Was thinking the same thing. I was happy to see the first half of the first round go all offense, thus pushing better defensive players to the Packers (in my thought process). Had it been the other way around and only a few OL players had been taken, maybe Gute waits around or trades out of the first. When you really want a guy and he is there when you are on the clock, if he isn't going to last much longer, grab him.
I see it exactly the same way, although I was reacting too slowly in real time to see it that way at the moment. So I didn't see it then the way I see it now. Taken as a lone data point, Morgan surprised me. But as we rampaged through Day 2, and then started raking in more O-line on Day Three, it made perfect sense. Because it was only then that I could understand it in the context of his entire draft stragey.
I like that besides the solid first rounder morgan OT who can play guard ... We drafted 2 more promising Olinemen and grabbed two more solid looking prospects in the undrafted free agency.... All those 5 guys played a bulk of their college career at LT. We definitely got some keepers.
Gutekunst planted a bit of a flag in this draft, and I think there are some messages to be found here.
One of the things he has said is that he feels our window is now, and about a year earlier than he expected. I think what he's telling us with this draft is that he's adjusting his timeline in order to take advantage of that and do whatever he is able to do to make his move a year earlier - but without completely deviating from his longterm roster-building plan and going for broke too early like the Vikings did; doubling down and pissing away the draft capital he has been accumulating for the next layer of building blocks we need in the 24 and 25 drafts.
I think Gute has a multi-year plan in place for what pieces he wants on the roster for the most likely years of our window (25, 26, and however long after that), and he's not going to jeopardize that strategic plan. I think he's keeping a foot in both worlds, "slow and steady wins the race" and "strike while the iron is hot".
Things he has said about his team-building strategy seem to indicate he recognizes that championship teams have to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that everything else starts from that point. He's said it many times in many ways; you can't control the game if you don't control the LOS.
2023 was the year he laid down the foundation for a dominant passing game; O-line heavy 2024 seems to be the year he builds the offensive line to support that passing game. He's got his quarterback, he's got his receiving corps, he's got his running backs, and this weekend he got the personnel to build the line to protect the QB and support the RBs. We had a good O line in 23, but not a truly great one, and it was still more fragile than a lot of people probably realized. I think Gute is saying "good" isn't enough; he wants a truly great OL for many years to come, while he continues to fine-tune and add to the other pieces. An O line that makes Lafleur's offense unstoppable.
Next few years are going to be a fun time be a Packer fan, and I think there's a good chance that 8-10 months from now we're all going to every bit as goggle-eyed about how incredibly good our O line became in one year as we were a few months ago about the receivers. I think we'll have a superior offensive line next year, that will anchor us for years to come.