As the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine begins Monday, more and more evidence suggests the Green Bay Packers will have a golden opportunity to fill one of their top needs in the 2020 draft.
Former NFL scout and current NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has given 27 different receivers a grade in the first three rounds, highlighting the ridiculous talent level and depth of the 2020 draft class of receivers.
“I’ve got 27 wide receivers with top 3-round grades in this draft. And consider average 31 are taken. We had a max of 35 taken in, I believe that was in 2017,” Jeremiah said in a recent conference call previewing the combine. “So this is a really phenomenal group of wideouts. Not all those guys are going to go early. They’ll end up spreading throughout the draft. But it’s really a good group.”
Consider it music to Brian Gutekunst’s ears.
The Packers have a substantial need at receiver after a season in which no true No. 2 stepped up behind Pro Bowler Davante Adams. Although Allen Lazard enjoyed a breakout season, Geronimo Allison had a disappointing year and will be an unrestricted free agent, and of the three receivers taken in the 2018 draft – J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown – only Valdes-Scantling played for the Packers in 2019, and he struggled mightily down the stretch.
The Packers haven’t used a pick in the first three rounds on a receiver since taking Ty Montgomery – who later transitioned to running back – in the third round in 2015. The last receiver taken in the first two rounds was Adams, a second-round pick in 2014.
The team’s picks at receiver since 2016: Trevor Davis (fifth round, 2016), DeAngelo Yancey (fifth round, 2017), Malachi Dupre (seventh round, 2017), J’Mon Moore (fourth round, 2018), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (fifth round, 2018), Equanimeous St. Brown (sixth round, 2018).
The Packers will have three picks in the top 100 picks of the 2020 draft, one in each of the first three rounds. Expect at least one to be spent on a receiver, with the strong possibility another pick on Day 3 is used to double-dip into this deep and talented receiver group.
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