Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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No new receivers
After all the talk about this being the deepest wide receiver draft class in several years, the Packers didn't select a single one amongst their nine picks.
Turns out, Gutekunst didn't share the opinion of the group's depth, explaining he was impressed with a lot of the receivers at the top of the draft, but not so much beyond that.
Reading between the lines, it appears the receivers the Packers liked most were gone in the first round before Gutekunst was in position to trade up, which turned the focus to Love. And the early run on receivers in the second round took the next set of options away, too.
From there, he simply didn't see receivers who were going to unseat young players like Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jake Kumerow, and a returning Equanimeous St. Brown, all of whom he's betting are still on the rise.
"It wasn't like we weren't looking to add to that competition, we just felt that there wasn't a lot of great candidates that were locks to make our team next year," Gutekunst said, adding how difficult it can be for rookies at that position to make an impact, even when they're the cream of the college crop.
He also referred to the receivers' third year as their "sweet spot where those guys really take off."
LaFleur mentioned being excited to work with free-agent acquisition Devin Funchess, a proven veteran, but also wanting to get Kumerow more involved, give St. Brown a restart following his season-long injury, and push Valdes-Scantling to really hit his stride.
"The speed he has, he has to take that next step," LaFleur said of MVS. "That's going to be a challenge for him, and we're going to be all over him to do that."