[Arles]

Michael Lombardi adds another interesting angle:

From the GM’s Eye: The Packers and Cowboys made unexpected but smart Day 1 picks – The Athletic

As for Green Bay: The Packers might have been a 13-3 team last season with an NFC title game appearance, but they had more needs than most 13-win teams. They could use more skilled players on offense, another tackle on defense, and more than anything, an outside receiver to take the pressure off their number one receiver Davante Adams. Gutekunst knows this. He knows they need to help Rodgers now. But he also knows there are some telltale signs that Rodgers is closer to the end than to his prime. In fact, last week, I was talking to someone who knows the Packers’ thought process thoroughly and asked him: Does Gutekunst understand that Rodgers is trending the wrong way? That now might be the best time to pick his eventual replacement? The answer was that Gutekunst was fully aware. His actions last night proved that statement to be correct.

Look, no one is claiming Rodgers cannot make plays, but over the last five years, Rodgers has not been able to make as many explosive plays down the field, which is the key for any quarterback. Rodgers protects the ball, he does not throw interceptions, but there has been a steady decline over the last five years in making plays down the field. Not since 2014 has Rodgers thrown above 8.0 yards per attempt. In 2014, he was at 8.4 yards per attempt, and over the last five years, he has averaged 7.1 yards per attempt. Over the seven-year span from 2008 until 2014, Rodgers averaged 8.3 yards per attempt. That’s a full yard difference, which might not seem like much, but it is significant. Now, some might say he needs better skill players around him, which is of course valuable, but most great players make those around them better. Russell Wilson of Seattle has never had the best group of skill players around him, yet all he does is make plays. Wilson averages 7.9 YPA for his career, and over the last two years his YPA has been 8 or over.

Rodgers can be upset and angry with the move, but it was one the Packers had to make to ensure there is no lull between winning. They are confident enough that they can improve the rest of their current team through the rest of the draft and offseason to continue to be successful with Rodgers in the immediate future. (There’s a ton of receiver depth in this draft, after all, and in 2014 they got Davante Adams in the second round). But to ensure the continuity of their franchise for the long-term, this was something that needed to happen, either this year or next. He’ll take some flak for it, but Gutekunst protected his franchise, which is his main job.

McGinn had good stuff as well:

McGinn: Packers GM Brian Gutekunst makes a bold move but will it pay off? – The Athletic

Gutekunst reacted aggressively after his draft board started getting wiped out. A source with knowledge of the Packers’ intentions said they were keenly interested in a wide receiver to play the slot, but then TCU’s Jalen Reagor went No. 21 to the Eagles, LSU’s Justin Jefferson went No. 22 to the Vikings and Arizona State’s Brandon Aiyuk went No. 25 to the 49ers.

At that point, some of the players of interest to Green Bay were left tackle Ezra Cleveland of Boise State, right tackle Isaiah Wilson of Georgia, defensive end Marlon Davidson of Auburn and one of a tightly bunched group of cornerbacks. Teams had started coming off wide receiver Tee Higgins of Clemson because of an arthritic condition in his ankle.

According to Gutekunst, the Packers considered trading down but didn’t have attractive options. They didn’t consider jumping ahead for the No. 23 pick that the Patriots would deal to the Chargers.

When Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray, another player admired by the Packers, went to the Chargers, Gutekunst got serious.

If there wasn't a difference between the WR or LB available at 30 and one they could get in the 2nd, maybe the team pivoted to the QB. I would much rather grab a potential QB for the future than a project RT like Cleveland or Wilson.

He also dealt with his opinion on the difference between the Rodgers and Favre situations:

One of the differences in the decisions was the fact that Favre was playing better football at the time than Rodgers is now.

In the five years before the arrival of Rodgers, my final grades for Favre were B-plus in 2004, B in ’03, B-plus in ’02, A-minus in ’01 and B in ’00. In Rodgers’ last five seasons, my grades for him were C-plus in 2019, C-plus in ’18, B in ’17, A-minus in ’16 and B-minus in ’15.

Counting playoffs, in his 12 seasons as the starter Rodgers’ numbers in 2019 ranked 10th in completion percentage (63.0 percent), 10th in average yards per attempt (7.20) and 10th in passer rating (96.4).

If Rodgers had been more impressive last season, especially in his two inept performances against the 49ers, Gutekunst might have been more inclined to keep developing Boyle and draft for immediate help at another position.