Final Thoughts on 2025 Draft

[Thirteen Below]

So.... the big weekend has come and gone, except of course for the UFDA feeding frenzy.

What do we all think about it? I think most of us would agree that it lacked the real-time excitement and the "wow" factor of the last few drafts; it's been years since I've been less excited about a draft in progress - especially compared to how excited I was leading up to it.

I'm not going to complain about any of the picks, because Gutekunst has his reasons and he knows more about the state of the team than I do. I will, however, say that I'm pretty puzzled by a lot of them, largely because the way the draft played out didn't seem to correspond to what he was saying (or at least hinting) the last month or two about what the team needed and what he would be trying to accomplish.

I find it interesting that at least 3 and possibly as many as 5 of the 8 picks (depending on which source you go by) were pre-draft visits, although Williams appears to have been a virtual visit rather than a physical visit.

I also find it interesting how many of his picks seem to break with some of his established patterns. Not sure what to make of that. This is also the only year other than 2020 that he did not make a single trade, and it was one year that I would have most expected him to do so.

So what does everyone else think?

 

[Team Ronny]

It was a cool atmosphere being at the draft Friday night!!! Lots of people, lots of walking, but, overall very friendly people from every fan base. It was fun to see little Green Bay step into the spotlight! Wow did they deliver!!

I think the wr situation needed to be addressed, let's face it those guys down right stunk at times last season,and, once Watson got hurt, nobody stepped up. They drafted 2 guys with decent speed, the bigger guy is kinda Watson like,but, more of a do everything kind of guy. Golden, seems to be a faster, more polished version of Doubs.

The online guys, there are a few guys coming into free agency after this season. The 2nd Rd guy is a big boy.. probably gonna play alot. The defensive guys, mostly depth/rotational guys. I'm sure Hadley has some input into those picks.

Overall, hard to say if any of these guys will pan out. Gotta trust Gutey and the scouts.

 

[tynimiller]

It was a cool atmosphere being at the draft Friday night!!! Lots of people, lots of walking, but, overall very friendly people from every fan base. It was fun to see little Green Bay step into the spotlight! Wow did they deliver!!

I think the wr situation needed to be addressed, let's face it those guys down right stunk at times last season,and, once Watson got hurt, nobody stepped up. They drafted 2 guys with decent speed, the bigger guy is kinda Watson like,but, more of a do everything kind of guy. Golden, seems to be a faster, more polished version of Doubs.

The online guys, there are a few guys coming into free agency after this season. The 2nd Rd guy is a big boy.. probably gonna play alot. The defensive guys, mostly depth/rotational guys. I'm sure Hadley has some input into those picks.

Overall, hard to say if any of these guys will pan out. Gotta trust Gutey and the scouts.

I don’t understand the Doubs comp to Golden, can you unpack that as I am baffled?

 

[gopkrs]

Belton sure looks like our next left tackle. One of those all pro type guys that can protect and pave the road. If true, he and Golden will have made this draft.

 

[Thirteen Below]

Belton sure looks like our next left tackle. One of those all pro type guys that can protect and pave the road. If true, he and Golden will have made this draft.

Call me greedy, spoiled, and entitled, but after these last few drafts, I was kind of hoping for a couple more good players. But I think we will get a couple more good ones out of the rest of the class.

 

[Dantés]

Matthew Golden: Love the value of the pick. I think Golden can be a #1 option in a good passing attack in time, though he could be a #2 option and still pay off the selection.

Anthony Belton: The Packers got a lot of close looks at Belton and clearly were impressed with him. I think he provides a contingency at left tackle if Morgan doesn't pan out, but is most likely the heir apparent at RG.

Savion Williams: I did not see this pick coming, but I understand the desire to get the offense a RAC weapon. I think Williams would flop in most offenses, but LaFleur is one of the guys in the league who has a good chance of using him effectively.

Barryn Sorrell: It's really hard to poke holes in Sorrell's profile-- he's a great athlete, he had solid production, he's reportedly a hard worker with a high character. It seems at a minimum, he will be a valuable rotator.

Collin Oliver: I was surprised to see them take two edge defenders in back to back rounds, but I was a little suspicious if the Packers were interested in a DPR. If Oliver is just a speed rusher in obvious passing situations and a ST contributor, he will pay off the pick.

Warren Brinson: I don't know anything about him, but I was glad to see them finally address the iDL.

Micah Johnson: I had wondered through the process if the Packers would leave cornerback until the late rounds and that ended up being the case.

John Williams: This is a very "Packersy" OL prospect in the new school sense (i.e. a little bigger and not quite as agile).

Overall Takeaways:

-To me, the Golden pick was mainly about one this-- being able to beat man coverage. With Watson on the shelf, they needed more speed on offense and he has a great combination of movement skills and ball skills.

-Day 2 emphasized to me how much this team is prioritizing running the football. Belton will be a road grader, most likely at guard. He plays with tons of natural power. Williams will likely operate as an extension of the running game, be that out of the backfield or with catch and run opportunities.

-I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the interior of the defensive line. They clearly intend to put Clark back at the 1T, but the options behind him are basically non-existent. Hopefully we see them add more unless Brinson and/or Stackhouse really surprise.

 

[Team Ronny]

I don’t understand the Doubs comp to Golden, can you unpack that as I am baffled?

Doubs is the more steady handed receiver, who makes difficult catches look easy, from what I saw of Golden, he has similar abilities. Granted he is faster than Doubs, probably close in size as well. Can he be a better version of Doubs, who knows

 

[OldSchool101]

It was clear where we focused on upgrading. It was the 5th time across 50 years we went Offense trifecta with 1-2-3 selections.OL will get a significant boost and through that pushed better depth.

WR got 2 players who will see earlier playing time and who together upgrade the Room if Watson is out for any reason. Our Run block should prove formidable.

Day 3 was led by our 2nd biggest need. Pass Rush. Yet we also got some guys who are really good Run stoppers by wisely selecting an interior Georgia Bulldogs.

While underwhelming or not overly flashy past RD1, this draft quietly plugged or 2 biggest weaknesses. Pass O and Pass Rush They went after need in a win now which was wise imo. The last 2 seasons we picked Offense 1-2-3 was 2020 after our NFC championship loss and 2011 after our last SB Win

 

[David Ciembronowicz]

Draft is over, IDFA just about done, GB brought in multiple players on DL, OL, WR, CB but no one, not even staff knows if the guys coming in will actually fix the holes in this team. Nothing will be known until they get through next weeks workoutss and then pre-season- then, maybe we will know if the GB draft and UDFA signings actually bear fruit.

 

[rmontro]

I thought it was cool when Seth Rollins came out. And the fact that he came out for the Bears went perfectly along with his newly heel persona. Couldn't have scripted that better.

I'm not going to complain about any of the picks, because Gutekunst has his reasons and he knows more about the state of the team than I do. I will, however, say that I'm pretty puzzled by a lot of them, largely because the way the draft played out didn't seem to correspond to what he was saying (or at least hinting) the last month or two about what the team needed and what he would be trying to accomplish.

Maybe he was putting out misinformation to throw off other teams. I imagine there's a degree of paranoia that hovers around GMs around draft time.

 

[Thirteen Below]

I thought it was cool when Seth Rollins came out. And the fact that he came out for the Bears went perfectly along with his newly heel persona. Couldn't have scripted that better.


Maybe he was putting out misinformation to throw off other teams. I imagine there's a degree of paranoia that hovers around GMs around draft time.

And this would have been a very good year to use the old maskirovka (that's Russian for "deception and misinformation"). The conventional wisdom around the league was that we were desperately in need of DL and edge, and somewhat less so cornerback. So when he drops a few hints that he's probably going to be shopping in the DL, edge, and CB aisles, people saw that as confirmation of their own clever hunches.

What drew less attention was the fact that they invited 7 WRs for Top 30 visits (including a virtual visit by Travion Williams), and 7 OL - fully 50% of the visits. Their first 2 picks were spent on WR and OL; in retrospect, that was the true indicator of Gute's top priorities.

That careful attention to those two positions probably shows that those were the two positions Gute wanted to be most absolutely certain he was getting right; with only 8 picks, he didn't want to depend on double-dipping, like he often does.

Also, of the 28 visits (2 of them virtual), Green Bay drafted 4 and signed 2 more as UFDAs - a total of 6 players, 1 out of every 5 who visited. I don't think Gute ever tipped his hand anywhere near that clearly before, and most of the league never realized it until it was over.

And frankly, neither did any of us!

 

[Thirteen Below]

First, I want to say I really appreciate how much effort and insight you put into this. I'm glad Old School chimed in too, hopefully Tyni will find it interesting enough to set aside some time for it. Love to hear even more from him, although obviously he's had a lot to contribute to other threads.

-To me, the Golden pick was mainly about one this-- being able to beat man coverage. With Watson on the shelf, they needed more speed on offense and he has a great combination of movement skills and ball skills.

I saw another dimension to it, especially in the larger context of Savion Williams in Round 3.

At the end of the 2023 season, the Packers had good reason to believe they had by far the best group of 1st and 2nd year receivers in the NFL, and a Top 10 quarterback. Gute had every reason to believe that the entire group would likely take a step forward in 24, and Green Bay was only a couple of pieces away at a few other position groups from making a serious run at the Lombardi.

And we had a couple of promising young WRs who weren't quite good enough to start, but showed promise to improve and fight for a starting role.

Come 24, that.... didn't happen. At all. None of it.

3 of the 4 receivers {Watson, Doubs, and Wicks) either failed to take the next step forward, or outright took a step back. Reed was (at best) a push. More yards, but fewer catches and TDs.

Further, the "insurance" players, Melton and Heath, did not seize the opportunity to step up and show that they were ready to pick up the slack.

So Gute had no idea which version of the WRs we were going to see in '25 - the '23 producers, or the '24 disappointments. Which was dangerous on 2 levels; 1st of all that Green Bay would have a poor '25 season, and 2nd, that going into '26, we were not going to have enough information to decide on who needs to be extended and who needs to be let walk.

This draft looks like "covering your *** on every level". He replaced Watson's role in the offense by giving Lafleur a serious downfield threat, which should immediately make our whole offense function much better.

But we're also getting a good look at 2 new WRs who may be ready to replace our present WRs going into '26, and insuring competition for the current WRs and making sure they know we're looking for their replacements, so they'd better get their act together. I think Gute is expecting some improvements from the current players, but is not comfortable assuming it. He's making sure that one way or another, WR is covered next year.

-Day 2 emphasized to me how much this team is prioritizing running the football. Belton will be a road grader, most likely at guard. He plays with tons of natural power. Williams will likely operate as an extension of the running game, be that out of the backfield or with catch and run opportunities.

1000%.

Gutekunst and Lafleur seem to increasingly understand that the key to making a Top 10 quarterback successful is to impose the running game on the other team. They stood there on the sideline last season too many times, helplessly watching while the opposition manhandled our people in the trenches, and apparently decided that we're going to be doing the manhandling.

I like that direction.... during the Lombardi dynasty years, and the Favre Super Bowl and MVP seasons through the early 2000s, it was the O line who made everything else happen - Wahle, Rivera, Clifton, Timmerman, Dotson, Winters, and Ahman Green and Dorsey Levens who made everything possible... and then Clifton, Sitton, Bulaga, etc in Rodgers' early years.

Despite our history of HOF quarterbacks, Green Bay's most dominant years have always been built on the foundation of a superb offensive line and punishing running game That's the traditional Packer culture. Gutekunst finally seems to be rebuilding that foundation.

-I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the interior of the defensive line. They clearly intend to put Clark back at the 1T, but the options behind him are basically non-existent. Hopefully we see them add more unless Brinson and/or Stackhouse really surprise.

Gutekunst has expressed a couple of times that he and Hafley feel that the D line have turned a corner and will have a big year in '25. The fact that he didn't invest early picks, or even a lot of picks, on that position group seems to suggest he's pretty certain of it.

5 or 6 months from now, we'll know whether he's right.

 

[rmontro]

At the end of the 2023 season, the Packers had good reason to believe they had by far the best group of 1st and 2nd year receivers in the NFL, and a Top 10 quarterback. Gute had every reason to believe that the entire group would likely take a step forward in 24, and Green Bay was only a couple of pieces away at a few other position groups from making a serious run at the Lombardi.

And we had a couple of promising young WRs who weren't quite good enough to start, but showed promise to improve and fight for a starting role.

Come 24, that.... didn't happen. At all. None of it.

Good point. Another thing I would add is that Gute is probably going to rise or sink with Jordan Love's fortunes, and he wants to make sure that he has plenty of weapons. So stock that receiver room.