‘Everyone Is Moving Up’ For This Packers Position of Need

With the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft just one day away, there could be a run of players at a key position of need, according to NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah.

Author:
Bill Huber
Apr 24, 2024

In this story:

NFL Draft

Green Bay Packers

Packers

Tyler Guyton

Daniel Jones

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers enter the 2024 NFL Draft with a need at offensive tackle.

To get one, they might need to get aggressive. Or, perhaps that’s already their intention.

On the eve of Thursday’s first round, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah said “everyone is moving up” for an offensive tackle. That reality could have a major impact on the Packers.

To summarize my last 5 phone calls- everyone is moving up for an OT.
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) April 24, 2024

For the Packers, who released David Bakhtiari at the start of free agency and lost Yosh Nijman in free agency, offensive tackle is a major need.

Even if they are committed to Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom as their tandem going into 2024 and beyond, there is no obvious swing tackle. While they signed former first-round pick Andre Dillard last week, he is coming off a dismal season and has a poor track record in pass protection. But he might be a Hall of Famer by comparison to the other options, Caleb Jones and Luke Tenuta.

General manager Brian Gutekunst no doubt is well aware of that reality and is prepared to draft an offensive tackle. If his goal is to get one early, he might have to take matters into his own hands.

Fortunately, he’s got the draft capital to get it done with two picks in the second round, two in the third and one in the fourth.

In 2020, Gutekunst used a fourth-round pick to move from No. 30 to No. 26 to select Jordan Love. With a similar scenario, a fourth-round round pick could get the Packers from No. 25 to No. 21 and ahead of the Eagles at No. 22 and the Cowboys at No. 24, both of whom could be looking to grab a tackle. Using a third-round pick could move them ahead of the Steelers at No. 20.

This offensive tackle class has been hyped as one of the best in years. However, as a couple of sources have told Packer Central over the past month, the strength of the group is a bit tenuous or perhaps even overrated.

While Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Penn State’s Olu Fashanu are sure-thing left tackles, Alabama’s JC Latham, Georgia’s Amarius Mims and Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton were college right tackles with varying degrees of projection required to envision them at left tackle. Moreover, Washington’s Troy Fautanu might be too short to play tackle, and Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Duke’s Graham Barton and Arizona’s Jordan Morgan might not have enough length to play tackle.

All of those players could be really good players. They just might not be really good players at tackle, in general, or left tackle, one of the most important positions in the game. So, from that perspective, the tackle group has been winnowed down to a smaller list.

Thus, for teams like the Packers that need a tackle, they might have to get aggressive to find the precise fit for their needs. That could mean moving up in the first round to get their man. It also could mean making sure they get a quality tackle in the first round – even if it’s a reach based on the draft board – rather than rolling the dice to see who’s left at No. 41 of the second round.

Multiple league sources have told Packer Central over the past couple days that Guyton seems like the best fit as a player who could still be on the board in the 20s. Guyton did not allow any sacks in 10 games as the Sooners’ blind-side protector in 2023. While his career experience includes just 70 snaps at left tackle, he’s got the athleticism to make the move. And with Walker’s steady improvement in 2023, the Packers wouldn’t have to rush him into the lineup as a rookie.

“Sometimes, the 6-(foot)-7 guys get a little bit too big, but I think he’s so athletic for his size,” former NFL GM Mark Dominik said of Guyton in a SiriusXM NFL Radio conference call last week.

“I could plug and play him and take him at the bottom first and feel good about it. I don’t think that I’m going to walk out of a draft going, ‘I reached on this one because I needed that position.’ I think you’re going to walk out of the draft going, ‘I feel good about what he can do, and I think he can come in here and be an impact on our football team.”