At last, Draft Day is upon us. For the Green Bay Packers, it promises to be highly interesting. Following the Aaron Rodgers trade earlier this week, general manager Brian Gutekunst is now scheduled to select with the 13th-overall pick. With cap concerns having hindered potential free-agent signings, with the exception of special teams, the front office has a tall task ahead – addressing the team’s multitude of pressing needs through the draft.
Green Bay’s three primary needs are wide receiver, tight end, and safety. As it stands, 2022 rookies Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Samori Toure are the only wideouts on the roster. Similarly, Josiah Deguara, who has been used sparingly as an H-back in Matt LaFleur’s offense, leads a thin group of tight ends after Robert Tonyan signed with the Chicago Beas and Marcedes Lewis will probably either join the New York Jets or retire.
The Packers built the other side of the ball almost entirely with former first-round picks. But the defense faces a reckoning at safety with the expiration of Adrian Amos’ contract and Darnell Savage‘s disappointment. With three selections in the top 45, the door will be open to take a swing at some or all of these groups with a premium pick. Upgrades on both sides of the trenches are also thoroughly on the table, and would be unsurprising given the franchise’s current direction. While many have speculated about a possible trade-down to accumulate picks, if they stay put, the best value might be an edge-rusher. In that event, Nolan Smith, Lukas Van Ness, and Myles Murphy are names to look out for.
However, a new report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer suggests the Packers could trade down to select a tight end – specifically, Utah’s Dalton Kincaid or Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer. In a deep class that has incredibly high upside at the top, selecting a tight end this evening wouldn’t be a bad move. But doing so at No. 13? A reach that’s almost certainly not necessary, particularly for a team that has every incentive to squeeze as much value out of the board as possible. A handful of analysts, including NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, have Kincaid mocked to the Packers at 13.
A trade down would not only open the door for a top tight end, but also position Green Bay much more ideally to select a number of other prospects they’ve been linked to, including the class’ top safety, Brian Branch, and Tennessee OT Darnell Wright. In all likelihood, it would eliminate the possibility of bringing in the darling of Packers Twitter, Ohio State standout Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Latching on to one or more top incoming receivers has become somewhat of an annual tradition for Packers fans, but their desires have not been fulfilled since the selection of Javon Walker in 2003. However, it would be mighty poetic for Gutekunst to begin blessing Jordan Love with top receiving talent just days after Rodgers’ official departure.
With NFL Network’s Peter Schrager, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, and Underdog Fantasy’s Josh Norris all mocking Smith-Njigba to the Packers, it appears the industry is coalescing around the expectation that a weapon(s) will be the first priority. It’s tough to nail down who actually knows what, particularly in the season of informational smokescreens that draft time begets. But seeing mocks split, to an extent, between Kincaid and Smith-Njigba (who would compose an absolutely nasty duo alongside Christian Watson) gives some juice to that narrative, despite Gutekunst’s draft history.
The New Orleans Saints are an interesting team to keep an eye on for a potential draft-day trade. Under general manager Mickey Loomis, the Saints have recently made aggressive moves up the board. Notably, in Gutekunst’s inaugural draft, he and Loomis made a deal that allowed New Orleans to fly up the board and snatch edge-rusher Marcus Davenport. The Packers crept back up and snagged Jaire Alexander while pocketing a first-rounder for the following year, which turned into Savage. The Saints made a similar deal with the Philadelphia Eagles last April, which netted Philly the No. 10 tonight, and they’re already talking about doing it again.
Point is, Loomis isn’t afraid to pay a hefty price to surge up the board, an ideal suitor for a Green Bay team that is expecting a transition year this fall. Some might say he’s a guy Gutekunst could make a pancake-eating motherf***er out of. Either way, signs continue to point to a weapon being firmly in play for this evening’s show. Between the Packers’ newfound capital, the complete uncertainty at No. 2-overall, and the inevitable QB chaos, it should be an epic night in Kansas City. It could also be another forceful assertion of dominance from the NFL, who are poised to trounce the NBA and NHL playoffs in ratings for tonight’s festivities.
