As the NFL draft closes this week, several players have been mocked to the Green Bay Packers at pick No. 25. Brian Gutekunst could go several different directions on Thursday night. However, Oklahoma offensive lineman Tyler Guyton checks all the boxes the Packers could want with their first selection.
First and foremost, Guyton is huge. He’s a whisker short of 6’8” and tips the scales at over 320 lbs. But he has flashed elite athleticism in the 10-yard splits, vertical jump, and the three-cone-drill. A player’s three-cone-drill time strongly correlates with offensive line success, especially at a player of Guyton’s size. He’s also only 21 years old, the type of raw, gifted prospect that Gutekunst has shown an affinity for (see Lukas Van Ness last year). Guyton only played basketball until his senior year of high school, so he has plenty of room to grow his football acumen.
Armed with 11 draft picks, Gutekunst will have opportunities to find a plug-and-play type of guard who might be better off in the short term. The Packers will select Guyton with the hope that he develops quickly and becomes a long-term bookend protector for Jordan Love.
He might not be that player from Day 1, but his NFL.com draft profile states that he has the potential to become a “human roadblock” who could excel at either tackle position. His position coach at Oklahoma called him “the most talented guy I’ve ever coached” on a list of players that includes All-American turned All-Pro players like Creed Humphrey and Orlando Brown Jr.
Put Guyton in a system with Adam Stenavich, which has turned prospects into pro-caliber players, and he could truly maximize his potential.
ESPN beat writer Rob Demovsky recently said that the Packers believe Zach Tom could be a Hall of Fame-caliber player at center, which naturally created some buzz in the offseason. If that move were to come to fruition, it would further the need for a tackle after moving on from David Bakhtiari and Yosh Nijman. Rasheed Walker has filled that role admirably, but Guyton could be a better version of what Green Bay saw in the uber-athletic Nijman. Using a first-round pick on Guyton would hopefully lead to a decade of elite left tackle play. However, Guyton could also play on the right side, especially early in his career.
In a perfect world, the Packers could find a way to snag Guyton with their first pick in the second round (No. 41 overall). Given the depth of the position group in the draft, there’s reason to believe that Guyton will be available at No. 2it 5, and it could be a situation where Gutekunst feels like he could move back a few slots and still end up with his guy. Gutekunst spoke of wanting to make “13 or 14” selections over the course of the draft. Therefore, swapping with a team that wanted to move up to select a quarterback and picking up another mid-round selection in the process would be an ideal chain of events.
It would be hard to pass up a dynamic player like Cooper DeJean or even a player with more positional versatility on the offensive line, like Graham Barton. A player like Guyton provides untapped potential and exceptional athleticism, all at a premium value for a position of need for the Packers. Whether it would take some maneuvering or if he falls into the team’s lap at a spot where he’s the best player available, Guyton seems to check all of the boxes that Gutekunst would look for in a top-end pick.
