Tuesday Cheese Curds: Grades for Packers draft rolling in

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 26: Brandon Cisse of the South Carolina Gamecocks poses on the NFL Network set during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on February 26, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Let’s get the obvious take out of the way: draft grades are worthless for at least three years (I’d say even as long as five). Trying to figure out if any team, the Packers or otherwise, did well on draft weekend while we’re less than a week removed from draft weekend is pointless.

That said, I think there are still some things we can say about process. There’s a reason certain teams tend to do well in the draft and certain teams tend to do poorly.

Does your team tend to consistently and aggressively trade up? Are they consistently drafting outside established successful player archetypes? Are they trying to make players with obvious flaws work because of certain other interesting attributes (a great 40 time, a particularly strong throwing arm)? Chances are they’ll be striking out more often than not. Look turnover at the GM spot in the near future.

But if your team consistently collects surplus value, nails the traits that have historically worked well at certain positions, and doesn’t chase shiny objects, there’s a good chance they’ll pick winners pretty frequently. The draft is an inexact science at best, though, so there’s no guarantee that sort of process will work. But it’s a lot better than the alternative.

In that kind of context, grades make some kind of sense. You just rarely get that kind of nuance from the quick-take national media, especially when they don’t necessarily have the time or interest in really understanding the context of why teams make the moves that they do.