Like many teams, the Green Bay Packers can go in several different directions with its first-round pick in April’s draft. After the first stages of free agency, there are still plenty of needs to fill out the roster.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. released his latest mock draft on Tuesday, and he had the Packers making an atypical move.
The Packers haven’t drafted a wide receiver in the first round since they selected Javon Walker in 2002. Kiper sees them bucking the trend and selecting Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka at No. 23 overall.
Egbuka’s game is really refined. He is a great route runner. He has good hands. He reads the defense well. And while Green Bay doesn’t have much history of drafting wide receivers on Day 1 (Javon Walker was the last one in 2002), this seems like a good year to break the streak. Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Romeo Doubs all have injury concerns, and I’m not sure any of them are true WR1s when healthy.
It feels like every year someone — often multiple draft experts — predicts that it will be the year the Packers finally take a wide receiver in Round 1. This time, it’s Kiper in his latest mock draft.
Green Bay has a clear need to add to the room, especially considering Christian Watson will miss significant time in 2025 recovering from a torn ACL. Still, Brian Gutekunst has focused on defense in the first round of most of his classes and never wide receiver.
One thing Kiper didn’t mention about Egbuka is that he is a willing run blocker at wide receiver and is also dang good at it. Matt LaFleur salivates over a wide receiver willing to get in the mud and run block on the edges. Egbuka put that on display plenty at Ohio State.
History and logic would say the Packers won’t go receiver in Round 1 of the draft. There have been plenty of other years where the position was deemed a need, and Green Bay looked elsewhere early on. Who knows, though? Maybe Kiper is right, and this is the year Gutekunst goes against the grain.
