Packers: Brian Gutekunst ‘won’t be afraid’ to trade up in 2021 Draft

Having made it to back-to-back NFC championship games, the Green Bay Packers find themselves sitting at pick #29 in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

General manager Brian Gutekunst was asked Monday in his pre-draft presser about the possibility of them trading up in this year’s draft.

Here was his response:

"“It’s always tempting for me,” Gutekunst said. “I think when you’re sitting at [No.] 29 and watching those kind of players come off the board that you’ve spent so much time studying and kind of thinking about how they could affect your football team, it’s always tempting.”“You gotta be careful and you gotta be careful not to fall in love with any individual player. We’ll look at each opportunity we have to move up. We’ve done that in the past, we’ve moved down in the past, as well. But, we’ll look at each opportunity and, if it makes sense, we certainly won’t be afraid to do that.”"

The Packers haven’t been fearful of trading up or down in the draft, as was evident last offseason when the team traded up to pick No. 26 to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love.

Even further back in Gutekunst’s first draft as GM (2018), he traded up to No. 18 (from pick No. 27 obtained from New Orleans), to draft CB Jaire Alexander. Alexander, whom has turned into an All-Pro caliber player for Green Bay, certainly was a very good choice from Gutekunst.

With so many great players in this year’s draft, time will tell whether or not Green Bay will once again take the risk (or reward) by trading up or back this year.

Whether or not Green Bay decides to go the route of trading will depend on which players fall and how the draft board plays out. There are plenty of options and avenues for them to travel with different positions and possibilities that could arise player-wise.

Like Gutekunst said though, if there’s a player they like and they feel the need to trade up to get them, they certainly will. With the success they had in the past with Alexander, I’d be hard pressed to think they wouldn’t go that route again this year. With the first round a mere two days away, it’ll be interesting to see if they pull the trigger once again.