The Green Bay Packers have to utilize the draft to put more pass catchers around Jordan Love — it’s a must. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we should expect Brian Gutekunst to go heavy on the offensive side of the ball early on in the draft either.
When Aaron Rodgers entered his first season as the Packers’ starting quarterback in 2008, he had much more robust receiver and tight end rooms. That season, Rodgers was throwing to Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, James Jones, and Donald Lee.
As Green Bay’s roster is currently constructed, Love has a strong foundation at receiver with Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, but there are only five total receivers on the roster, and those two are the only ones with more than 150 NFL snaps. The tight end position, meanwhile, is in need of both depth and playmaking, with Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis the only two out of the four total tight ends on the roster to have experience on offense.
At the end of the day, the Packers still want to win games in 2023, but their ultimate goal should be figuring out whether or not Love can be their starting quarterback for the next 10-plus years. And to do so properly, they have to put the right players around him to give him that chance to succeed. This not only means adding pass catchers but also potentially bolstering the offensive line. At the end of the day, regardless of who the playmakers are, success begins and ends up front for Love.
It’s also true that having a well-rounded roster is important to Love’s success as well. A special teams unit that is missing field goal attempts or losing the field position battle isn’t going to do Love any favors. Neither is a defense that is giving up a lot of points.
That is why building out a balanced football team will still be front of mind for Gutekunst and the Packers.
“We have to remember that we are trying to win games and that takes all three phases, so we are going to load up as much as we can in all three phases,” said Guetkunst. “Certainly as we go forward, offensive skill will be part of that just like everything else, but I’m not really looking at it in that window, I’m looking at the whole team.”
The Packers have put a heavy emphasis on special teams during the free agency period, bringing back key contributors Keisean Nixon, Rudy Ford, Eric Wilson, and Dallin Leavitt while also signing Matt Orzech and Tarvarius Moore.
Defensively, Green Bay has to add to its edge rusher rotation. Without Rashan Gary last season, this unit struggled to generate consistent pressure on the quarterback. The interior defensive line play was a key contributor to the defense’s late-season success in 2022 but currently has only five players on the roster, three of which have experience. This is a heavily rotated position and one that, in general, needs to be more consistent in 2023.
Safety is another upgradeable position for the Packers, although through free agency, they’ve at least given themselves options, and that’s a good thing, given that this safety class isn’t very strong. Adding to the cornerback room isn’t a must, but it’s a talented class and a premier position, which could tempt Gutekunst into making an early-round selection, especially if that gives the Packers added flexibility to move Rasul Douglas to safety.
Without question, the Packers have to utilize at least three — or preferably more — of their 11 draft picks on the tight end and receiver positions, but from the sounds of it, don’t expect Gutekunst to get tunnel vision and feel that he has to add to those position groups early on.
For one, teams don’t want to feel like they have to do something because that can result in over-drafting a prospect and lead to adding unproductive players– flexibility in the draft is King. Also, the strength of the receiver group for the Packers is on Day 2, while the tight end class is loaded from top to bottom. So with viable options through the first three or four rounds, addressing these needs right away isn’t a must.
“You’re always trying to build the most robust all around football team that you can,” said Gutekunst. “From Ron Wolf to Ted, when you’re talking about a football player or a team, you have to be able to win many ways in this league because if you can’t, people will take that away. So it’s kind of the same thing, as we go through it, we are trying to build the most balanced football team that we can.”