVE A QUESTION?

There's no permanent answer

Will an opportunity present itself?