Green Bay Packers Roundtable: 2020 NFL Draft Preview

What is one bold prediction that you have for the Packers’ draft?

Mike

After two years of moving all over the first round in his first two seasons, Brian Gutekunst will channel his inner Ted Thompson and stay put at pick 30 on Thursday night but he will be wheeling and dealing the rest of the weekend, ending up with more than the ten picks he entered the weekend with.

With a deep draft at positions the Green Bay Packers need the most help at (receiver, tackle, defensive tackle), Gutekunst will try to get as many bites of the apple as he can, trading around throughout the third, fourth, and fifth rounds and ending up with 12 new Packers prospects that will (hopefully) be on their way to Lambeau Field this fall. After the excitement of the past couple years, the Packers will have a throwback draft to when they were at their best in the late 2000s, moving around in the middle rounds and picking from positions of strength.

Brian

I’m not sure how bold this is, but the Packers won’t pick their first wide receiver until the second round. As tempting as it will be to grab one in the first round, they can easily snag a player at another position of need in the first and then circle back to receiver in the second. I also believe they’ll draft another one in the middle to late portion.

Kenny

My bold prediction for this draft is that the Packers won’t draft a linebacker until day three. Linebacker is seen as a huge position of need for this draft, but it doesn’t seem like a position that the Packers value highly. Patrick Queen and Kenneth Murray may both be gone by the time they’re on the clock in the first round, and they may not want to use a valuable pick on any other linebacker.

They already signed Christian Kirksey this offseason, so whoever is drafted probably wouldn’t see the field a ton in year one. This is because the Packers prefer to play with only one linebacker on the field and either an extra safety or cornerback. They may draft a safety like Terrell Burgess to play next to Kirksey in the box, but I doubt they will take a traditional linebacker until at least the fourth round.

Jacob

I’m not sure how bold this is, but I think the Green Bay Packers draft three offensive linemen. One is a tackle they look to as a future starter. Another is a swing interior guy similar to Michigan’s Jon Runyan, and then a swing on someone with raw skills but an athletic profile that fits what they want. Similar to what they did last year with Yosh Njiman.

Paul

I could see GM Brian Gutekunst making three trades this weekend, which is something that he already did back in 2018. Given the number of needs that the Packers have along with the depth in this year’s draft at those positions, I think there is a good chance that they could trade out of Round 1.

After that, while Green Bay does have 10 draft picks, seven of them are on Day 3, including five in Rounds 6 and 7. Not to mention that they’ll have a few compensatory picks in 2021. So with plenty of picks to spare, I’m predicting that Gutey makes two more moves up the draft board to get what is hopefully two high-upside players.