The Green Bay Packers had several surprises up their sleeve at this year’s draft. Brian Gutekunst didn’t make a trade during the draft for the first time since he took over as general manager in 2018. The Packers didn’t go cornerback or edge rusher with any of their first three picks, which many analysts assumed would be a foregone conclusion.
But nothing topped the Packers using two of their first three picks on wide receivers. It was undoubtedly a crowd-pleasing decision in the moment, but time will tell if it was the correct one.
The concern with Green Bay’s wide receiver room wasn’t over quantity, but quality. They have plenty of productive receivers, but none has emerged as a true No. 1 threat.
Gutekunst noted throughout the offseason that an alpha pass catcher isn’t necessary for the team. But with his decisions in the draft, he sang a different tune.
Packers president Mark Murphy played to the crowd perfectly when he announced that, for the first time since 2002, Green Bay was selecting a wide receiver in the first round.
Texas’s Matthew Golden was the pick.
Green Bay then doubled up at wide receiver two rounds later, selecting TCU’s Savion Williams, which was stunning.
Gutekunst admitted the plan wasn’t to go wide receiver twice that early, but that’s how the board fell. He noted the competition in the wide receiver room with the new additions as an overwhelming positive.
We’ve got a really good room and it’s going to be really competitive to get on the field and get snaps and get targets. But that’s the way you want it, right? To win in this league, you have to have playmakers and right now, across the board, really at all the skill positions, I feel pretty good about our playmakers.
In fairness, labeling Williams as a wide receiver doesn’t tell the full story. Last year at TCU, Williams had 60 receptions but also 51 rushing attempts. He had six receiving touchdowns and six rushing touchdowns. He could end up being Green Bay’s Deebo Samuel. You just want to put the ball in his hands and watch him work.
Drops were a major issue, but Green Bay won’t utilize him strictly as a wide receiver.
Still, Williams is technically a receiver, and taking two WRs sent a message to the whole position group. The Golden pick in the first round was the Packers’ way of saying they needed a star who could take over, and the Williams pick was Green Bay’s way of saying they needed even more playmakers.
After the Packers went wide receiver, then offensive tackle in the first two rounds, the assumption was edge rusher or cornerback had to be next. Jaire Alexander is still likely on his way out, leaving the Packers with Nate Hobbs, Keisean Nixon, and Carrington Valentine in the cornerback room. It’s a group that should complement each other, but can they really hold their own against Justin Jefferson, D.J. Moore, and Amon-Ra St. Brown, just in the NFC North alone?
Drafting a cornerback early would have eased some of that doubt. Instead, the Packers didn’t select a cornerback until they picked Tulane’s Micah Robinson in the seventh round.
The fact that the Packers chose to take two wide receivers early was even more head-scratching.
It’s foolish to suggest that a team can have too many offensive weapons. Nobody should begrudge the Packers for going a bit wild early in the draft. The only real issue is that serious questions remain about the edge of the defensive line and cornerback.
The Packers and Alexander may reconcile their differences, but Gutekunst didn’t sound optimistic when a reporter asked about Alexander following the draft. And Lukas Van Ness may take a huge jump, and Rashan Gary will become a consistently dominant force again, taking some pressure off the secondary. Still, that’s more hope than prediction.
Of all that transpired for the Packers during the draft, the biggest surprise exiting on Saturday was the investment made at wide receiver with premium picks.
Love has to be smiling. Matt LaFleur has to be in the lab already scheming ways to get the ball in the hands of Golden and Williams. But time will tell if the flashy risk was worth the reward.
