Packers: 5 things Green Bay can’t do this offseason

3. Can’t address depth in the draft

The Packers are in a rare spot this offseason with their draft picks. They have a lot of selections and they’re picking relatively high. The new front office absolutely needs to nail this draft with impact players.

That may seem like a straightforward statement, but when the Packers pick at No. 14 there will likely be top wide receivers, offensive linemen and defensive linemen still on the board. Those picks would make sense in a normal year. However, this isn’t a normal year for the Packers, so those picks don’t make sense.

The Packers need to be focusing on improving their pass defense first and foremost with either rushers or cover guys. Secondarily, they can look to add linebackers to improve other aspects of the pass defense. It’s very unlikely the Packers go from being one of the worst to one of the best pass defenses in the league. Coaching changes will help, but the personnel will still mostly be the same. The 2018 season will be a transition year for that unit.

An offense with Aaron Rodgers at the helm will produce points at league-high rates. There isn’t a need to improve the receiving corps or add one offensive lineman when four of the five spots are solidified. The Packers need to add starters, not rotational pieces. Gutekunst should be targeting guys that can make an impact from day one and play a lot of snaps.

Differentiating between who to and not to draft

At #14, I expect the Packers to draft a cornerback like Denzel Ward or Josh Jackson, a top edge rusher such as Marcus Davenport or Harold Landry, or linebackers Tremaine Edmunds or Roquan Smith.

Vita Vea (DT), Calvin Ridley (WR) or Connor Williams (OT) look like they can be great players, but they likely can’t offer the same immediate impact that the Packers need to win right now. This same logic applies for the rest of the early rounds.

Josh Jones, last year’s second-round pick, is a perfect case study for this thinking. He was drafted as a potential replacement for Morgan Burnett. He wasn’t going to get a ton of snaps, but if the Packers were forced to part ways with Burnett they could hopefully groom Jones into an adequate replacement.

That’s a fine strategy if you can afford to wait a year on a return from your second-round pick. The Packers can’t this year.