Another NFL draft has come and gone without the Packers selecting a wide receiver in the first round.
Although Green Bay traded Davante Adams to the Raiders and thus had two first round picks, they selected a pair of Georgia defensive players with them — linebacker Quay Walker at No. 22. and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt at No. 28.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out what Aaron Rodgers thought about this situation.
Rodgers was on “The Pat McAfee Show” live during the end of the first round, and took a rather zen-like approach to the fact that general manager Brian Gutekunst did not restock his weapons arsenal.
“We’ve had a lot of success with second and third round receivers in Green Bay,” Rodgers said.
He mentioned Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb, James Jones and Adams, and how they’ve all worked out great.
He mentioned there have been a lot of wide receiver busts in the history of the first round.
“There’s not a lot of Calvin Johnsons and Julio Joneses,” he said.
When talking about the Wyatt pick, Rodgers said he had “a little insight” on their thought process.
“I had been talking to them throughout the night,” Rodgers said. “I know they really liked Wyatt early on and were wondering if he was going to be there, at either pick I believe. When the linebacker was there in the 20s, and all six of those receivers … were gone, I think it was pretty obvious that they wanted to shore up those two spots in their mind, which was another inside backer and a defensive lineman.”
Rodgers also talked about how the last time the Packers had two picks in the first round, they selected B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews. He noted that Raji was a key contributor to the Super Bowl XLV run in 2010-11 and Matthews became the franchise’s all-time sack leader.
Ultimately, he said, he trusted the process with the front office.
The last time the Packers drafted a wide receiver in the first round was Javon Walker in 2002.
