Packers will have to act swiftly in draft if they want immediate help at LB and S

Oct 28, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (45) celebrates a tackle against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the second quarter at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-USA TODAY Sports

The Green Bay Packers will have to act swiftly in the NFL draft if they plan to address the safety and linebacker positions with the hope of finding some more immediate impact help.

Like every team, GM Brian Gutekunst has typical size and athletic thresholds with each position group that he often sticks to during the draft. At the safety and linebacker positions, options are limited when it comes to prospects who hit those marks.

Recently, over at Acme Packing Co., they laid out what those specific thresholds are for each position and created a big board based on those previous draft tendencies. I highly recommend you give the article a read.

In short, at the linebacker position, out of the entire draft class, only four prospects meet the size and athletic testing requirements. At safety, it’s just four players as well–both by far the fewest of any position group.

Now, with that said, these measurements are only one piece of the evaluation puzzle, but unfortunately, it’s not a strong draft class in regards to high-end talent or overall depth at linebacker or safety either.

PFF would go through and grade each of the 10 position groups for this year’s draft, with linebacker and safety coming in at 8th and 9th, both receiving C+ grades and only ahead of running back.

On paper, safety and linebacker – along with the interior offensive line – are two of the biggest needs that the Packers still have to address. It’s quite possible that Xavier McKinney’s running mate isn’t on the roster yet, while Eric Wilson is currently going to be starting at linebacker when the Packers are in their base 4-3 defense.

Potentially, with the pool of players on the Packers’ board at these two positions quite limited, Gutekunst will have to be very calculated in how he tackles these needs. He certainly doesn’t want to be overzealous and reach for a player–drafting them sooner than he should.

But at the same time, with 11 draft picks, he has the flexibility to move around the draft board, and if the right player is available, then he should be willing to make that move.

The free-agent linebacker market is pretty picked over at this point, but if the Packers don’t feel they adequately add to the safety position in the draft, they could turn to free agency afterward with players like Rudy Ford and Tashaun Gipson still available. We saw them take a similar approach a few years ago at linebacker, signing De’Vondre Campbell in June.

The good news for the Packers is that at both positions they have solid foundations in Quay Walker and McKinney. As I wrote about recently, I tend to believe that internally, the Packers feel better about the current state of the linebacker position than what the general perception from the outside is.

In addition to the role that the aforementioned athletic thresholds play in all of this, Gutekunst has made it quite clear that versatility at safety and linebacker will be an emphasis as the Packers try to address these needs in the draft.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers will have to act swiftly in draft if they want immediate help at LB and S