Gutekunst’s Draft and Offseason Moves Bring the Packers Future Into Focus:
This offseason has seen a tremendous amount of shakeup inside the Green Bay Packers organization but finally, it looks like the dust has settled and that the foundation is firmly in place for an extended Super Bowl in the next few years. Brian Gutekunst addressed a large amount of the Packers roster deficiencies and put the Packers in the position to have a large amount of draft capital in an even deeper 2019 draft. Many experts believe that the Packers will be one of the Superbowl favorites in 2019 because they are equipped with two first round picks and will have a lot of flexibility in the way that they could deploy those picks.
The Packers strategy in the 2019 NFL draft will largely depend on how this season goes. If the Packers fall short of making the playoffs for the second year in a row, we are likely to see another dramatic shakeup in the coaching staff. Mike McCarthy will almost certainly be out as head coach and the Packers will look both inside and outside of the organization for his replacement.
In this case, the Packers could look to leverage some compensatory picks to possibly obtain an additional second round pick which would give them four picks in the first two rounds which would give them a chance to upgrade with four immediate impact players at their four weakest positions on the roster.
In this scenario, Green Bay is not trading up in the first round and would be keeping their projected 20th (projecting that they narrowly miss the playoffs) and 23rd picks and would be trading their third-round pick (88) and their 2020 third round pick for the 60th overall pick. Under this scenario, the Packers would have the 20, 23, 53, and 60th picks.
* All scenarios are based on the approximate draft chart values from drafttek.com.
20th pick: Te’Von Coney-LB, Notre Dame
(Projecting the Saints to make the playoffs) 23rd pick: Jonah Williams-OT, Alabama
49th pick: Brian Burns- DE, FSU
60th pick: Kaden Smith-TE, Standford
If the Packers have an early playoff exit (wildcard round), McCarthy could still be ousted as head coach but the draft approach will most likely alter a bit. The Packers could look to leverage their second round pick and one of their first-round picks to move up in the first round which would give them two picks in the middle of the first round and allow them to keep the rest of their draft picks from the third round onward.
In this scenario, the 2018 defensive draft picks of Jaire Alexander, Joshua Jackson, and Oren Burks have provided value and impact and the Packers will be looking to add another potential number one receiver and a replacement for Brian Bulaga to solidify their offensive unit.
Under this scenario, the Packers would use their 21st overall pick along with their 53rd pick to move up to the 11th pick in the draft.
11th pick: AJ Brown-WR, Ole Miss
23rd pick (from Saints): Jonah Williams-OT, Alabama
If the Packers make a deep playoff run and use some of their cap space on a few free agents, they could leverage both first round picks and a second round pick to move into the top 3-5 picks of the draft and draft the final missing piece who will hopefully complete their quest to win a Superbowl.
In this scenario, the Packers would trade picks 23, 28, and 55 for the 4th or 5th overall pick in the draft and draft a potential perennial all-pro pass rusher.
Pick 4-5: Nick Bosa-DE, Ohio St.
These 2019 draft scenarios show that in addition to addressing many areas of deficiency in this years draft, Brian Gutekunst and his staff have also provided the Packers with tremendous draft capital and flexibility which could present many different scenarios in which the Packers can either complete their rebuild, or add one or two missing pieces that will make them a super bowl favorite during the 2019 season.
