The Green Bay Packers entered this offseason with a particular list of positions they needed to address and improve upon from 2024. Their biggest needs were pass-rusher, wide receiver, offensive line depth, and cornerback. When the NFL free-agency period opened on March 12, it seemed like most impact players at Green Bay’s positions of need were off the board within 24 hours.
With the cap rising again this year and a watered-down crop of free agents leading to teams handing out funny money, the Packers were judicious with their offseason moves. They managed to add quality starters at guard and cornerback. Green Bay also added to the receiver room by signing Mecole Hardman.
However, holes on this roster at those positions of need still largely remain. Outside of a value free-agent signing or a team releasing a player they need during the summer, the draft is their best opportunity to shore up the roster. Even with some particular needs left to address, Brian Gutekunst and Co. shouldn’t deviate from their best-player-available philosophy and resist the temptation to draft solely for need.
One of the hardest parts of navigating the draft for general managers is balancing drafting the best player available on their boards versus addressing their roster needs. It’s something all general managers battle. You might have a need at tackle, but the cornerback is the top-rated player on your board, and he’s available. What should you do?
In a perfect world, need and BPA would match, and your best player would happen to play at a position of need. More often than not, though, we don’t live in a perfect world, and teams must make those difficult decisions.
There are pros and cons to each approach that Green Bay might take.
I have always believed you need to take the best player available regardless of what position he might play and his roster fit. It’s the best long-term strategy for building out a roster. This approach results in selecting highly talented players who can contribute immediately. It also offers roster flexibility and the ability to improve in ways that might not be obvious at first glance.
Draft talented players into your organization and find out where they fit later. Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love are two of Green Bay’s most recent impactful draft picks, and they are a product of the BPA approach. How different would this franchise look over the last 20 years if Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst took a wide receiver in the first round to fill a need instead of drafting Rodgers and Love?
Still, the BPA approach has some drawbacks. Teams that employ this strategy sometimes enter the season with roster holes.
With ever-evolving NFL games that emphasize pass-heavy offenses, certain positions, such as inside linebackers, are losing their value. While we say Green Bay invested a first-round pick in Quay Walker a few years ago because he was highest on their board, you might lose out on an impact player at a more important position. Not investing high picks in certain positions can mean filling that part of your roster with less talented players or spending a lot of money in free agency to fill a hole.
Even the staunchest opponent of drafting the best player available realizes there are pros to drafting a player for need. First, by prioritizing players who fill specific holes, drafting for need can help address critical areas where the roster might lack talent or depth. What better way to fill that need for an impact pass rusher than using a first-round pick to address it?
However, I have always believed drafting for need is the easiest way to draft a bust. And a few busted draft picks can set an organization back or cause roster issues. Look at the terrible 2021 Packers draft class. It has been covered extensively this offseason after they signed Aaron Banks and Nate Hobbs. Green Bay entered that draft with clear needs at corner opposite Jaire Alexander, after many misses on corners such as Josh Jackson, and took Eric Stokes. Injuries had a large part in Stokes becoming a bust. However, even when healthy, he never became a reliable shutdown corner.
Then they selected center Josh Myers in the second round to replace the departing Corey Linsley. Myers was a solid player as a four-year starter for Green Bay, but was he the best player available at the time? He wasn’t even the best player at his own position. That honor would have gone to Creed Humphrey, who signed a lucrative new deal with the Kansas City Chiefs after his rookie contract expired. Meanwhile, Myers is off to the New York Jets on bargain-bin deal. The 2021 draft class was one of the first times in his tenure that Brian Gutekunst deviated from his best-player-available philosophy, and the results were poor.
This will be a big draft for Brian Gutekunst and the Green Bay Packers. They are on the cusp of competing for championships, not just because the draft is taking place in Green Bay. Gutekunst has spoken about his desire to contend now. He must add blue-chip talent to this roster and trust his coaches to make the puzzle pieces work. There has been some questioning of his skills as a drafter, but he has a chance to take this team to another level if he sticks to his board.