2022 NFL Draft: Ranking the Packers' draft picks by first-year impact

The Leap ranks the Packers' 11 draft picks in order of their likelihood to make an impact in 2022.

In the NFL, it typically takes years to gain the perspective necessary to fully judge a draft class. Teams select prospects primarily on the basis of their long-term outlook, and often that potential doesn't manifest on the field during a player's rookie season.

Still, for the Green Bay Packers, first-year contributions from their rookie class matter. Not only does the team enter 2022 among the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl, but the front office needs to fill the voids left by the Davante Adams trade, the releases of Za'Darius Smith and Billy Turner, and other moves.

For the Packers to break through this season, rookies will have to step into significant roles and make a difference. But some first-year players have better chances of delivering that impact than others. Draft position dictates opportunity to a certain degree, but Green Bay's depth chart will also provide clearer paths to the field at certain positions. And, of course, prospects don't enter the NFL at the same stage of development.

Accounting for all those factors — though not for injury given the unpredictable nature of player health — here's a subjective ranking of the Packers' newly minted draft picks in terms of likeliness to play a meaningful role this season.

11. Samori Toure

Green Bay took a flier on Samori Toure, a fast but older prospect, with their final draft pick. Toure has the tools to contribute on special teams as a return man and gunner and could develop into a field-stretcher on offense over time. Still, given the investments the Packers made at the position earlier — they signed veteran Sammy Watkins shortly before the draft and added two rookie wideouts during the early and middle rounds — Toure's best shot to stick around probably involves the practice squad.

10. Rasheed Walker

A large percentage of the draft-industrial complex expected Rasheed Walker to come off the board during the middle rounds. When that didn't happen, the Packers swooped in and spent one of their seventh-round picks on the former Penn State offensive lineman. Under different circumstances, Walker would have a better chance of carving out a role, but the presence of two other O-line selections places obstacles in his path.

9. Tariq Carpenter

The first of the Packers' four seventh-round picks, Tariq Carpenter seems like a selection made at the behest of new special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. The team's focus on repairing the long-moribund third phase has already brought a new punter (Pat O'Donnell) and veteran special-teamer (Keisean Nixon) to Green Bay, and Carpenter appears earmarked to join the effort. The Georgia Tech product has some intriguing physical tools that suggest he might eventually provide something on defense, he'll probably have to make the roster as one of Bisaccia's key contributors.

8. Jonathan Ford

Jonathan Ford holds the distinction of the worst athletic tester among the Packers' 2022 draft class. However, the former Miami defensive tackle possesses massive size (6-foot-5, 333 pounds) and could carve out a role as a run stuffer on defense and a blocker on some special-teams units. He'll probably have to beat out a holdover or two from last year to earn a roster spot, however.