What Is A Satisfactory Green Bay Packers Draft?

The Green Bay Packers have been known to zig when everyone expects a zag in the draft. This year may be no different.

The Packers enter this draft feeling they can prioritize taking the best player available on their board throughout.

Those are the words of general manager Brian Gutekunst.

What's the best way Gutekunst and Co. could attack things to leave themselves — and the fanbase — feeling satisfied?

There's enough Round 1 depth at wide receiver and edge rusher that Green Bay should be able to thread the needle of taking the best player available while also attacking an area of need on the roster.

At least one of Donovan Ezeiruaku, James Pearce Jr., or Shemar Stewart should be available at the pass-rusher spot when Green Bay selects at No. 23. Heck, maybe even Mykel Williams will still be available.

At wide receiver, it's hard to see all of Luther Burden, Emeka Egbuka, Matthew Golden, and Tetairoa McMillan being swept up before the 23rd selection.

That puts Green Bay in a position of luxury, if it desires, to get value on its own board while also checking a box with a roster spot that could use a boost.

Of course, this could be the moment where the Packers zag and take an offensive lineman like Ohio State's Josh Simmons or a defensive tackle like Mississippi's Walter Nolen.

If Green Bay takes either an edge rusher, wide receiver, or cornerback in Round 1, most fans will be left feeling good headed into Day 2.

Finding a trade partner and compensation that the Packers deem satisfactory would be another welcome sign. Some will still cling to the hope that Jaire Alexander and Green Bay will reconcile their differences, but that ship has sailed. At this point, the best-case scenario for both sides is to move on.

Green Bay isn't going to get a premier pick for Alexander. Whatever team that might take a chance on Alexander in a trade inherits a contract that Alexander may not want to restructure. On top of that, the risk with Alexander remains his availability. He's missed 34 of the last 68 regular-season games.

If Green Bay can get, let's say, a fourth- and sixth-rounder for Alexander, it'd be hard to pass up. Pick up the phone and call Las Vegas. See if they'll part with picks No. 108 and No. 213.

At first glance, the Raiders may seem like a confusing fit. Remember, it's a team that just hired Pete Carroll and traded for Geno Smith. Carroll is 73 and Smith is 34. The Raiders don't have a 10-year window. They're trying to compete as soon as possible. They have the cap space and the need at cornerback to take on the calculated risk on Alexander.

The saga in Green Bay has dragged on long enough, and it's time for a resolution. Trading Alexander during the draft may be the best option. For a team like the Raiders, which needs corner help, Alexander could be a strong pivot point if they don't address the position early on in the draft.

Gutekunst has been known to double-up at positions in recent areas of the draft with no hesitancy. In 2024, Green Bay selected inside linebackers Edgerrin Cooper and Ty'Ron Hopper in the second and third rounds. In 2023, the Packers took tight ends in the second and third rounds with Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft. There are multiple examples of Gutekunst exercising this idea at the wide receiver position.

This year, it'd be nice to see a double-up at one of the positions most glaringly needing help for the Packers: wide receiver, cornerback, or edge rusher. Take a couple of swings and hope to connect once. If you connect on both, that would be all the better.

The most disappointing outcome potentially on the table is if Day 2 is nearing an end and the Packers haven't taken any players at any of those three positions. It's hard to envision that becoming a reality, but it's possible.

Finally, let's look at offensive tackle.

Green Bay used multiple top-30 visits on offensive tackles projected to go near the seventh round or even undrafted. Rasheed Walker is in a contract year, and whether or not Jordan Morgan will win the gig at some point remains to be seen. Getting insurance with one or two picks, or even a pick and an undrafted free agent, should be a must for the Packers.

Walker was a seventh-round pick, and the Packers helped develop him into a solid starting left tackle.

Dalton Cooper from Oklahoma State or Esa Pole from Washington State could be two names to keep tabs on.

The last thing you want if you're the Packers is question marks at the left tackle spot. The Packers have had immense success drafting and developing offensive linemen. It's not out of the realm of possibility that they snag another project that turns into a gem in the seventh round.

All of this is probably a stretch, but most of it shouldn't be -- none of it is a big ask. This is the blueprint that would have Packers fans feeling confident about the roster's structure in 2025.