Draft analysts really, really hated the Packers’ 2020 draft class

The Packers’ 2020 draft class was almost universally hated by draft analysts in the media.

Draft analysts were not kind in their early assessments of the Green Bay Packers’ draft class in 2020.

Important disclaimer: Grades in the immediate aftermath of a draft are close to meaningless. Analysts are attempting to create an assessment of a team’s ability to obtain good players at value, but the exercise is a near-impossible one. Everything is a projection.

Disclaimer aside, draft analysts almost universally hated the Packers’ work in this year’s draft, which included trading up for quarterback Jordan Love in the first round and taking a running back and a tight end on Day 2.

Rene Bugner compiled draft grades from 13 of the media’s most prominent draft analysts. The Packers received the worst cumulative grade, and by a significant margin.

The Packers’ overall GPA was 1.31. The next worst GPA was 2.07. Eight of the 13 analysts gave the Packers a “D” or worse. Andy Benoit of The MMQB gave the Packers a B-, the best grade of the bunch. Thor Nystrom of Rotoworld gave the Packers an F.

Chad Reuter of NFL.com liked the Packers taking Jordan Love in the first round but disliked most everything the Packers did on Day 2 and 3.

Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire hated the Packers’ approach to the draft.

“This grade is based less on the quality of the players the Packers picked up than it is an indictment of the overall philosophy,” Farrar wrote. “This is a team in the last years of the Aaron Rodgers era, and Rodgers still has a lot on the ball. Not only did the Packers not do anything to help him, they seemed to go out of their way to antagonize their best player. It’s difficult to understand the logic here.”

Mel Kiper of ESPN didn’t like the Packers not getting a receiver.

“Let’s look back on this group in a couple of years and see where Love and Rodgers are; this is a tough class to grade in the moment,” Kiper wrote. “But I’m just left shaking my head with the Packers adding only Devin Funchess at wide receiver this offseason. Really? You just made the NFC Championship Game. I don’t get it.”

Nystrom didn’t mind the value of Love in the first round but thought the Packers reached far too often for players and made a mistake not drafting a receiver.

“The issue with the rest of the class is that the Packers reached time and time again – curiously, not once for a receiver, an acute need amid the deepest receiver class in memory,” Nystrom wrote.

For many, the Packers’ draft class didn’t align with clear roster needs at receiver, offensive tackle, linebacker and defensive line. And taking a quarterback over getting help for Aaron Rodgers was always going to be decisive, even if establishing the future at quarterback makes good sense long-term.

Either the Packers just produced one of the worst draft classes in recent memory or a lot of draft analysts are going to look silly in a few years. The wait begins.

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