Brian Gutekunst Deserves A Round Of Applause For What He Did In The Packers Draft
Why I love What The Packers Draft
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The Packers 2023 draft class is now officially in the books. And let me just say, I love it. This could not have gone better in my opinion.
There was one outcome that needed to happen for me to love this draft and that was surrounding Jordan Love with weapons. That’s exactly what the Packers did. I would have been happy with just one pass catcher in the first 2 rounds. I assumed that hoping for more than that may not have been asking too much. But Brian Gutekunst surpassed my expectations and drafted 3 pass catchers in the first 3 rounds with 3 of his first 4 picks. First I want to focus on the 2nd and 3rd round picks because I did a deep dive on the Packers first round pick Lukas Van Ness a few days ago.
First off we get 6’6 tight end Luke Musgrave from Oregon State with the #42 pick which we got in the Rodgers trade. By that point Dalton Kincaid was already gone (drafted in round 1). At the beginning of the second round TE Michael Mayer and Sam La Porta also flew off the board. I was hoping that the TE run wouldn’t continue before we picked. Luckily it did not.
When we were up to draft Luke Musgrave and TE Darnell Washington from Georgia were still on the board. If you’ve been reading my newsletters over the past few weeks you know I love Darnell Washington. I wouldn’t have been mad if the Packers drafted him near the end of round 1 if they had traded back. He ended up falling all the way to round 3. Apparently he had some injury concerns which seemed to scare teams away from drafting him. So the Packers decided to go with Musgrave, a speedy pass catching threat with great physical traits. He has a 9.94 RAS and runs a 4.61 40. At 6’6!!
The Packers play action pass game is going to be legit with 2 athletic pass catching tight ends. When Musgrave has open space he can fly. If there is one issue with his game it’s that he seems to fall down at first contact. Packers 3rd round tight end Kraft is a YAC monster and is a problem for defensive backs who try to bring him down. They should complement each other nicely.
Now here is the most underrated move of the entire draft. After taking Musgrave at #42 the Packers had pick #45. They decided to trade back. Here’s what I shared on twitter last night.
At the time of the trade the move seemed somewhat meaningless, but the 2 players Gutey took with the 5th and 6th round pick he got in return from moving back 5 spots have crazy high upside. There’s no doubt both Wicks and Brooks have potential weaknesses, but instead of taking their guy at #45 they now have even more depth at WR and on the DLine.
With pick #50 the Packers doubled up on pass catcher in the 2nd round taking WR Jayden Reed from Michigan state. He’s 5’11 187 pounds. Slightly smaller than the typical receiver the Packers like to draft. He’s got blazing speed. The Packers clocked him at 4.37. He has the versatility to play outside and in the slot. If we look at the Packers roster he should be their primary slot receiver in 2023. He fits perfectly with Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. Watson and Doubs have the size at 6’4 and 6’2, but Reed can be the shifty weapon that can get open in a hurry. Perfect for the Packers offense. He also is electric returning punts. So the Packers get a versatile receiver who can also help out on special teams.
One crazy stat I saw from Matt Harmon who created a receiver grading metric called reception perception, found that Reed was the best receiver in the class when it came to beating press man coverage. Not only that, but he also beat man coverage on 70.3% of snaps in college. A guy who gets open a majority of the time is Jordan Love’s best friend. The Packers offense needed play makers and Reed is exactly that.
But that was not all!
Brian Gutekunst came into round 3 and gave Jordan ANOTHER weapon. Tight end Tucker Kraft from South Dakota State. Kraft is 6’5 254.
As I mentioned earlier Kraft has the ability to break tackle after tackle. He’s going to be a yards after catch monster for the Packers. I don’t think people would’ve thought it was that crazy if Kraft went in round 2. He’s strong and fast. Gutekunst also noted that both tight ends are above average blockers.
Before the draft we were questioning what Brian Gutekunst would do to help Jordan Love in his first season. Well, he gave Love more help than I thought he would in this draft. The Packers offense is now loaded with top tier athletic talent at both tight end and wide receiver. I bet Matt Lafleur is pumped to have so many weapons at his disposal. The Packers have the ability to rock with Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Jayden Reed in 3 WR sets and can throw in Musgrave or Kraft at TE. Then when they want to move to 2 tight end sets we’ll have 2 legit pass catching weapons on the field along with Watson and Doubs/Reed. The Packers tight end room has not looked like this for years. I don’t know if we’ve ever had 2 tight ends with the size and speed that both Musgrave and Kraft have.
There’s no doubt this Packers offense is going to be must watch football in 2023. This offense has the opportunity to be special. There will likely be growing pains at times. You can’t expect perfect execution with tons of inexperienced players. But at the same time the fact that there are not really any veterans sitting ahead of these guys on the depth chart means that they will have the opportunity to develop much faster than rookies did in years past. Moving on from Aaron gives the Packers the ability to be a little more patient. If Love comes in and plays at a high level we could see this offense become one of the most explosive young offenses in the NFL.
I’ll be out with more Packers draft content soon. Today I wanted to focus on the pass catchers drafted in the first 3 rounds. Go pack go!