Green Bay Packers Roundtable: 2020 NFL Draft Preview
By Paul Bretl
What are your top-3 positional needs that the Green Bay Packers need to address?
Mike Wendlandt
The Packers absolutely have to address offensive tackle, defensive line, and wide receiver in the draft. Games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage, and while the Packers have some great building blocks (David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Elgton Jenkins), they need depth and on the defensive side, another bona fide starter to partner with Clark. It doesn’t have to be the first pick, but the Packers need to get a starting defensive lineman and they need to look at getting the next right tackle to take over for Rick Wagner.
Brian Sampson
This is actually sort of a tough question, as they have a number of needs including wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, defensive line, and defensive back. And I think they’ll touch on all of them at some point. If I had to prioritize the top three–wide receiver would obviously be at the top of the list, as Allen Lazard, Devin Funchess, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling won’t do as second and third options for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Next, I’ll put defensive line and then tight end for the 2020 season.
As far as wide receiver goes, it’s been discussed at length for months now. They need some more speed, a little more agility, and frankly more intelligence (on field) at the position. At times, the Packers’ wideouts weren’t on the same page with each other, and they definitely weren’t on the same page as their quarterback. Whether it’s a top guy like Justin Jefferson or a Day 2 or 3 flyer on a Michael Pittman or Antonio Gibson, the Packers need to infuse the group with playmakers.
Kenny Jilek
My top three positional needs for the Green Bay Packers to address are interior defensive line, offensive tackle, and wide receiver. The run defense last year, as everyone knows, was subpar. A great run defense isn’t a requirement to be a championship team as the Chiefs showed us, but it certainly helps as shown by the 49ers. Building a defensive front can be the key to a Super Bowl and getting Kenny Clark some help inside would be huge.
Offensive Tackle is one of the most important spots on the field. As edge rushers are getting better and better these days with new impact players like the Bosas and Chase Young coming out of college every year, keeping Aaron Rodgers upright is extremely important to offensive success. Finally, once he has time to throw, he needs someone to be open to throw it to. Getting an impact receiver would go a long way for this offense.
Jacob Westendorf
I think the Packers have needs in the trenches on both sides of the ball, in addition to needing more weapons for Aaron Rodgers. I also think you can make a good argument for cornerback, and linebacker as well. However, cornerback I’m not as big of a fan of the class and linebacker just isn’t that valuable of a position in my opinion.
The defensive line could use help because Kenny Clark is the only player that can make an impact. Dean Lowry is a nice rotational player but was exposed as a bonafide starter last year. Apart from them, the other guys on the roster are either JAGs (Lancaster, Adams) or an unknown (Keke).
The offensive line is obvious. Rick Wagner is a stop-gap at right tackle. The Green Bay Packers should be hoping for their tackle of the future to fall into range where they can trade up for him, or fall all the way to 30, which admittedly is unlikely.
Meanwhile, the interior could use some reinforcements as well. Lane Taylor, Corey Linsley, David Bakhtiari, and Billy Turner could all conceivably exit Green Bay next offseason. That’s not likely, but it is possible. Offensive line depth is something you can never have too much of. Drafting guys to be depth pieces is how you avoid players like Josh Walker and Don Barclay playing offensive tackle. The receiver thing has been beaten to death, I think everyone understands that by now.
Paul Bretl
In order, the Green Bay Packers’ most important need is tackle, followed by receiver, and then the interior defensive line. Tackle is a premier position in this league, Rick Wagner is just a stop-gap with an injury history, and Aaron Rodgers will turn 37 this season. As always, the name of the game for the Packers is keeping QB1 upright, so they need to go and find their future right tackle early on in this draft.
After that, we all know about the need at the receiver position by now, and finding Kenny Clark some help inside is a must. Just go rewatch the NFC Championship game, or most other games from 2019 for that matter.