Green Bay Packers 2022 Draft Guide: What You Need to Know
By Paul Bretl
The NFL Draft is now just a few days away, and to help you prepare, I’ve compiled what I believe to be some of the more important articles that I’ve written this offseason in regards to the Green Bay Packers and what you need to know for when they are on the clock all next weekend.
Below is a brief description of those articles, along with a link to each of them. But before we get to that point, here is each selection that the Packers have in the upcoming draft:
Pick 22 (from LV)
Pick 28
Pick 53 (from LV)
Pick 59
Pick 132
Pick 140
Pick 171
Pick 228 (from Houston)
Pick 249
Pick 258
Ranking the Green Bay Packers’ biggest positional needs
Of course, we know that wide receiver is the biggest need on this Green Bay Packers team, but what other positions need to be addressed? From 12 to 1, I rank each position group from least important to address to the most.
Click here to read the full article.
‘What would Brian Gutekunst do?’ Mock Draft
Brian Gutekunst has four drafts under his belt, which isn’t a huge amount by any means, and he’s also thrown us some curveballs with who he selects. However, there are some trends that have developed and thresholds that he sticks to. So in this seven-round mock draft, I dive into seven trends and have to adhere to each of them as I make each selection.
Click here to see how this draft turned out.
The Cost of trading up
Under Brian Gutekunst, the Packers have been very aggressive early on in the draft. In four drafts he has traded up five times within the top-100 selections, and three of those moves up the draft board have come in the first round. Using the Rich Hill trade value chart, I take a look at what it cost Green Bay to move up from pick 22 and 28 in a variety of scenarios.
Click here to see what the Packers would have to trade away to move up from 22. Click here to see what it could cost them to trade up from 28.
What if the Green Bay Packers trade back?
Gutey hasn’t traded back very often, just once during his tenure, and that occurred in his very first draft when he moved back before then trading back up to select Jaire Alexander. I see it much more likely that Green Bay trades up rather than back, but if they do, I dive into what they could acquire if they were to move back from pick 28.
Click here to see what Green Bay could acquire if they traded back from pick 28.
Shortlist of draft prospects by RAS
I referenced thresholds in a previous section, and how a player scores on the RAS scale is one of those trends that has developed during Gutekunst’s tenure. Of his 33 RAS eligible draft picks, 26 of them have scored 8.0 or higher. In this article, I discuss what RAS is and which players in this year’s draft meet that benchmark.
Click here to see which players make the RAS shortlist.
6 Realistic draft predictions
Bold predictions are fun, but let’s take a look at some more realistic scenarios. In this article, I go through my six realistic draft predictions for the Green Bay Packers.
Click here to see what those predictions are.
Shortlist of 1st Round Targets
Using The Draft Network’s top-50 big board, I created a shortlist of eight potential first-round targets for Green Bay. In order to whittle this list down, I used past trends, which included the prospect’s age, RAS scores, and the position they play. Based on these past tendencies that Green Bay has often stuck to, only these eight players check all three boxes.
Click here to read more about those past draft trends and to see who the eight players are.
Prospects to know at positions of need
In this article, I go through one prospect to know at each major position of need for the Green Bay Packers.
Click here to learn more about each of these players.
Planning ahead in the draft
While our hope is that the Green Bay Packers find some immediate help in the draft, ultimately, the draft should be about planning ahead. Even though a position may look well put together for the upcoming season, that outlook can change quickly and will affect how Green Bay approaches this year’s draft. In this article, I take a look ahead to the state of the Packers roster in 2023 to provide some insight into what positions the Packers may address this year as they plan for the future.
Click here to see what Green Bay’s roster looks like in 2023.