The draft is all about balance. Teams are trying to fill current roster holes, along with also being cognizant of future needs, how the board has fallen when they are on the clock while being mindful of what positions those prospects play, especially within the first few rounds.
All of these considerations are in play for every team, but they can apply to some more than others based on where they are currently from a competitive and roster-building standpoint. For the Green Bay Packers, striking this balance between the present and future, need and value, feels particularly important in 2023.
At the moment, Green Bay finds itself in a transition period and they are no longer considered Super Bowl contenders. On the flip side, they also have to put the best team that they can around Jordan Love in order to best evaluate what he can do.
However, the need that Green Bay has to put more playmakers around Love at tight end and receiver doesn’t mean that the Packers are going to neglect the defensive side of the ball either. The goal, as Brian Gutekunst told reporters, is to build a well rounded football team that can win in multiple ways.
“You’re always trying to build the most robust all around football team that you can. From Ron Wolf to Ted, when you’re talking about a football player or a team, you have to be able to win many ways in this league because if you can’t, people will take that away. So it’s kind of the same thing, as we go through it, we are trying to build the most balanced football team that we can.”
The pressing needs that the Packers have are at tight end, the interior defensive line, and receiver positions. Edge rusher and safety are two others that perhaps don’t fall into the pressing category but should be addressed in this draft. Meanwhile, offensive tackle, cornerback, quarterback, and running back aren’t immediate needs but should all be added to at some point in the draft, including potentially early on at tackle and corner.
Although Green Bay may not take a true ‘best player available’ approach to the draft, with some of their biggest needs coinciding with the strengths of this draft class, they do have some added flexibility to do so in the first round. Landing a receiver, interior defensive lineman, edge rusher, or tight end isn’t a must at No. 13 because, on Day 2 of the draft, there will be a number of viable options at each of those position groups.
“I think you’d love to say every single pick is just best player available because you truly don’t know what your needs are going to be when you come to the season,” said Gutekunst said on Monday. “At the same time, it’s hard not to let your subconscious or conscious enter your mind about what your roster looks like right at the moment as you’re looking at these players, how you stack your board. I’ve always felt as you stack your board through the last four months because we really do evaluate for our football team and not the league, that subconsciously, if we have a need it’s going to factor in how we stack that board. If we can, best practice is best player available because I think by the time we get to September, October, November, what our needs are could be anything.”
On the other hand, the offensive tackle class has strong options at the top, but the high-end talent falls off rather quickly. This, again, is something else for Gutekunst to consider when on the clock. Does he aggressively pursue one position over another — offensive tackle in this instance — knowing that there are fewer options available later on in the draft?
That approach makes sense on paper — if there are limited players available, take them while you can. But Gutekunst has to be careful as well with this mindset because doing so can lead to Green Bay reaching, which can and will result in selecting a prospect too soon, and we all know how that can turn out.
“You’re always looking at your board and trying to understand where it’s strong and where it’s weak,” said Gutekunst. “You work really hard to try to have an understanding of where players may be available and where they might not be available. There have been times in past drafts where it’s if we don’t take this position right here, we won’t have the opportunity to take this position.’ You have to be careful there; you can make mistakes that way. It’s very rare where you have a bunch of players there that are equal. I’d rather have volume, where moving back is an option.”
As the Packers build out their draft day big board, among many factors, the position a prospect plays, to a degree, is taken into account. Going back to Ted Thompson’s tenure as GM, we know that there are specific positions that the Packers covet over others, especially in the first round. Typically this has included offensive tackle, edge rusher, and cornerback, although Gutekunst broke that trend recently, investing a first-round pick into linebacker Quay Walker in 2022.
This year there is again the opportunity for Gutekunst to go off-script by selecting a tight end — a position that often has not been prioritized early on in the draft. In terms of value, with most rookie tight ends not contributing significantly until Years 2 or even 3, waiting until the second day of the draft to address that need while selecting a more immediately impactful position at No. 13 does make sense. This sentiment rings even more true given the depth of this year’s tight end class and the likelihood of still having the opportunity to select a talented player beyond round one.
However, this is also, without question, the biggest need for the Packers, with just four tight ends currently on the roster and only Josiah Deguara having over 400 snaps and 30-plus receptions — which still is not a lot. Although there may be a lot of talent overall, Michael Mayer is the best all-around tight end, while Dalton Kincaid is the best pure pass catcher at the position. That, coupled with the gaping hole that Green Bay has at tight end, could make this an instance where need does take priority over positional value.
“I think we look at that a little bit, certainly,” said Gutekunst when discussing positional value. “But it doesn’t affect how we build our board. Every individual player, regardless of position, we try to value. As we go through it, we do value certain positions over others. But at the end of the day, you don’t know what your needs are going to be. Just because a guy doesn’t fit one of your higher positional values, if he’s a good football player and a good all-around football player, it’s important you don’t overlook that.”
The Packers as an organization were in a similar situation back in 2008 as they are now, but for most who are currently involved, this is unchartered waters they find themselves in. Nonetheless, Gutekunst made it clear that the expectations within 1265 Lombardi Avenue won’t change and the difficult decisions that have already happened and that will follow come with the GM job description.
The next set of challenging decisions Gutkeunst will face take place in a few days during the NFL draft when the Packers are on the clock, as he tries to plug roster holes in order to put as close as he can to a complete football team around Love, while still trying to be mindful of what lies ahead beyond 2023.
“We have to remember that we are trying to win games and that takes all three phases, so we are going to load up as much as we can in all three phases. Certainly as we go forward offensive skill will be part of that just like everything else, but I’m not really looking at it in that window, I’m looking at the whole team.”
