Packers take 11 selections into 2023 NFL Draft

GREEN BAY – With the trade of quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the Jets official, the Packers enter the 2023 NFL Draft with 11 selections.

The draft begins at 7 p.m. CT Thursday with the opening round. It continues at 6 p.m. CT Friday with the second and third rounds, followed by rounds 4-7 beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Throughout the three days, packers.com will have the draft covered. Packers.com/draft will be your source for:

• Bulletin stories and instant reaction videos as soon as the Packers make a selection.
• In-depth stories on the newest Packers.
• Live-stream coverage of news conferences with General Manager Brian Gutekunst and other members of the personnel department, along with conference calls with Green Bay's draft picks.
• One-on-one video interviews with scouts and personnel executives.
• Daily wrap-up stories and videos.

Green Bay's selections break down as follows:

• Round 1, No. 13 overall

• Round 2, Nos. 42, 45 overall

• Round 3, No. 78 overall

• Round 4, No. 116 overall

• Round 5, No. 149 overall

• Round 6, No. 207 overall

• Round 7, Nos. 232, 235, 242, 256 overall

The most intriguing portion, of course, is in the early rounds, where the Packers have three picks in the top 50.

This marks the third time in the last five years General Manager Brian Gutekunst has entered a draft with at least three selections in the first two rounds, and his penchant with such assets has been to move up via trades. To review:

In 2019, owning two picks in the first round (Nos. 12, 30) and one in the second (No. 44), Gutekunst moved up from the No. 30 spot – an extra first-rounder he had acquired in the previous draft. He traded a pair of fourth-round picks to Seattle to jump up nine spots, to No. 21, and select safety Darnell Savage.

So, with those three picks in the top 50, the Packers came away with outside linebacker Rashan Gary, Savage and offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins.

Then last year, owning two selections in the first round (Nos. 22, 28) and two in the second (Nos. 53, 59) – as a result of the Davante Adams trade that netted the extra pick in each round – Gutekunst made another move up. He packaged the two late second-rounders in a deal with Minnesota to vault up near the top of the round and take receiver Christian Watson at No. 34 overall.

So, in what turned out to be a span of 13 slots (from 22 to 34) over the first two nights of the draft, the Packers came away with linebacker Quay Walker, defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt and Watson.

Will Gutekunst be jockeying for position in the early rounds once again to get players he's targeted in spots of value? Perhaps, or perhaps not, but moving up or down in the draft is always on his radar as the draft unfolds.

"You're always looking at your board and trying to understand where it's strong, where it's weak," Gutekunst said this week. "I think you work really hard to try to have an understanding of where a player is maybe available, where they may not be available."

Barring any trades late in the draft, this could also become the second straight year the Packers select four players in the seventh and final round.

The extra selections are the result of prior trades and a compensatory pick added last month.

Last year, the Packers spread around their four seventh-round picks position-wise, choosing safety Tariq Carpenter, defensive lineman Jonathan Ford, offensive tackle Rasheed Walker and wide receiver Samori Toure. All four were on the active roster throughout 2022 and return in 2023.