Green Bay, Wisconsin — General manager Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers would not object to his team adding a few more picks to the league-leading number that is already anticipated for this week’s draft.
With three picks remaining, the Packers, Arizona Cardinals, and Los Angeles Rams will lead all NFL clubs in the Thursday night draft. That comes after the Packers selected 13 players in the 2023 draft.
During a pre-draft news conference on Monday, Gutekunst stated, “There’s significant competition in every room because you never have enough ammunition to build your room.” “I believe that to be quite significant. Right now, we have eleven. I hope to have 13, 14, or perhaps more in the end.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau’s weighted age statistic, the Packers finished the 2017 season as the youngest team to win a postseason game and the fourth-youngest club to make it to the playoffs since the NFL and AFL merger in 1970. Even with the youngest roster in the NFL, they finished 10-9 and advanced to the NFC divisional playoffs.
They were able to accomplish that in part because to a rookie class that included two players who registered at least four sacks (Karl Brooks and Lukas Van Ness) and four players who had more than 350 yards receiving (Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks).Thanks to the trade of four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, Green Bay was able to acquire nine third-day selections and an additional second-round pick. After obtaining an additional second-round pick in the Rodgers trade and a third-round pick from dealing CB Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills at the previous year’s trade deadline, the Packers have five of the first 91 picks this year.
According to Gutekunst, the Packers are “in a pretty good space to move, or just sit and pick” because of their abundance of selections in the first several rounds. However, he also mentioned the advantages of including more selections.
“More hits, surely?” stated Gutekunst. “Your odds of getting hits are higher. Never enough is available. I never buy into the mindset that says, “Hey, we have a pretty good team.” It may not be possible for these guys to make the team. I believe I’ve covered a lot of ground regarding the benefits of competition for your football team’s development in every setting. That seems like the wisest course of action for your squad to take. In my opinion, there is never enough.
The idea that Green Bay’s youthful squad would make it more difficult for the incoming rookies to secure roster slots was refuted by Gutekunst.
It won’t be difficult at all, according to Gutekunst. Simply put, it depends. The more competitive we can make it, in my opinion, the better. We’ll see how it goes, then. However, I believe that one of the defining characteristics of this community has always been that the top players participate, regardless of where they were recruited or their salary. The top athletes will participate. We kind of want to go about it that way.