The Green Bay Packers have the best draft run over the past five years, according to Matt Maiocco of Comcast Sportsnet.
The team still has 57 percent of the players they’ve chosen on their roster (27 out of 47) — only five teams have more. The rankings also consider how many star players, busts and how many players contributed to wins were drafted, among other things.
Maiocco sites linebacker [intlink id=”454″ type=”category”]Clay Matthews[/intlink] as [intlink id=”20″ type=”category”]Ted Thompson[/intlink]’s best pick and, not surprisingly, defensive lineman [intlink id=”100″ type=”category”]Justin Harrell[/intlink] as his worst.
The nucleus of their Super Bowl-winning team came through the drafts of the past five years with half of their starters and many other key contributors coming during that period. It’s a group on offense that includes receivers Greg Jennings and, non-starter, Jordy Nelson, as well as three starting offensive linemen. General manager Ted Thompson and his crew also bolstered the other side of the ball with Matthews, the runner-up NFL Defensive Player of the Year, nose tackle B.J. Raji and the team’s top two tacklers during the regular season, linebackers A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop.
What’s perhaps even more impressive when considering the Packers’ drafts in the Ted Thompson era is quarterback [intlink id=”25″ type=”category”]Aaron Rodgers[/intlink] was drafted six years ago, so that choice wasn’t factored into these rankings.
The [intlink id=”234″ type=”category”]New Orleans Saints[/intlink] finished second in the rankings followed by the [intlink id=”196″ type=”category”]Indianapolis Colts[/intlink], while the [intlink id=”35″ type=”category”]Minnesota Vikings[/intlink] finished seventh, the [intlink id=”13″ type=”category”]Chicago Bears[/intlink] 16th and the [intlink id=”126″ type=”category”]Detroit Lions[/intlink] 19th.