We have only four years of draft data on Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, but a clear trend has emerged within his five first-round draft picks. Gutekunst likes his first-rounders to be both young and elite athletically.
Jaire Alexander, Rashan Gary, Darnell Savage, Jordan Love and Eric Stokes have all been 22 years old or younger with a Relative Athletic Score of at least 8.0. Four of the five picks were 21 years old; three of the five had a RAS of 9.0 or higher.
It’s not hard to ascertain why Gutekunst and the Packers would target the youngest and best athletes. Younger first-round talents likely dominated the college level at a young age. And elite athleticism is typically a foundational trait of the league’s best players. Mix the two ideas together, and the Packers are probably maximizing the chances of hitting on a top player in the first round.
