Explaining Packers early-round draft strategy with 4 previous picks
Green Bay passing on fan favorites Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper DeJean is explained by examining how they tend to operate in the early rounds.
The Green Bay Packers have confounded their fanbase with their selections in the first round plenty in recent years, regularly passing over a prospect who had become a fan favorite. In Ted Thompson’s final draft as general manager, he traded out of the first round, eschewing the chance to draft T. J.
Watt, later picking Kevin King instead. More recently under Brian Gutekunst, the Packers did not take Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2023 draft, or Cooper DeJean in 2024. Both were fascinations of the fanbase and like Watt, went on to excel in the NFL.
Those two recent examples are an ideal jumping-off point to explain how the Packers operate in the early rounds of the draft. In 2023, Green Bay took Lukas Van Ness with the 13th overall pick. He embodies one of the core principles of how they have drafted in Round 1 under Gutekunst, as a truly elite athlete at a premium position.
He posted an "elite" speed score using the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) system, running a 4. 58 40 at 6-5, 272 pounds. Gutekunst has placed a premium on exceptional speed in his first-round picks, with nine of his ten having an "elite" speed score.
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