National Football League

Packers cover all their draft bases, and then some, with 2024 class

Published May. 2, 2024 11:18 a.m. ET

Six of the Green Bay Packers' 11 draft picks in 2024 came on Day 3.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking for those players come Sundays this fall.

Green Bay has an incredible knack for getting production out of their draft classes, up to and almost especially players drafted in the later rounds.

Take their 2023 draft for example. The only three players (out of 13 picks) that didn't see the field were backup quarterback Sean Clifford, seventh-round wide receiver Grant Dubose, who spent most of the season on the Packers' practice squad and running back Lew Nichols, who was released by the team before the start of the season after spending time on injured reserve.

That's a pretty good hit rate that's made even better when looking at the amount of work all those rookies got. The class as a whole played over 5,000 snaps for the Packers in 2023 with 52 starts, according to the Packers' official website. They got significant playing time from not one but two seventh-round picks, including cornerback Carrington Valentine, who played 62.1 percent of the team's defensive snaps.

I say all this to set up how we should be viewing this year's draft class, where the Packers covered every need they had, often multiple times over. Green Bay is undergoing a defensive overhaul under new coordinator Jeff Hafley, who will have the Packers running a base 4-3 defense for the first time in 15 years.

Defensive schemes are more fluid than ever, so more than the base personnel changes, the most important change is how crucial safeties are to Hafley's system. They are so important that the team uncharacteristically went out and spent a whole lot of money to get safety Xavier McKinney, a proven veteran who played 100 percent of the defensive snaps for the New York Giants last year. They weren't done, either. In the second round of the draft, the Packers selected safety Javon Bullard out of Georgia with the 58th pick. Great. They now have a versatile guy to play next to McKinney or wherever in the defensive backfield. Except the Packers still weren't done. They spent three of their 11 picks this year on safeties.

If you were inclined to think of a guy like Evan Williams, taken at No. 111 in the fourth round out of Oregon, or Kitan Oladapo taken in the fifth out of Oregon State, were throwaway picks that the Packers were taking a chance on, no one would blame you. Except, this is Green Bay we're talking about. Remember that lens I asked you to look at this draft class through? The Packers don't waste picks, even on Day 3. There's a very real possibility we see Oladapo firmly in a safety rotation or used in certain DB-heavy packages. At the very least, the Packers are getting quality depth with players they actually believe in.

"Just the physicality these guys showed on tape," head coach Matt LaFleur said of the defensive players added in the draft. "Their ability to run and hit, it leaves us very optimistic."

Can Packers keep ascending into 2024 season?

The fact that Green Bay spent their first pick of the draft on offense should mean they have a lot of faith in offensive tackle Jordan Morgan, too. The Packers have used their first pick of the draft on a defensive player 11 out of the last 12 years, save for in 2020 when they took their current franchise quarterback. Morgan will be expected to address their need at left tackle with the release of David Bakhtiari and the question mark still on Rasheed Walker. For good measure, the Packers also got center/guard Jacob Monk from Duke in the fifth round and another tackle in the sixth round in Travis Glover out of Georgia State. Don't be surprised come camp to see those guys fully entrenched (get it?) in the competition to find the best five players to put in front of Jordan Love.

Green Bay also got multiple linebackers in this year's draft, including fan-favorite Edgerrin Cooper out of Texas A&M. He should pair nicely with Quay Walker as a guy who can not only patrol the middle level of the defense but can be involved in blitz packages and rush the passer. Was he the only linebacker the Packers took? Of course not. They went out and got Ty'Ron Hopper out of Mizzou in the third round.

The point is, Green Bay is very intentional with their draft classes because they intend to get production out of the whole thing, whether that's in the form of actual play time or as quality depth.

"That's always the goal, is to bring in as much talent as possible," LaFleur said. "Now it's our job to maximize the talent and try to push these guys to new limits. We certainly added, especially in some areas that we really needed it, added a lot of competition."

It's what makes the Packers such a dangerous team across multiple positions. Despite being the youngest team in the league last year, Green Bay housed the Dallas Cowboys at their place and cruised to the divisional round of the playoffs. That was helped by the fact that it's hard to prepare for an offense with a seemingly endless supply of young weapons, as an example. If it's not Romeo Doubs or Jayden Reed getting into the end zone, it's Tucker Kraft or Bo Melton. There's just no way to account for every single player on the field when Green Bay can rotate them in and out faster than defenses can keep up and get production out of all of them.

That starts with good drafts, and general manager Brian Gutekunst seems to have done it again in 2024.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.