GREEN BAY (WLUK) — It’s much quieter in Titletown right now than it was a year ago at this time.
In 2025, Green Bay hosted the NFL Draft for the first time ever. The event is being held in Pittsburgh this week.
Green Bay Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst met with the media Tuesday to discuss the team’s plan for this year’s draft. For the first time since 1986, the Packers do not have a pick in the first round.
“We’re going to do our normal process. The phones won’t be as busy, that’s for sure. I’m sure it’ll be a little bit more fun , because it’s going to be less chaotic,” Gutekunst said at his pre-draft news conference.
Each year, every NFL team puts together a board of the best and their favorite players, and usually, they’ll find a guy that they really love. But for Gutekunst and the Packers, this year is about tangling with patience and panic, as they don’t pick until #52 in the second round.
As per usual, the Packers will focus on finding the best player available. Gutekunst said as they build their board, their needs are factored in.
“It’s always hard watching good players come off the board. If we end up waiting 51 picks before we pick, that will be a long time, and hopefully, I have the patience and discipline to do that,” Gutekunst said.
The question is, will he stay put at pick 52? Green Bay has eight selections over the final six rounds. That’s a ton of ammunition to trade up, if it’s in the cards.
“It really depends on how the board falls, and if the board says, ‘Hey, there’s players worthy of moving up and taking here,’ we’re gonna do it. And if we really feel good about the numbers we have, we’ll move back and try to acquire whether it’s this year or next year picks, because we feel we have enough players to take,” Gutekunst explained.
More picks doesn’t always equate to a better draft. Even then, it’s hard to qualify success on the Sunday morning following. Whether you pick six times or 16 times, it’s about who you bring in, not how many, Gutekunst said.
“For me, I’m always trying to do my very, very best to take the best player available. I very much believe as we build our board that subconsciously, our needs are factored in. I think we try to do as much as we can prior to the draft to feel like we could go play a game tomorrow if we had to, and feel really good about our chances. Certainly, at times where you have players rated equally, sometimes positional need may factor in. But I try to fight against that as much as possible,” Gutekunst said.
While he wouldn’t tip his hand to which positions he would target in the draft, Gutekunst hinted cornerback is definitely a position of need.
“That’s probably our group, from a numbers perspective. As we sit here today, we’re going to add the most numbers, so we’ll see how that goes,” Gutekunst said.