While the Packers were able to maintain most of their core during this offseason, they have a sizable hole at the wide receiver position. With the draft coming up at the end of the month, the team could add multiple rookies at the position, notes by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.
Green Bay has traditionally avoided taking wideouts early in the draft – the last time the Packers used a first-round pick on one was in 2002 – but the team is in need of multiple additions this year. Trading away Davante Adams and losing Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency, the Packers will be rebuilding the top of the depth chart in the near future. General manager Brian Gutekunst recently indicated a willingness to spend multiple picks on the position.
“I think it’s too early to tell, but I think my history and even with Ted [Thompson’s] history, I don’t think we’ve ever shied away from taking multiple players at one position in a draft,” he said. “So certainly if the right players are there, we wouldn’t shy away from that.”
Green Bay currently hold picks Nos. 22 and 28 in the first round. That will, in all likelihood, leave the Packers out of contention for top options such as Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jameson Williams. Prospects closer to their range include Treylon Burks and Jahan Dotson, as well as a number of second-round candidates who will be available when the team picks 53rd and 59th overall.
While established players like Julio Jones and Jarvis Landry are still available as free agents, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Green Bay were to draft at least one impact wideout to help offset this year’s losses. While doing so would be somewhat out of character, the rarer scenario of selecting two also cannot be ruled out.
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