Green Bay Packers Need to Hit a Home Run on Day 2 of the Draft

The Green Bay Packers still have 8 picks left, but 6 of them are in rounds 5 and beyond. Meaning, they have to find some impact players on Day 2.

There’s no question that the 2019 season was certainly a successful one for the Green Bay Packers. They would finish the season 13-3, winners of the NFC North, and earned a trip to the NFC Championship game. However, despite ending up just one game shy of the Super Bowl, we saw that there was still a decent-sized gap between them and the San Francisco 49ers.

So as we spent the better part of 2020 looking ahead to the NFL Draft, with the depth at specific positions in this year’s class, many of us were excited at the idea of Green Bay adding a new offensive weapon or bringing in some additional help to the middle of the defense.

However, in round one that is not how things played out. Instead, GM Brian Gutekunst would take a long-term approach as he selected Jordan Love, the quarterback out of Utah State. And in order to get to him, Green Bay had to trade away their first and fourth-round picks to move up and take Miami’s place at No. 26 overall.

Yet even after that trade, the Packers are still left with eight draft picks, however, there is a lot more quantity than quality remaining. Of those eight picks, six of them are in rounds five or later. Not exactly where they are going to find high-end talent and they certainly can’t count on any of those picks producing in 2020.

That means that it is uber-important that Gutey and Company hit on their Day 2 picks, where statistically, they have a much higher chance of finding an immediate impact player.

Although the draft is a balancing act for general managers as they try to plan for the future while also trying to stay competitive in the moment, this is a Green Bay Packers team that was on the cusp of reaching the Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers who is presumably in the final years of his career. So to put it simply, they must take advantage of these two top-100 selections to maximize this roster and the time that Rodgers has left.

And despite having six draft picks on the back-end of Day 3, it’s difficult to envision a path that leads to them trading up and gaining an additional second or third-round pick. That is unless they are willing to part with some 2021 draft capital, which they may be reluctant to do. Once again putting even more emphasis on the second and third-round picks that they do have.

So as Day 2 unfolds, here are some remaining players at positions of need to keep your eyes on:

Wide Receiver: Denzel Mims, Laviska Shenault, Tee Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Bryan Edwards, Antonio Gibson, Michael Pittman, Chase Claypool, and Devin Duvernay.

Tackle: Josh Jones, Lucas Niang, Ben Bartch, Jack Driscoll, Ezra Cleveland, Matthew Peart, and Prince Tega Wanogho.

Interior Defensive Lineman: Ross Blacklock, Marlon Davidson, Raekwon Davis, Rashard Lawrence, Leki Fotu, Jordan Elliott, Davon Hamilton, Neville Gallimore, and Justin Madubuike.

Linebackers: Akeem Davis-Gaither, Zack Baun, Troy Dye, Willie Gay Jr, Logan Wilson, Malik Harrison, Evan Weaver.

Defensive Backs: Antoine Winfield, Trevon Diggs, Xavier McKinney, Grant Delpit, Jeremy Chinn, Kyle Dugger, Jaylon Johnson, Kristian Fulton, Bryce Hall, Ashtyn Davis, K’Von Wallace, Terrell Burgess, and Troy Pride Jr.

Running Back: Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins, D’Andre Swift, and Cam Akers.

Tight End: Cole Kmet, Brycen Hopkins, Devin Asiasi, Hunter Bryant, and Adam Trautman.

On paper, it may seem like the Green Bay Packers have a number of holes on this roster to fill, and to some extent that is true, but they don’t have many major missing pieces. So despite many not being happy with how the draft started out, the Packers still have the opportunity to land some impact players that can make a difference in 2020.

However, it has to happen on Day 2 or likely won’t happen at all.