When the Green Bay Packers have a positional need to address in the NFL Draft, GM Brian Gutekunst has often spent two or even three picks on that one position. This year’s draft shouldn’t be any different.
During his first draft in 2018, Gutekunst selected two cornerbacks and three receivers. From 2020 to 2022, he’s taken three offensive linemen each year, and also in 2022, Gutekunst drafted three receivers.
Tight end and wide receiver are two positions in the 2023 draft where we could see the Packers take this same approach. At tight end, Green Bay has only four players on the roster, and Josiah Deguara, who is more of an H-back, is the only one with some significant NFL snaps. Wide receiver is in a similar situation, with five on the roster, only three of which have any playing time in the NFL.
The depth alone at each of those positions is enough of a reason to spend multiple draft picks on each, but in order for the Packers to best evaluate Jordan Love this season, they need to put pass-catchers around him. Green Bay has a solid foundation at receiver with Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, but this current room doesn’t compare to the 2008 team, which had Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, and James Jones at receiver in Aaron Rodgers’ first year as a starter.
This also happens to be one of the deeper tight end classes we’ve seen in years, and the Packers should capitalize on that with multiple selections. Within the tight end position, there are also multiple roles to fill, including finding the more traditional Y-tight end but also someone who can add some playmaking to the passing game.
Along with receiver and tight end, the interior defensive line is another position that could use multiple draft picks as well. This is an often rotated position, with up to five players seeing playing time each week. The Packers, however, have just five total interior defenders on the roster, and again, they are short on experience, with just three having seen some snaps.
The potential problem that Green Bay runs into is that if they take two tight ends, two receivers, and two interior defensive linemen, that’s already six of the Packers’ 10 total picks. Other needs that they should be looking to address include edge rusher and safety, and selections on an offensive tackle, cornerback, running back, and quarterback are all in play as well.
Presumably, the Packers will gain at least one more draft pick for 2023 in trading Rodgers to the New York Jets. This is also another reason why trading down in the first round makes so much sense this season. Along with needing to fill a number of needs, adding more inexpensive multi-year rookie deals will also help their future salary cap situation. The way the Packers’ needs mostly align with the strengths and weaknesses of this draft class will be a likely factor in trading down as well.
In previous offseasons, we’ve seen Gutekunst prefer to pair a veteran free agent addition with a rookie draft pick or two to help with tackling some of the bigger team needs. A few examples of this include the Packers signing Tramon Williams and Davon House before they drafted Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson. In 2019, Gutekunst signed Za’Darius and Preston Smith while also drafting Rashan Gary. He would then sign Adrian Amos and selected Darnell Savage.
But this year, given the Packers’ limited spending power and salary cap situation, there isn’t that much that we can glean as we try to connect the dots between free agency and the draft. They’ve added several members at safety, which is likely because this is not a strong draft class at that position, re-signed edge rusher Justin Hollins but that shouldn’t impact how they approach the draft and also re-signed Keisean Nixon, although that was a no-brainer decision. Other than that, Green Bay has brought back mostly special teams players.
It certainly isn’t always easy trying to figure out what Gutekunst’s next move is going to be in the draft – he’s thrown us for some loops – but what we can count on is that when there are holes on the roster, he is willing to spend two or three picks on a position to fill that. I expect that to be the case again in 2023, with tight end receiver and perhaps the interior defensive line being the positions he takes that approach with.
