Will the Packers diversify their receiving corps in 2020 NFL Draft?

It’s clear that the Green Bay Packers have a major need at receiver. But what type of receiver(s) will they take in the 2020 NFL Draft?

The Packers have had a “type” at most positions in the NFL Draft since the Ted Thompson era. See this piece on Cheesehead TV from Justis Mosqueda for details. They typically favor players with good-to-great athletic profile/RAS scores, though the parameters vary by position. In general, it’s a sound strategy.

One potential drawback, though, is that this can lead to a lack of diversity in the types of players available at a given position. To an extent, the Packers find themselves in that situation at receiver.

Of their presumed current top five receivers, only Davante Adams is shorter than six-foot-four. The group is filled with big players, many of whom have good-to-great long speed, but few of whom can count short-area quickness as a strength. Their strengths tend to lean toward body positioning and winning at the catch point, rather than creating instant separation or making defenders miss after the catch. (None of this applies to Adams, who excels in every facet of being a receiver).

The Packers are missing a Randall Cobb-type receiver on the roster, a traditional slot player. Tyler Ervin sort of fills that role, but he’s technically listed as a running back and is hardly a lock to even make the team in 2020. A slot receiver with game-breaking speed and quickness can be lethal in the screen game, short passing game, and out of the backfield, as the Packers witnessed twice when facing Deebo Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers last year.

But will Brian Gutekunst care?

Heading into the 2019 NFL Draft, Gutekunst had already signed Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith to massive contracts as edge defenders. The Smiths are both big, physical edges who can defend the run well and even rush from the interior on passing downs.

A logical line of thinking was that the team would pursue a different type of edge rusher in the draft, one who attacked offensive tackles primarily with speed and flexibility. But rather than opting for someone like Brian Burns, Gutekunst took another pass rusher of the same ilk in Rashan Gary.

Gutekunst is likely to select at least one receiver in the first two rounds, and he’ll have plenty of quality pass-catchers to choose from. The big-bodied, more physical targets include Tee Higgins, Denzel Mims, Michael Pittman, and Chase Claypool.

The smaller, quicker players are less abundant and include players such as Jalen Reagon and K.J. Hamler. And this is of course too simplistic of a way to divide the receivers—plenty of the aforementioned receivers, as well as others such as Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk, have a mix of both skillsets in their games.

Whichever pass-catcher(s) the team ends up with, it will be up to Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff to use them most effectively. It will be intriguing to see how things shake out, and the ramifications Gutekunst’s decisions have on the field in 2020 and beyond.