The Green Bay Packers entered Thursday night’s first-round festivities with a massive and obvious need at wide receiver, but when the draft board didn’t fall right and a big run on receivers came well before their pick, the Packers stuck to their board, didn’t panic and took two good football players.
General manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t force a pick at a need position. Poorly-run teams may have panicked in his situation and reached for a receiver. Good teams do what the Packers accomplished on Thursday night.
Consider this: When the Packers came on the clock at No. 22 overall, the best wide receiver left on Daniel Jeremiah’s board was Western Michigan’s Skyy Moore. He was his 45th best player overall. The Packers took Quay Walker (Jeremiah’s No. 29 player) and then later took Devonte Wyatt (Jeremiah’s No. 23 player).
With a massive gap between the six best receivers and No. 7, the Packers shored up two spots in the defensive front seven and pushed the talent level on defense into elite territory overall.
Walker is a long and athletic linebacker who could be a plug-and-play option next to De’Vondre Campbell. Wyatt should be a three-down lineman who can fill the defense’s need for a penetrating disruptor along the front. They were both anchoring players for one of the best defenses in college football history. In Green Bay, they help fill needs for what should be one of the NFL’s best defenses in 2022. In fact, with Walker and Wyatt on board, there isn’t a notable weak spot on Joe Barry’s unit, especially if Darnell Savage bounces back from an inconsistent 2021 season in 2022. Oftentimes, NFL defenses are only as good as the group’s weakest link, and the Packers don’t really have an obvious one now.
Sure, the massive need at receiver still exists. But the draft is seven rounds long, and Day 2 looks loaded with capable wide receiver options. The Packers, with three picks on Friday, have a real chance to select one or two receivers who could help the team right away in 2022.
Save for a big trade up, what were the Packers to do? Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jameson Williams were gone in the first 12 picks. Jahan Dotson and Treylon Burks came off the board soon after. Aaron Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the Packers only had six first-round grades on receivers, and all six were gone by 22.
Once again, the Packers missed out on the top of a good class of wide receivers, but the first round was not a disaster from a team-building perspective. Gutekunst took high-quality players who will likely contribute right away in 2022 and be foundational pieces for the defensive front for years to come. Walker and Wyatt just won’t be catching passes from the four-time NFL MVP, and that’s fine. Friday is a new day, and a new opportunity for the Packers to find pass-catchers for Aaron Rodgers.
