What Trading Up from Pick 22 Could Cost Green Bay Packers

One big difference between current Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and former GM Ted Thompson is that Gutey is always looking to move up the draft board — especially early on — in order to get his guy.

Gutekunst has been at the helm for four drafts now, and he has traded up within the first three rounds five separate times, including within the first round in three of the four years.

While ultimately, the decision of whether to trade up, trade back, or stay put is going to depend on how the board falls, as I wrote recently, the Green Bay Packers are in a position to make another draft day jump. In fact, if I were to make a prediction, my guess is that they do trade up from pick 22.

For one, as just mentioned, Gutekunst’s track record in the draft says that he is very willing to do so. On top of that, the Packers have the draft capital to make it happen, with 11 total draft picks, along with seven within the first four rounds. Lastly, they have a major need to fill at wide receiver.

Although there are certainly other needs to address, receiver will likely take precedent given how the roster is constructed at those other positions with reliable veterans to lean on. This will allow Gutekunst to focus on receiver, be aggressive, and get his guy—although, with the 28th pick as well, I won’t be surprised if Gutey targets a different position.

So if the Green Bay Packers do, in fact, move up from pick 22, what will it cost them to do so?

Well, the trade value chart can help us find out. Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson created the trade value chart as a way to quantify the value of each draft pick, making it easier to determine whether or not a trade was fair. Since then, this chart has largely stood the test of time, although there are variations of it out there.

For this exercise, we will be using the Rich Hill Model to help give us an idea of what trading up from pick 22 could look like for the Packers, with the goal being to make these trades as even as possible.

We will also begin at pick 13 in the draft, which belongs to Houston. The Texans already have the third overall pick and could be a team looking to move back to acquire more draft capital as they rebuild. I also don’t foresee Green Bay moving up much more than that.