Green Bay Packers

Does Moving Up To No. 13 Mean Gutekunst Has His Eyes On JSN?

Photo Credit: Joshua A. Bickel via USA TODAY Sports

As the dust settled in the wake of the trade that will soon officially send Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, it’s hard not to see some tantalizing possibilities for the Green Bay Packers at this week’s draft. The additional second-round pick this year, and the potential of another first-round pick next year, leave endless directions open in which Brian Gutekunst might go. But swapping first-round picks with the Jets this year, moving up from No. 15 to No. 13, is seemingly with one player in mind:

Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

In Rodgers’ first season as a starter back in 2008, the Green Bay Packers added Jordy Nelson with their first pick to help provide as much weaponry as possible to a signal caller that Ted Thompson and the front office had just bet heavily on. Fifteen years later, Gutekunst finds himself in an all-too-familiar position.

By moving up from No. 15 to No. 13, Gutekunst has ever so slightly deepened the pool of players that will be available. Green Bay will need just 12 players to come off the board without hearing the name Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But there’s about 10 guys who feel like a lock of going in that top dozen.

If four quarterbacks — Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis — are picked within the top 12, along with the top-five defensive prospects in Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, Tyree Wilson, Devon Witherspoon, and Christian Gonzalez, that only leaves three picks aren’t Smith-Njigba for him to be available to Gutekunst at No. 13. With a special running back in Bijan Robinson and stud offensive tackles in Broderick Jones, Peter Skoronski, and Paris Johnson Jr. all figuring to hear their names called sooner than later, the likelihood of Smith-Njigba heading to Lambeau has certainly increased.

But why him? Well, for starters, he would be the perfect complement to last year’s draft picks in Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. Smith-Njigba is a tactician over the middle of the field, with the footwork required to get open. He’s not a true burner, but his ability to create space and move the chains will be of the utmost importance to Jordan Love. Allowing Watson to work on one side while Doubs continues to develop over the middle will free up Smith-Njigba (and hopefully a second-round tight end selection) to work against plenty of single coverage. Watson is a twitchy, explosive, big-play threat, and Smith-Njigba is a possession receiver who could flirt with 80 to 100 catches in his rookie campaign.

Having two second-round picks so close to each other allows Gutekunst more flexibility to try to get premium talent at a position of need such as offensive tackle, defensive end, or safety. But the move up from No. 15 to No. 13 signals that there just might be a specific talent who Gutekunst has in mind. If the Packers ended up with one of the top corners in the draft, a potential long-term solution at tackle, or a pass-rushing prospect in the first round, it could still very well be a success. Still, Green Bay will have a hard time passing on Smith-Njigba if he’s there. The other benefit of moving up is that the No. 13 pick is worth just that much more if Gutekunst would want to trade back in the first round, perhaps also benefitting by adding another mid-round pick.

There’s also the fun karmic notion of Green Bay finally selecting a pass catcher in the first round after a generation of not doing so, just days after Rodgers is traded. That part I’m certainly in favor of.

On paper, the trade on Monday seems to benefit the Packers. The way in which the players involved perform on the field will ultimately be the judge of who “won” the trade. Drafting Jaxon Smith-Njigba with pick 13 would certainly be a great way to put an early tally on the Green Bay scoresheet.

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