The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles both are talented enough to win the NFC this year and play in Super Bowl 55 in Tampa, Florida. The Packers and Eagles also have two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in Aaron Rodgers and Carson Wentz, respectively. The championship window is wide open for both franchises. Yet both made very puzzling early picks in the 2020 NFL Draft this past weekend.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Green Bay is at +1000 with Philadelphia at +1100 to win the NFC title, behind the San Francisco 49ers (+400), New Orleans Saints (+500) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+500).
The Packers, who haven’t won the NFC since the 2010 season and were crushed in last year’s NFC title game by the 49ers, bafflingly selected Utah State quarterback Jordan Love with their first-round pick in the 2020 draft, trading up a few spots to get him. While Love has major upside, he’s a project and will not help the team this year.
Rodgers was likely ticked off with the selection and the fact the team didn’t address a glaring need at receiver in Round 1 (or in the entire draft). The Love pick is more about the 2022 season and going forward. Very interesting pick.
With their second-round pick, the Eagles had plenty of holes they could have filled but instead selected Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts. Stellar college player but a bit of a project. While Rodgers is 36 years old and one can perhaps understand what the Packers were thinking with Love, Wentz is only 27. True, he has been injury-prone and perhaps Hurts could help in that regard. Still, though, a very odd selection for a team ready to win now.
Then you have teams ready to win now who made moves for this season. The Bucs, for example, traded for ex-Patriots All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski ahead of the draft to play with his buddy Tom Brady. Then they got Brady some help in the draft by taking Iowa mammoth offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs in Round 1 – trading up one spot with the 49ers to ensure they got him. Many scouts had Wirfs as the top-rated offensive lineman in the class.
New Orleans has added insurance in case future Hall of Famer Drew Brees misses any time this season by signing former Bucs quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston to a one-year contract. It’s much more important under the new playoff format to get the top seed in each conference, and if Winston can win just one game if Brees has to miss one due to injury and it leads to the top seed, that signing is more than worth it.
