FRIDAY NEWS DUMP: What makes a successful 2026 NFL draft for Brian Gutekunst and the Packers?

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If Brian Gudakinst wants to make sure the Green Bay Packers are Super Bowl caliber in

2026, he doesn't have to change the world with the draft, but he does have to add some

impact players.

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It is a Friday news dump getting your questions answered today.

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Why are you not here?

Just wondering.

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Why are you not here?

With the every dayer club question of the week, because I love this question and I think

it's something that we always have to think about when it comes to the way that we judge

a draft.

This is from I'm just saying 316 without a first round pick in multiple positions that

either need depth or a legit starter for the future.

What percentage does Goody have to hit on in this year's draft for it to be considered

a success?

I think he has to hit on at least 70 to 80% of his picks, picks plus to be able to create

some extra draft capital this year with trades.

I think respectfully, I'm just saying, I think you're asking way too much.

I think for any, you could have an all time draft and not hit 70, 80% of your picks.

What this Packers team needs is one or two difference making players.

That's what they need.

And so it doesn't the percentage, I don't care if they have three picks or 30, they need

to add one or two difference making players.

They need another corner and they need another tackle.

To me, it's not about defensive tackle.

It's not about the batting average.

It's about the quality of the hits.

You hit two doubles, even if you go two for five.

That is useful and good for the Packers.

You have free agency still, you have post June 1 cuts, we'll talk about the post June

1 part of this in a second.

You still have plenty of mechanisms at your disposal to make this team as good as you

think it can be.

And I think that for the Packers, you're really just looking at I think one glaring position

of need.

Like they can get by with the defensive tackles that they have currently in a day three pick.

No problem.

It's corner where you have some questions.

And I think the addition of Benjamin St. Juiced is a crucial one for this team.

I think the idea that they need to like 70 to 80% and add additional draft picks suggests

that there's like 15 open roster spots on this team.

There's not, there's like five roster spots.

If anything, it's fine that the Packers don't have a first round pick in this draft.

Actually from a numbers standpoint, they don't have the roster spots to account for that

many guys, even if they do trade a receiver, which is something we've been talking about.

So 78% is crazy.

I think 40% would be would be damn good and 40% in any draft is damn good.

50% is like you're one of the best GMs in like think about that 50% if you have eight

draft picks, that means you come out with four really good players.

That is uncommon.

Those are the kinds of drafts that set you up for a generation, you know, an NFL generation.

So we're talking about five years.

Packers don't need that.

It'd be great to have that.

I'm not saying, I'm not saying Brian Guderkins don't try and do that.

But this team, given its build right now, doesn't need that.

And I think that's an important way to level set this conversation.

Ricardo Sayeg says we're sticking on the draft theme.

You've often mentioned that some players won't make the Packers because they're not the

type of player that they're looking for either because they're not crazy athletic or

they don't have a very high relative athletic score.

But wouldn't this be true for all teams?

Do you think or better yet?

Do you know if there's a team where this isn't the case?

It's true to the point that teams would rather have the good athletes.

Some teams are much more comfortable taking swings on average, below average, slightly

above average players early in drafts than the Packers are.

And when you look at, like Ken Laplatt who did started relative athletic score and takes

care of that database, has tracked this.

The Packers are consistently among the most athlete forward drafters in the NFL.

They care more.

And at the higher end of the athleticism spectrum, then most teams do.

And I don't even want to say that that's a good or bad thing necessarily because I don't

think there's a value judgment there.

Some teams are more willing to chase outliers.

And at some point I do want to talk about the outliers in this class.

And if there are some worth chasing and the Packers like this might just kind of be the

draft class where you don't have a choice, you kind of just have to chase those outliers

because there's not this is not a good draft class.

It's just not.

It's certainly not at the top.

Now I think they can find some good players on day two.

I think they can find some good players early on day three.

There's always dart throws to take as you move through the draft.

But it's just not something that I think the Packers need to be, you know, chastised for

by any means in terms of their focus on athleticism if anything.

And we've talked about this ad nauseam and I hate to to guild the lily on this.

But when you look at their misses, they're almost all like true misses.

They're almost all in the, they're not just, they're just not that athletic bucket.

And I think that's a, that's a problem for the Packers as they move forward here.

All right.

One last one before we have to get to break.

This is from dominguito 47, no, no judgey genuinely courier, excuse me.

Who is the, I'm just scrolling through the, the group chat here and there's some funny

stuff in here.

Who would be the most surprising pick at 52 who would floor you the most at pick 52 ruling

out cubie.

There was some back and forth in there that I grabbed in there as well.

I think an interior offensive lineman would be the most surprising pick at 52.

If they took a true center, if they took a true guard.

Now remember, Elton Jenkins was right in that range and was an interior offensive lineman

who plays interior offensive line.

If what they want is a guard and they don't, like, they don't have that many options in

their normal size range to convert a tackle to guard, which is what they normally want

to do.

What's also true about this guard class in particular with Emmanuel Pregnant and Chase

Byzantis and some of these guys is they're very athletic guards.

A lot of times guards in college are the guys who are not smart enough to play center and

not athletic enough to play tackle.

That's just not the case anymore.

You have to be a lead athlete everywhere now with how spread out the game is, with how

much movement is a huge part like I kind of can't stand watching some of these college

offenses because there's so many tunnel screens and RPOs and it's so predicated on movement

for the offensive lineman, but that means you have to, if you want to be a good team,

have offensive lineman with movement skills.

So if we take quarterback out, I would understand a running back at 52 because this is such a shallow

running back class.

If they took Mike Washington, Jr. at 52 because they think he can be a franchise back for them,

not that surprising.

If they took a linebacker, even if he's not going to play this year, not that surprising

because I hear Franklin's going to be 30 this year and we don't know what Tyrone Hopper

is going to be.

Isaiah McDuffie might not be long for this team.

If they took offensive tackle, never surprising with Brian Gutekins.

If they took an edge rusher, never surprising with Brian Gutekins, they need a defensive

tackle.

They need a cornerback.

We've talked about the receiver issue at nausea.

I think safety would be pretty surprising too.

But at the same time, Xavier McKinney might not be on this team next year.

And if you want to keep your bomb bullied in the slot and a manual or Evan Williams is

going to be that other guy, then maybe you feel like you do want one of those guys.

If they took someone like trading stooks, if they took a slot, that would be somewhat surprising

too.

Another day, you draft a slot player or a safety, most safeties in college, now play in

the slot too.

And what that tells me is they either want a mooch of envelope or back to safety or they're

comfortable with him in the slot.

They're going to move on from Xavier McKinney and so you got to get someone in there.

So to me, interior offensive line is the position where I would go, huh, that's interesting.

That's interesting.

I was asked about my draft crushes and that's a question I'm really excited to answer.

We'll talk about that next.

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All right, before we get to the draft crushes I want to get to another one from our power

card or who's asking about June 1st contract shenanigans do you think it's necessary doesn't

make sense to you no it doesn't make sense to me it doesn't make sense why you would

allow a team to say you can split up a player's money if you want to move on from him because

of when you're moving on from him.

It's like giving a team a grace period like hey here's here's this short term penalty

you have to carry his money on your books until June 1 but then you only have to count

half his money as dead money this year and then you can count the other half next year

like the mob accounting that goes on in the NFL it is absolutely astonishing to me that

they allow this to happen and not only allow it to happen they encourage it now the packers

generally don't like to do this if they're going to move on from a player their contracts

are usually structured in a way that allows them to just eat the money whenever they want

to get out because they're generally two years and we'll see and the packers are willing

to just say well even if it doesn't work great in year one will give you another year

to figure it out and then it's time to go that makes sense the problem for the rest

of the league is they don't do that they give guys a lot of upfront money in guarantees

they give guys guaranteed years in your guarantee money in year three in year four of contracts

because the agents ask for it because it usually ensures you're going to be on the roster

that's a bad way to manage your contracts but other teams do this it's a it's a tool to

be used when you really screw up a contract it is a tool to use when you should be three

years into a contract but you're one year and you're like we screwed this up it's for the

Kyler Murray's it's for the two of Tungo Veloas it's for the Russell Wilson's and it it allows

you to be less damaged by a bad decision and the owners want this for for obvious reasons

because they want to be able to get out of a dumb contract a bad contract if and when they make

a bad decision the packers are really good about this one of the reasons why they post June 1

players so infrequently is because they make a bad decisions with contracts so infrequently this

is one of the really underrated parts of the way the packers have been managed from time of

memorial Andrew Brant was excellent with this with Ted Thompson and Russ Ball has been excellent

with it in the Ted Thompson and then now in the Bryan Gudekens era as well he has been so smart

about the way contracts are structured and the packers front office has been terrific at evaluating

players what players to extend at what ages what players to bring in at what values and they have

been willing to say we will pay a Zadaria Smith above what we think the market would otherwise bear

out because we think he's worth it we think he can be that good we think he can live up to that

contract it's why I gave them the benefit of the doubt with the Aaron Banks contract

because I'm like look their staff is for my money the best staff in the NFL when it comes to evaluating

their players and players around the league already in the league I think everyone is pretty

hit or miss with the draft that's just the way it is these are 21 22 23 year old college kids

that you know so little about you should be able to make the right decisions about players

who have been in your building especially guys on rookie contracts where like should we extend

this guy should we not how many times in the Bryan Gudekens era let's just isolate it to that

have the packers moved on from someone and you go man big time mistake and we think of the ones

from the Ted Thompson era because they happened so free infrequently we remember Casey Hayward we

remember Micahide because they're the outliers we forget that when the packers moved on from

Jordy Nelson he had one good season and that was the end of his NFL career and so that's something

that I think we have to remember in all of this now I was also asked about my draft crushes

by big sus can you tell some of your draft crushes in the Friday lunch episode I'm glad we're

calling it the Friday lunch episode because it is the lunch hour here of course I just started

digging into these receivers and I have been particularly focused on the guys on day two and man

I love these day two receivers I I love these day Ted Hurst I said it on socials if Christian

Watson can go 34th overall from a smaller school with his athletic profile and his production levels

Ted Hurst like and Greg Kosal from NFL films and NFL matchup who like he has forgotten more

about football than I will ever know he's been doing this for 40 years he said what I said

which is if he played at Clemson or Oklahoma or even like Georgia Tech Memphis a lower level

major college school we'd be talking about a first-round player if Ted Hurst is there at 52 you

you sprint the card in you sprint it in because he's that talented he reminds me of George

Pickens you could have George Pickens and Christian Watson on the team together which by the way

the Packers could have done have they wanted to have they not drafted Clay Walker like imagine

imagine in 2022 if they draft George Pickens at 22 and Christian Watson at 28 instead of what they

did imagine how this team would look now I mean they might already have a suitable and you're

getting that skill set that ability to win in adversity situations he's he's not just Christian

Watson insurance he allows you to say hey Christian Watson you you either take less than the

Alec Pierce deal or a very team friendly version of the Alec Pierce deal or this is the new team's

number one receiver that's how good I think Ted Hurst can be Brazil is much more like

early Christian Watson where I think he's a really good player but I think for the Packers

he would be more insurance I love Chris Brazel by the way I also think he's a top 50 player

and if he's there at 52 what if one of those two guys is there I almost think independent of who

else is on the board now Julian Neal is another one of my draft crushes so if it's Julian Neal and

Ted Hurst both sitting there I think Ted Hurst is the better player but I would take Julian Neal

just because of his impact on this team and you already invested a first-round pick in Matthew

Golden a third-round pick in Savian Williams and I think that stuff is is important in terms of

that resource is already allocated but man Ted Hurst is one of those players that I would

absolutely bang the table for bang the table for I think he is a spectacular athlete I think his

acceleration his ability in the open field he plays tough he plays physical he will block

and then in the red zone he's your ball winner on third down he can win one-on-one in man

situations I don't want to preamp we're going to do a goody's guys on Ted Hurst that'll come out

on Saturday god doggy guys like I am just I am I am I am in love forget a crush I am in love

with Ted Hurst and I think that he would be such a spectacular player for the Grimit Packers

you can like I I'm always the guy who falls for the receivers it's the sexy position I get it

some people for some people it's ad rushers for some people it's you know whatever for me it's

always the receivers there's always a couple I fall in love with and I and head over football heels

for Ted Hurst in this draft so those are some guys I think on day two especially for the Packers

like I wish Christian Miller had tested but I don't think he would have tested as an elite athlete

I wish Kate McDonald had tested I don't think he would have tested as an elite athlete

and so if you want the guys that are the elite 991 RAS for Ted Hurst I believe

Julian Neal is a 9 plus RAS corner at six three two hundred pounds looks like a safety but moves

like a corner those are the two guys right now for me where I'm just like it's it's them no matter

what for me all right more coming up here I said our goody's guys we're gonna have a goody's guys

tomorrow the the squad shows up for you Jason Hirschhorn and Jacob Westendorf are going to be a

part of that moving forward I'm really excited for that and then our Sunday O T show with Brandon

Snyde we're going to talk about the Packers low rankings in the off season grades interesting

and more of our draft crushes some of Brandon's draft crushes will do that coming up on

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