Brian Gutekunst and the Green Bay Packers have a pivotal draft coming up in April, needing to surround Jordan Love with the best team possible. Holding the 15th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft allows Gutekunst and the front office a chance to dip into the pool of top options in the draft, a position not frequently available to this team.

With the ongoing Aaron Rodgers situation, their draft pick allotment could become very fluid, which could immediately help get this team moving in the right direction. But juggling the needs versus the wants of this team is a critical task for Gutekunst to handle – see which positions fall under which categories.

Needs

Edge Rusher

It is no secret that the defensive line depth for Green Bay needs another body – or three. With Rashan Gary still rehabbing his ACL injury and Preston Smith being one of the eldest players on this roster, this group does need some youth.

As with most drafts, this one has quite a few top-tier players and even more role-player options for the Packers to target. Don’t be surprised if edge rusher is the route that Gutekunst decides to go in the first round.

Wide Receiver

Even after grabbing three wide receivers (Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Samori Toure) in last year’s NFL Draft, the team still is searching for that proven WR2 option to pair. It would be quite ironic for the team to take a first-round wideout in Love’s first year as the starter, and this is a draft that absolutely could be the route they go.

Even if they don’t go WR in the first, there is plenty of Day 2 talent (Jalin Hyatt, Tank Dell, Bryce Ford-Wheaton) that they could look to instead.

Tight End

With no Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis likely leaving, the tight end position is in a dire position this offseason. While grabbing a top TE at 15 seems like a misuse of premium draft capital, even selecting one in the 2nd round seems likely.

Gutekunst likes his TEs to have the ability to both block and catch the ball, but this draft has a lot of options geared more toward the receiving aspect, so grabbing more than one at that position to cover those gaps makes sense.

Wants

Quarterback

While this could be seen more as a need, the backup QB role behind Love would really benefit more from having a veteran presence than a mid-draft rookie project. Outside of the top 5 options, Green Bay would need to allocate a ton of teaching and developmental time to that prospect, which would not be the best usage of resources.

However, grabbing a QB on Day 3 would suffice, utilizing little draft capital but bringing in a camp body that could even turn into a rostered QB3.

Safety

Adrian Amos is still a free agent, with all signs pointing to him signing elsewhere, making safety a big position of need for Green Bay. But the fact that it is listed under the want category is mainly tied to the fact that this year’s draft is not good for needing a safety.

There are plenty of ways that the defense can cover the gap of having a top-tier safety, which does include keeping Darnell Savage. They have re-signed many of their special teams and backup options, and combining that depth with a Day 2 and a Day 3 option would be just fine here.

Cornerback

The final position here that seems to always pop up for Green Bay is cornerback – and while this room seems to be pretty developed, it surprisingly always seems to find its way into the top 100 picks for this team.

Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes hold down the top two roles on this team, with Rasul Douglas a solid CB3 option. Depth is always needed so adding a guy (or even two) later in the draft is fine, but this position does not need to be an early priority unless a top guy ends up falling.

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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

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