Live Updates: Green Bay Packers 2024 NFL Draft

The 2024 NFL Draft is finally here. The Green Bay Packers are scheduled to pick 25th in the first round tonight. Keep up to date with the latest from Lambeau Field.

Author:
Bill Huber
Apr 25, 2024

In this story:

NFL Draft

2024 NFL Draft

Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers draft

Brian Gutekunst

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Welcome to the 2024 NFL Draft. The Green Bay Packers own the 25th pick of the first round on Thursday night, two picks in each of the second and third rounds on Friday, and six more picks on Saturday.

Here’s the game plan. Quick stories on each of the picks will be posted here in this “Live Updates” story. Individual draft-pick grades and more extensive pieces will follow in separate stories.

Let’s kick things off.

Packers Select Arizona OL Jordan Morgan

undefined — Jordan Morgan

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The pick is in. The Packers could have taken Cooper DeJean, Graham Barton or Tyler Guyton but selected Arizona offensive lineman Jordan Morgan with their first-round pick on Thursday night.

Morgan was our No. 1-ranked guard.

Morgan was Arizona’s three-year starting left tackle. His first year in the lineup was a bit rocky, but he was greatly improved in 2022 (one sack, 17 total pressures) and 2023 (two sacks, 14 total pressures). He was first-team all-Pac-12 as a fifth-year senior. He’s well-coached, with Arizona’s offensive coordinator formerly serving as the Seahawks’ assistant offensive line coach.

Morgan suffered a torn ACL late in the 2022 season but bounced back to earn first-team all-conference.

Of 96 FBS-level tackles in this draft class who played at least 650 offensive snaps, he ranked 14th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-protecting snap. He was penalized four times. The numbers are excellent but shorter-than-desired arms might push him to guard, where his athleticism and toughness as a run blocker will be amplified.

Morgan measured 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds at the Scouting Combine. He ran his 40 in 5.04 seconds and had a Relative Athletic Score of 9.82. However, his 32 7/8-inch arms are much shorter than desired for a tackle.

“When you watch left tackles, or tackles in general in college football, they’re typically around 6-foot-7, maybe 6-foot-8,” he told The Draft Network. “They say I’m a little bit shorter than the bigger tackles. I use strength to my advantage. I can reach out, latch onto a defender, and hold him in place. I can mimic defenders and pass rushers. It’s easier for me at my size. I’m light on my feet. It’s easy for me to mirror a pass rusher.”

Packers Are On the Clock

The Detroit Lions moved up from No. 29 to No. 24 in a trade with the Cowboys and selected Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold.

So, the Packers are up. Will it be Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean to keep pace in the NFC North? (Scroll down for more on that.) Oklahoma offensive tackle Tyler Guyton? Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton? Someone else? Or a trade back?

Eagles Take Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell

The first cornerback is off the board at No. 22, with the Eagles selecting the top corner in the draft, Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell. He’ll be on the field against the Packers in Week 1 in Brazil.

If Packers GM Brian Gutekunst wants to take a corner, Terrion Arnold of Alabama and Cooper DeJean are available. Looking to the offensive line, Oklahoma offensive tackle Tyler Guyton and versatile Duke blocker Graham Barton are available, too.

Jacksonville is up at No. 23 and Dallas, which could pick a lineman but does not need a cornerback, is scheduled to pick at No. 24.

Best Available Players

With the Rams having made their pick at No. 19 and the Steelers on the clock at No. 20, the best available players with Green Bay's spot at No. 25 approaching:

Cornerbacks: Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell, Alabama’s Terrion Arnold, Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry

Offensive line: Washington G/T Troy Fautanu, Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton, Duke OL Graham Barton

Edge: Penn State’s Chop Robinson

Defensive tackle: Illinois’ Jer’Zhan Newton

Linebackers: All of them, including Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper

Trade Value Chart

There are a few trade-value charts. Based on this one at DraftTek, the Packers could give up No. 88 of the third round to move up from No. 25 to No. 20.

Finally, a Player on Defense

The Indianapolis Colts at No. 15 selected UCLA edge defender Laiatu Latu. So what? Latu was the first defensive player selected.

At No. 16, the Seahawks selected Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy. The Vikings then traded up to No. 17 to take Alabama edge defender Dallas Turner. The cost was steep for Minnesota to move up from No. 23, with third- and fourth-round picks in 2025.

That means, with Green Bay's spot at No. 25 getting closer, all the cornerbacks – led by Quinyon Mitchell, Terrion Arnold and Cooper DeJean – are on the board. Heck, just about every defensive player is on the board, should that be the direction GM Brian Gutekunst wants to go.

So, could Gutekunst trade back to take advantage of the board? Or trade up to get a premier player who fell into range?

Bears, Vikings Will Put Heat on Packers

As expected, Chicago led off the draft by taking USC quarterback Caleb Williams at overall. At No. 9, the Bears added Washington receiver Rome Odunze.

Just like that, the perennially punchless Bears have a (potential) franchise quarterback throwing to proven veterans D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen and the incredibly talented Odunze, who caught 92 passes for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

At No. 10, the Vikings and Jets swapped picks, with Minnesota moving up from No. 11 to get its quarterback, Michigan’s championship-winning J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy was the fifth quarterback off the board and might have landed in the best situation with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at receiver, T.J. Hockenson at tight end and Aaron Jones at running back.

Chances are what they did won’t impact the Packers’ choice at No. 25, but grabbing a cornerback to keep up with the Jared Goff-led Lions as well as the Bears and Vikings might be a good idea.

Five In Top 91 … Not Exactly

Officially, the Packers have five of the top 91 selections in this year’s draft. In reality, they might have five of the top 50 on the Packers’ draft board.

“Hopefully. Hopefully it falls that way,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said this week. “You never really know how it’s going to fall, but usually the way our numbers do fall, you’re going to be close to that.

“I think picks on those first two days are hard to come by. When you have an opportunity to obtain one, I think you have to seriously consider it because analytics and the history show what kind of player you’re going to get. The draft is littered with players from sixth, seventh, undrafted that have become great players and, certainly, picks way up high that don’t become players. But it certainly improves your odds.”

Packers' Draft Needs Meet First-Round Value

General manager Brian Gutekunst likes to say he took the fabled “best player available” on his draft board, but need is baked into the cake, especially with those early picks.

Here are Green Bay’s needs, listed in order of importance, and the first-round possibilities on Thursday night.

Offensive tackle: Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton and Georgia’s Amarius Mims, with one source believing Guyton is the more likely to be on the board at No. 25. He would be the better fit, anyway, he said.

Cornerback: Iowa’s Cooper DeJean is everyone’s favorite pick, whether it’s mock drafts or those in the game. Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry could be an option, too; his 23-pound advantage on Clemson’s Nate Wiggins would make this an easy pick if the offensive tackles are gone and Gutekunst wants to focus on another big need.

Not just the mock drafters who think it could be Cooper DeJean tonight. ⬇️https://t.co/fn4UITapoa
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 25, 2024

Safety: Probably nobody; the sweet spot for safety is the second round with Washington State’s Jaden Hicks, Utah’s Cole Bishop and Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin having the heft to play closer to the line of scrimmage, and Georgia’s Javon Bullard, who plays bigger than his size.

Linebacker: Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper could “be in play” for the Packers at No. 25. Cooper is an electric player and maybe a better prospect than Michigan’s Junior Colson, though Colson is the natural middle linebacker.

Interior offensive line: Duke’s Graham Barton probably is the one and only option here because of his versatility. The Packers haven’t taken an interior lineman in the first round since Aaron Taylor in 1994. They simply don’t see the positional value. But if Barton can start/help at a few positions, then value goes up.

Defensive end: Last year, the Packers used their first-round pick on Lukas Van Ness and gave Rashan Gary a huge contract extension. Can the Packers pour even more premium resources into their edge group? That seems unlikely but all bets are off if UCLA’s Laiatu Latu or Florida State’s Jared Verse slide.

Defensive tackle: Breer picked Illinois’ Johnny Newton in his mock draft. Every snap from the defensive line is back for 2024. Picking Newton might signal free-agent-to-be Kenny Clark won’t be back. A source thought Missouri’s Darius Robinson, who has inside-outside versatility, could be an option, too.

Running back: No running back has first-round value.

Receiver: Certainly, the Packers wouldn’t draft a receiver in the first round. Right? It was interesting that South Carolina’s Xavier Legette, a potential first-round pick, had a predraft visit.

Tight end: The Packers are set at tight end and Brock Bowers will be long gone.

Quarterback: Gutekunst might draft a quarterback but there’s no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks it will be in the first round or even the first few rounds.

Packers Have 11 Picks

The Packers are scheduled to pick 25th in the first round on Thursday night, with four more valuable picks in the second and third rounds on Friday. With that, they have the sixth-most draft capital, according to Tankathon.

“More at-bats, right. You’ve got more chances for hits,” Gutekunst said this week. “There’s never enough. I don’t ever subscribe to the thought process, ‘Hey, we’ve got a pretty good team. These guys might not have a chance to make the team.’ I’ve talked a lot about competition in every room, and how much it accelerates the growth of your football team. I think that’s the best way for your team to move forward, so to me, there’s never enough.”

Here are the picks.

Round 1, Pick 25 overall.

Round 2, Pick 41 overall (from New York Jets in Aaron Rodgers trade).

Round 2, Pick 58 overall.

Round 3, Pick 88 overall.

Round 3, Pick 91 overall (from Buffalo Bills in Rasul Douglas trade).

Round 4, Pick 126 overall.

Round 5, Pick 169 overall (compensatory pick for Allen Lazard).

Round 6, Pick 202 overall.

Round 6, Pick 219 overall (compensatory pick for Jarran Reed).

Round 7, Pick 245 overall.

Round 7, Pick 255 overall (compensatory pick for Dean Lowry).

NFL Draft Study

The draft is the “lifeblood” of the Packers, Gutekunst said this week.

According to a study based on data from Pro Football Reference, 57.8 percent of the Packers’ draft picks from 2014 through 2023 are on rosters. That ranks 25th. Green Bay’s average first-round pick has earned $27.39 million in his career, which ranks only 28th.

Comparatively, they have done much better with their late-round selections. They rank fourth with 25 players picked in the fifth round or later who remain in the NFL. The 49ers are first with 29, and the Rams and Patriots are just ahead of the Packers with 26.