What Positions Should Be Off Green Bay's Board With Pick 52?

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst will feel the pressure to hit on picks a bit more this year. That's because, for the first time in 40 years, the Packers will enter the draft without a first-round pick.

As things stand, Green Bay will have its first selection in Round 2 at No. 52 overall. What positions should be off the board with that selection?

Quarterback

Three positions jump to mind instantly, and the first is quarterback. Jordan Love is the franchise QB, and even with Malik Willis gone to Miami, taking a quarterback at No. 52 would be stunning. There's no need to take a quarterback that high, and teams that do typically have a plan for that selection to be the starter eventually. The plan in Green Bay is for Love to be the quarterback for the next decade-plus.

The Packers could draft a quarterback this year and try to develop a backup behind Love. With Desmond Ridder and Kyle McCord on the roster, there are other options, but neither is particularly inspiring. Seeing Green Bay draft a quarterback something in this go-around wouldn't surprise me. Still, it would be far later, likely on Day 3.

Anything before that wouldn't make much sense, even for a team that operates on the principle of taking the best available on the board over team needs. A likely outcome could be Green Bay keeping one of Ridder or McCord to start the season as the backup while taking another quarterback late in the draft and placing them on the practice squad. There's always the worry of that player then getting plucked by another team, so maybe Green Bay rolls with three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster this year?

Safety

Safety is another position that would be a head-scratcher of a choice at No. 52 overall. What's interesting is the Packers used one of their 30 pre-draft visits on LSU safety A.J. Haulcy, who is widely expected to be a second-round pick.

Haulcy logged a tick under 1,400 snaps at free safety, just a bit under 400 in the slot, and over 300 on special teams. He projects to be a starting safety in the NFL for years. Green Bay seems set with Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams starting at safety, with Javon Bullard holding down things in the slot for the years to come. All three are on deals set to end in a couple of seasons, but it'd be foolish to expect even two of them to be gone by then.

The Packers have an embarrassment of riches at safety with their top three, and as tempting as it may be to take "Mr. Give Me That," it'd be surprising to see them go safety here. Perhaps if Gutekunst had his first-round pick to go to cornerback, offensive line, or defensive line, it would warrant taking Haulcy or another highly rated safety in the second round. That isn't the case, though, and with the Packers operating behind the eight ball a bit with no first-round selection, taking a safety first wouldn't make a ton of sense.

Tight end

Finally, let's look at the tight end.

Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, and Josh Whyle are the three tight ends under contract, and all three are on deals set to run out at the end of the 2026 season. Let's not play dumb, though. Kraft is getting an extension and will be the TE1 in Green Bay for years to come. That's assuming all is well as Kraft rehabs from a torn ACL suffered last year.

Even with all three tight ends currently on expiring deals, going tight end with their first pick, in the second round, and with Kraft on the team would be pretty jarring. The only caveat is that, under Matt LaFleur, the Packers use 12-personnel (two-tight-end sets) at a top-five rate pretty much every year. Despite that, Kraft is already a star tight end, and it makes the position less of a need in the draft.

With not knowing how the Packers feel about Musgrave beyond this year, drafting a tight end later in the draft is certainly on the table. Musgrave had another shot to be the guy when Kraft went down last year and never delivered with any sort of consistency.

Those are the three positions. You could make a sound case for inside linebacker as well, but it'd be far less of a surprise to see Green Bay go that route than it would to see them go quarterback, tight end, or safety in the second round. A case could also be made for running back. However, like with inside linebacker, it isn't as strong.

That leaves the Packers with plenty of positions that should be under consideration in the second round, with the primary focus, as many want to see, being cornerback or offensive lineman.