I literally laughed when I read the headline. Rob is being so bold. Packers may or may not draft either tow or perhaps WR. Rob you are a wild man.
Originally Posted by: wpr
Yes, I chuckled as well, like if they don't draft two or three, then they better have signed some FAs, or drafted four lol
I almost hope the Packers do not draft any WR, just to watch fans and national clowns completely lose their shit.
Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool
Yeah I've been thinking about this, what if the Packers don't draft a WR nor TE in the first? EVERYONE will be freaking out that night lol
But there are other clear holes they got to fill as well, the #3 Safety gets in the field more than most realize and both starting Safeties are in contract years and Packers like drafting guys a year early to get that rookie experience under them.
Part of the reason the Packers offense struggled so much more is because of the OL got worse with losing Bakhtiari and Linsley for the year, Jenkins for part of the year, and even Bulaga the year before. They really could still use even more OL upgrades.
But yes the OL held the Packers offense back last year, but fans didn't seem to realize because Rodgers got the ball out of his hands faster than ever and Adams was amazing at getting open quickly, Dillon was among league leaders in yards after contact and Aaron Jones is extremely slippery, plus MVS' deep speed kept the Safeties deep and why I think LaFleur is saying they need some deep speed now.
But losing Turner, Patrick and currently Kelly, plus even Adams and MVS will absolutely hurt and put more direct pressure on the OL which barely was holding up and surviving last year, so will absolutely need growth from Runyan, Myers, Newman and Nijman just to stay even with where we were last year as the rookies will probably take some time to grow.
Plus the Packers experienced lack of depth at edge rusher last year and it was absolutely no fun, lucky Preston and Gary stayed fairly healthy, but I absolutely expect Gute to draft a #3 edge rusher and the last time he did that he used the #12 overall pick.
The Packers pass rush is extremely important especially when Joe Berry showed he doesn't blitz much, even when the edge rushers are injured and going against a rookie or young running QB, he still doesn't bring the heat (which I think is a mistake) but to compensate you need to make darn sure your defensive front can get it done by themselves as the play caller isn't giving them extra help up front as he wants all the help in coverage.
Also DT to, as I believe Lowry and newly signed FA Reed are both in contract years and Clark could seriously use a stud DT to share some the attention with him. Add a stud DT with Clark, Gary and Preston Williams, you got to give one or two guys one on ones, they're gonna beat you somewhere.
Point being, the Packers have a lot of potential holes that could use talent help other than WR, which I could see the Packers using a first rounder on other than just WR, depending how the draft drops.
Though I fully expect them to draft a WR in the top 48 picks (first round and a half).
My biggest concern is Gute is going to get nervous and trade up happy early on, when this draft has some good top depth... I think this year's 2nd round is going to be better than a lot of years 2nd rounds.
But here are Gute's trade ups in the top 3 rounds
2018: CB Alexander* (technically he traded down, and then up for this pick, so I'm not sure it counts)
2018: ILB Burks
2019: S Savage
2020: QB Love
2021: WR Rodgers
I'm not counting Alexander (it was a trade down then up, which basically cost us a 3rd rounder but we got a 1st which was used with other picks for Savage)...
But basically, SO FAR, these players haven't lived up to either their potentials or their draft slot...
Though, I should note, that I believe the Packers might be accidentally holding Savage back, as I believe Savage would be best in man coverage, but they run a heavy zone scheme. Also Savage might be best in the slot/dime, but they don't have another S to take his spot deep to test that theory, and Gute often has brought Savage up as a potential slot guy.
But it seems like Gute does better when he lets the draft come to him, instead of trading up.
2018: CB Jackson (horrible example)
2019: OL Jenkins, TE Sternberger
2020: RB Dillon, TE Dugara
2021: CB Stokes, C Myers
I still have to think Sternberger and Dugara we're reaches based on trying to get TEs that fit the scheme as they didn't have the right personnel to run no huddle in this scheme as Rodgers put it in 2018, he also said they didn't have the experience, but you need some versatile TEs that can play anything from WR to FB to run no huddle in this scheme.