Packer Central

Even an ‘8-Year-Old’ Could Understand Packers’ Draft

The Green Bay Packers addressed most of their major needs, including multiple shots on the offensive line, linebacker and safety, in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Bill Huber

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst / Photo by USA Today Sports Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Are you smarter than a third-grader? Well, if you’re at least as smart as a third-grader, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst’s seventh draft was perfectly logical.

The Packers lost three players on the offensive line this offseason, so they drafted three linemen.

They lost three players at safety, a highly important position for new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, so they drafted three safeties.

They are transitioning to a 4-3 defense, which means an extra linebacker in the lineup, so they drafted two linebackers early.

“What I liked with the Green Bay Packers draft is you could see a plan,” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said in delivering one takeaway for all 32 teams following the 2024 NFL Draft.

“They addressed their biggest need with Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan at No. 25. They’d been connected to Iowa DB Cooper DeJean, who went to Philadelphia at No. 40. The Packers traded out of No. 41 and took another guy they’d been connected to at a position of need in Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper at No. 45. Green Bay then filled that need for a safety at No. 58 with a really good player in Georgia’s Javon Bullard. I like draft classes you could explain to an 8-year-old. This is one of those.”

What else stood out to Breer?

- The Detroit Lions attacked their biggest weakness by doubling up at cornerback.

- Having drafted quarterback Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall, the Chicago Bears are “following” the Chiefs’ blueprint in how they built around Patrick Mahomes.

- The Minnesota Vikings are well-schooled in football economics.

- Eliot Wolf borrowed from his Packers history in building the New England Patriots.

In case you missed the draft grades, the Packers got a B-plus from SI’s Matt Verderame, although Pro Football Focus wasn’t a big fan of many of the Day 3 picks.

The Packers’ defense was among the big Day 2 winners at Pro Football Focus.

Gutekunst had the entire linebacker class at his disposal and selected Cooper at No. 45 overall. Up again at No. 58, only Tyler Nubin was off the board at safety – and he might not have been on the team’s board, anyway, after sluggish predraft workouts – so Gutekunst took Bullard.

Third-round pick Mar’Shawn Lloyd was the fourth back selected. Lloyd, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said Lloyd was the best back in the draft.

“I don’t think it happens very often where you’re taking the top player in your board at that position a bunch of times in a draft,” Gutekunst said. “That’s just hard unless you’ve got a ridiculous amount of picks up top.

“But to me, it’s just about kind of following your board. And sometimes there’s a bunch of guys at one position – like, there’s a bunch of guys last year that in the tight end class that would have been the No. 1 tight end in a lot of years. So, sometimes it just falls different every year. For those of us that have done it for a long time, I think we can recognize that, where there’s a certain position that’s just really strong or really weak and address that accordingly.”

After making 11 picks, Gutekunst felt like it was mission accomplished following back-to-back stellar drafts quickly vaulted the team into championship contention.

“I think we had a really good opportunity in front us as we started on Thursday, and sitting here right now, I feel like we did a lot of good things for our football team. We’re excited,” he said.

Packers at the 2024 NFL Draft

Liked/Didn’t Like | Our Day 3 draft grades | Five takeaways | National draft grades

Day 3: Evan Williams | Jacob Monk and Travis Glover | Kalen King

Day 2: Javon Bullard | Edgerrin Cooper | Marshawn Lloyd | Ty’Ron Hopper

Day 1: Jordan Morgan | Short arms

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Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.