Draft grades for quick reactions are the candy of NFL reporting. They’ll rot your teeth, but it’s flying off the shelves. According to a 2020 analysis by Football Outsiders, grades vary drastically by rater and have little to no predictive value for a class’s future success.
But anyway, consuming grades is more about a sense of hope for the future than anything based on predictive power. That being said, writers across the country are thinking the same way the Green Bay Packers and general manager Brian Gutekunst did in 2023. For a refresher, the Packers’ draft picks are listed below.
Packer’s draft picks
- #13: Luke Van Ness, OLB, Iowa
- #42: Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon
- #50: Jayden Reed, WR, Michigan State
- #78: Tucker Kraft, TE, State of South Dakota
- #116: Colby Wooden, DE, Auburn
- #149: Sean Clifford, QB, Penn State
- #159: Dontayvion Wicks, WR, Virginia
- No. 179: Karl Brooks, DE, Bowling Green
- #207: Anders Carlson, K, Auburn
- No. 232: Carrington Valentine, CB, Kentucky
- #235: Lew Nichols III, RB, Central Michigan
- No. 242: Anthony Johnson Jr., SAF, State of Iowa
- No. 256: Grant DuBose, WR, Charlotte
Packer’s Draft Grades
Day 1 Grade: A
Class Day 2: B
Day 3 Class: A
Analysis: I love Van Ness’ potential as a strong full-back who can play 5-tech. Musgrave (with the pick acquired by the Jets in exchange for Aaron Rodgers), Reed (picked a little earlier than expected) and Kraft (picked a little later than expected) give new quarterback Jordan Love three youngsters to explore this offseason can.
Wooden and Brooks will greatly help a slim defensive line depth chart. Clifford has intangibles and some physical traits on Day 3 to be a solid backup, although his accuracy has been inconsistent throughout his career. Wicks, DuBose (my favorite of the bunch) and Nichols continue the team’s effort to build talent on offense. Carlson has good leg strength but has missed 12 field goal attempts in the last two seasons. Valentine and Johnson were clutch picks for a needy secondary school.
The Packers did what the Packers always do in the first round and selected another defenseman in Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness. The former Hawkeyes’ standout is a pass-rusher in the form of Rashan Gary and Preston Smith and should find his place early in the team’s rotation. On day two, the team finally answered their fans’ pleas and bolstered their squad of talented players in support of Jordan Love, snapping up a pair of versatile tight ends in Luke Musgrave (Oregon State) and Tucker Kraft (South Dakota State) for a troubled one , game receiver in Jayden Reed (Michigan State). GM Brian Gutekunst added another receiver in Virginia Tech’s Dontayvion Wicks in the fifth round – a draft haul that should be a boon for the team’s new signal caller. Green Bay also added former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in the fifth round — a big surprise so early in the draft and perhaps a result of last year’s Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy success. Clifford is strangely three months older than Love, who was drafted in 2020.
Overview: D-Line help and weapon upgrades for Jordan Love were the subject of this basic draft. Compared to Grant Wistrom and Patrick Kerney by NFL scouts, Van Ness can win inside and out and hold the line of attack. Musgrave and Kraft made for a worthy TE double down; Musgrave offers real star quality when figuring out how to stay sane, while Kraft is a combo tight end who’s very athletic, can block and has caught 92 balls for the Jackrabbits in the last two years. Wooden was productive enough in college and worked well enough in Indy to cause a stir on Day 2 before the draft. Reed was prolific for all four years of his career and particularly in the second leg, returning three punts for TDs and showing momentum with the ball in his hands. Fifth-seeker Clifford beat No. 33 pick Will Levis at Penn State, forcing Levis to transfer to Kentucky. DuBose was #EstablishTheRun Podcast interviewee Mike Renner’s favorite wide receiver sleeper. While I’m skeptical of Love as a longtime Green Bay quarterback, I believe GM Brian Gutekunst set Love on the road to success.
Analysis: Brian Gutekunst’s first Packers draft without Aaron Rodgers was interesting given the strain of helping Musgrave, Reed, Kraft and Wicks, but it was a little too heavy on ability positions and lacked some required offensive line picks. Clifford was a terribly wasted pick as the vastly undraftable QB behind Jordan Love. Van Ness and Wooden need a lot of work to help the defense. Brooks and Johnson were their clear best bets, value or not
Scroll down and leave your Green Bay draft class grade in the comments. We’ll be conducting some polls later in the week to find out which picks were the most popular and least popular with Packers fans.
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