5 worst draft moves the Packers have made with Brian Gutekunst as GM

It's almost draft time, so it's the perfect moment to evaluate past selections. Brian Gutekunst has been the general manager of the Green Bay Packers since 2018, so his six draft classes already offer us some valuable insight and a relevant sample size to discuss.

We are going to divide the topic into two: here, the five worst moves Gutekunst has made in his draft history. And another one about his five best decisions.

1) The Amari Rodgers' decision

Ok, we all know Amari Rodgers didn't work out and that they passed Amon-Ra St. Brown to take him. But if you analyze the process, it only gets worse.

First, Gutekunst deviated from his normal thresholds, taking an undersized receiver with bad athletic testing (especially his agility numbers).

And don't forget that the Packers paid a huge price to move up in the third round before making the selection. Green Bay had selected center Josh Myers (more about that in a minute) at the end of the second round, and Gutekunst immediately started working the phones trying to move up.

"Immediately after I got off the phone (with Josh Myers), I turned around to see if we could get back up to get Amari," Gutekunst said after the selection. "A couple of my guys had gone down to get something to eat, so we had to get everybody back on the phones fast. But we were trying pretty significantly to get up to go get Amari. It took us a little while longer than we wanted to."

The Packers ended up trading a fourth-round pick to move up from 92 to 85, which is just a terrible process. According to Rich Hill's draft trade chart, the Packers gave up 59 points and received back just 50 in draft capital — the difference is a fifth-round pick.

Therefore, the Packers ultimately burned a fifth-rounder to make the trade and butchered the pick itself.

2) Myers over Humphrey

Well, we all know by now that Gutekunst had a terrible draft in 2021. But that happens to every GM. The biggest problem with this one is that everyone knew it was a mistake at the moment.

Brian Gutekunst took Josh Myers over Creed Humphrey, who was widely considered the best center prospect of that class. On the consensus big board, Humphrey (44th) was 49 spots ahead of Myers (93rd), and it was hard at the time to find someone who liked Myers better.

The Packers did, and it backfired. Myers was a day 1 starter and has been the center since, but he's an average at best player — and the Packers will probably try to upgrade at the position soon. Meanwhile, Humphrey is an All-Pro center who helped the Kansas City Chiefs to win two Super Bowls.

3) Day 2 in 2020

The 2020 draft class was a tough pill to swallow for the Packers. Gladfully for them, Jordan Love saved the group and the positional value of a quarterback compensated for everything, but the rest of the class is underwhelming.

Day 2 was particularly troubling because the Packers reached twice — and in both cases, for positions of questionable value.

In the second round, Gutekunst selected running back AJ Dillon. He was the 62nd pick despite being the 115th prospect on the consensus board. Dillon recently re-signed with the Packers, but for a value close to the veteran minimum, and he hasn't been more than a backup.

In the third round, the Packers took an interesting fit for the offense, but a player expected to go much later. Tight end/fullback Josiah Deguara was the 94th pick, and he was the 176th player on the consensus board.

In that class, it felt like Gutekunst wanted to find immediate contributors and good fits for Matt LaFleur's offense, but it quickly went south.

4) Low value in the 2022 1st round

When the Packers traded Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders, the first feeling among fans was concern for losing such a dominant player. The second was excitement because the team would have so much extra draft capital.

Well, those early picks haven't brought the impact the Packers hoped. With two first-round picks in the 20s, Green Bay selected off-ball linebacker Quay Walker, a position with extremely low value and where the NFL has had trouble identifying talent, and Devonte Wyatt, an older defensive tackle prospect who hasn't been able to be a full-time starter yet.

Maybe this conclusion changes with Jeff Hafley as the defensive coordinator, but it certainly doesn't seem like the Packers got great value from their two firsts.

5) Trade up for Savage

In 2019, the Packers also had two first-round picks because of the trade down one year earlier. This time around, Green Bay got good results from its first pick, Rashan Gary (even though he wasn't a preferred starter until year 4).

But the second move was not as good. Brian Gutekunst got impatient and traded two fourth-round picks to the Seattle Seahawks to move up from 30 to 21, selecting safety Darnell Savage.

He had some good moments early on, but the Packers never took advantage of what he does well. This offseason, he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Savage was the 48th prospect on the consensus board, and the fifth safety, behind Nasir Adderley, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Johnathan Abram, and Juan Thornhill. Some of them are good, some are not, but the Packers certainly didn't need to trade up to get Savage with so many other options available at the position.