7 draft picks the Packers gave up on too soon

Oren Burks, LB (Round 3, 2018)

This one might be pretty mild by comparison to others over the course of the last 30 or so years for the Green Bay Packers, but it might officially be fair to say that Green Bay gave up on Oren Burks a little too soon.

Burks, a former third-round pick out of Vanderbilt, never played more than 205 defensive snaps in any of his four seasons with Green Bay. He was a consistent special teams player for the Packers, but once his rookie contract expired, the team moved on. And about as soon as Burks moved on, he started finding opportunities to thrive elsewhere.

He set back-to-back career-highs in tackles in his first two years with the 49ers (38 in 2022, 46 in 2023) and parlayed that performance into a one-year deal with the Eagles where he might have a shot to start in Vic Fangio's defense. The Eagles moved on from both starting linebackers they had during their NFC Championship run a couple of seasons ago, and that really ended up biting them this past year.

They may need two new starters this offseason, so Burks is landing in a good spot with an outstanding defensive coach.

Micah Hyde, SAF (Round 5, 2013)

The Green Bay Packers did just about everything right with Micah Hyde in his time with the organization. Where did they go wrong?

Well, they didn't sign him to a second contract in the 2017 offseason. The Packers invested a second-round pick in Josh Jones in 2017 and a first-round pick in Darnell Savage in 2019, proving they made the wrong decision moving on from Hyde after the 2016 campaign.

Hyde immediately was named to a Pro Bowl in his first year with the Buffalo Bills and was selected to multiple All-Pro teams in his seven seasons with the team. He had almost 300 total tackles and 16 interceptions in his seven seasons in Buffalo.

He was one of the best players on the Bills' defense over the last seven years and has played at a high level basically since he came into the league out of Iowa, where he was an underrated prospect to begin with. The Packers just gave up too soon. The grass wasn't exactly greener when it comes to their replacement attempts after watching him walk in free agency.