GREEN BAY ENTERS DRAFT WITH 10 SELECTIONS
Late next week, the Green Bay Packers will welcome another rookie class to their roster through the NFL Draft, which will be held April 27-29 in Kansas City.
- Armed with 10 selections, marking the fifth straight year the Packers enter the draft with 10-plus picks, Green Bay will have plenty of opportunities to add more talent and depth to their roster. All picks are eligible to be traded.
- Green Bay enters the draft with a pick in six of the seven rounds (no picks in the sixth), including two selections in Round 5 and four picks in Round 7.
- If the Packers draft 10 players, it will mark the fourth draft in the last seven years that Green Bay selected 10-plus players (11 in 2018 and 2022, and 10 in 2017). From 2000-22, the Packers selected 10-plus players in a single draft eight times (2013, 11; 2011, 10; 2007, 11; 2006, 12; 2005, 11; 2000, 13).
- The event will begin in prime time on Thursday night, with Round 1 on April 27 starting at 7 p.m. CT.
- Rounds 2-3 also will be held in prime time, beginning on Friday, April 28, at 6 p.m. CT. Rounds 4-7 will complete the draft on Saturday, April 29, starting at 11 a.m. CT.
GUTEKUNST LEADS PACKERS IN SIXTH DRAFT AS GM
GM Brian Gutekunst enters his 25th draft with the Packers and his sixth as the general manager.
- Of the 11 players drafted in 2022, eight players played in nine-plus games and six players combined to start 48 contests. The top three selections, LB Quay Walker (first Packer ILB to make PFWA's All-Rookie team since A.J. Hawk in 2006), DL Devonte Wyatt and WR Christian Watson combined to play in 47 games with 27 starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Watson was the second rookie in NFL history to post seven-plus receiving TDs and multiple rushing TDs (Chase Claypool, 2020).
- In 2021, all nine of the players drafted by Green Bay appeared in a game with six playing in at least 13 as rookies (G Royce Newman, 17 / DL T.J. Slaton, 17 / WR Amari Rodgers, 16 / CB Eric Stokes, 16 / CB Shemar Jean-Charles, 14 / LB Isaiah McDuffie, 13). Seven players also played in the 2021 postseason for Green Bay with Stokes and C Josh Myers starting (Jean-Charles, McDuffie, Newman, Rodgers, Slaton). Last season, six of the players played in at least 10 games for Green Bay, including McDuffie, Myers, Newman and Slaton, who each played in all 17 games.
- In 2020, Gutekunst drafted nine players overall with four players seeing action in 10-plus regular-season games as rookies (G Jon Runyan, 16 / S Vernon Scott, 15 / RB AJ Dillon, 11 / LB Kamal Martin, 10). In their first three seasons, Dillon has played in 45 games with five starts and appeared in three postseason contests and Runyan started 33 of the 50 games he has played in and one of the three postseason contests he appeared in.
- In the 2019 draft, Gutekunst selected eight players overall, including LB Rashan Gary (No. 12), S Darnell Savage (No. 21) and G/T Elgton Jenkins (No. 44). All four players have played in 55-plus games for a team that has gone 47-19 in their first four seasons. Jenkins was selected to his first career Pro Bowl in 2020, becoming just the third offensive lineman in team history to be named to the Pro Bowl within his first two seasons in the NFL (Derel Teteak, 1952; Charley Brock, 1940). He was named to his second Pro Bowl in 2022, becoming just the 11th Packers offensive lineman to be named to multiple Pro Bowls, according to Stathead.com.
- In his first draft as general manager in 2018, Gutekunst made a couple of trades involving first-round picks that resulted in the Packers selecting CB Jaire Alexander at No. 18 and gaining the No. 30 pick in the 2019 draft. Alexander has earned second-team All-Pro honors from The Associated Press in 2020 and 2022, joining Charles Woodson (four) and Herb Adderley (seven) as the only Packers cornerbacks to be named to multiple AP All-Pro teams. Alexander was also selected to the Pro Bowl in 2020, making him one of three CBs in franchise history to make the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons (Adderley, 1963, third season; Willie Buchanon, 1973, second season). He earned his second Pro Bowl honor (2022) in his fifth NFL season, becoming the 13th defensive back in franchise history to be named to multiple Pro Bowls.
- Green Bay selected 11 players in Gutekunst's first draft as GM. The Packers had rookies play in a league-high 171 games in 2018 and account for 50 starts, the most for Green Bay since 2006 (66 starts).
- Gutekunst spent his first 13 seasons with Green Bay as a college scout, serving as an East Coast regional scout for two years (1999-2000) before switching to the Southeast region (2001-11).
- During his first 13 drafts with the Packers, Gutekunst was part of a personnel department that drafted several Pro Bowlers, including WR Donald Driver (seventh round, 1999), who is the team's all-time leading receiver, QB Aaron Rodgers (first round, 2005), LB A.J. Hawk (first round, 2006), who is the leading tackler in franchise history, WR Jordy Nelson (second round, 2008), and LB Clay Matthews (first round, 2009), who is the franchise leader in sacks.
- Gutekunst was promoted to director of college scouting in 2012, a position he served in through 2015. Over that time period, Green Bay selected T David Bakhtiari (fourth round, 2013), who became the first Green Bay rookie to start every game at LT since 1978 and has been honored five times as an All-Pro by AP, Pro Bowl RB Eddie Lacy (second round, 2012), and WR Davante Adams (second round, 2014), who was selected to five straight Pro Bowls (2017-21) and was named first-team All-Pro by AP in 2020-21.
- In 2016-17, Gutekunst served as director of player personnel and those two drafts were highlighted by the addition of DL Kenny Clark (first round, 2016), who has made two trips to the Pro Bowl (2019 and 2021), and RB Aaron Jones (fifth round, 2017), who is one of three NFL players with 5,000-plus rushing yards, 60-plus scrimmage TDs and an average of 5.0-plus yards per carry in the first six seasons of their career (Jim Brown, 1957-62 and Adrian Peterson, 2007-12).
DRAFT HEADQUARTERS AT PACKERS.COM
For Packers fans, the team's official website and social-media channels are the best source for up-to-the-minute information on draft weekend and the only places to listen to live conference calls in their entirety.
- Packers.com will provide biographical information on each Packers pick as it happens, with additional coverage by the Packers.com writers.
- Press conferences featuring General Manager Brian Gutekunst, Head Coach Matt LaFleur and members of the personnel and scouting staff will be carried live on packers.com, as well as the team's official Facebook and Twitter accounts. They will also stream on YouTube, the mobile app and the connected TV app (Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV). All player Zoom audio calls will also be posted on the site for later listening.
- Follow the @packers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok for live updates from the team throughout the three days of the NFL Draft.
- Watch exclusive videos with insight from Packers.com's writers, reporters and analysts.
