Ted Thompson vs Brian Gutekunst usage of 4th round picks so far, couldn't be more different. This is probably going to seem stupid, and it's completely the wrong time of the year, but I finally have some free time, so I'm looking up the information and ranting now, about the different uses of 4th round selections.
Ted Thompson used 4th round selection as among the top groups, and while he sure wasn't perfect (who is?) he used the 4th round selections to add quality depth to the roster, selecting guys that would stick around and help be clue for this team, selecting guys like LB Poppinga, CB Blackmon,
G Sitton, G Lang, CB House,
DT Daniels, OT Bakhtiari, IOL Tretter (pretty good starter with the Browns), ILB Jake Ryan (pretty good until injuries),
ILB Martinez, DL Lowry, RB Williams
Some of these, such as G Sitton and DL Daniels were 4th round compensation selections, were we lost a FA and got a draft selection. In fact, the Packers MIGHT be getting a 4th round comp pick this coming year for Martinez (we might of gotten one for Bulaga as well, but playing % is a part of the formula, and injuries knocked Bulaga's playing percent down to about half, so he's comp selection will probably be a 5th instead). The Martinez comp pick would mean a second 4th round pick, which MIGHT mean Gute will actually select in the 4th round for once (
don't bet on it).
Since 2018 (Gute's 3 years) Gute has had control of 5 different 4th round picks (Packers own 3 selections, plus comp pick for Lang and trading of Haha to Washington)... only 1 of those 5 picks have been used to trade a Packers player, WR J'Mon Moore, would can move like WR Davante Adams but couldn't catch a cold if you do a surprise ice bucket challenge in dead of winter and lock him outside.
The other four 4th round were used to trade up (one for ILB Burks, two for S Savage and one for QB Love). Burks (like Moore) had great movement for his size but had horrible flaws out outside of that. Savage's makes sense, as he's great potential and it was known the Raiders were looking for a Safety (who grabbed SS Johnathan Abram). The Love selection will always be a bit of a mystery, because pre-draft rumors said the Colts were looking up, but post draft one reports said they weren't looking trade up and there might not of been any teams looking to trade up and grab Love except the Packers, so Packers might of loss a 4th to grab a player sooner they could have waited for. Packers original 4th round pick was used by the Lions to select DT Da'Shawn Hand whom might of been starting next to Clark instead of Clark.
I'm just saying, it'd be nice to actual use those 4th rounder to find some mid-round steals which Thompson seemed to keep doing over and over, such as like G Sitton, G Lang, DT Daniels, OT Bakhtiari, IOL Tretter, or ILB Martinez. As Savage shows, it is worth trading up at times, but as Thompson shows, sometimes it's nice finding great steals and having more chances in the mid-draft as well. Rant over.