The Packers signed free agent Sammy Watkins, and General Manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday the receiver has “some juice still left in him.” That doesn’t mean the team is done at the position.
After trading Davante Adams to the Raiders and losing Marquez Valdes-Scantling to the Chiefs in free agency, the Packers remain in the receiver market. Gutekunst implied that potentially adding another veteran receiver won’t happen until after the draft.
“I think across the board, at every position, I think we’re kind of looking at everything right now,” Gutekunst said, via Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com. “So I think this draft’s going to be really important and then we’ll see where we sit after the draft and we’ll move forward at that point.”
The Packers currently have Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Juwann Winfree, Amari Rodgers and Watkins as their top receivers. Green Bay holds the 22nd and 28th overall choices, but Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, Alabama’s Jameson Williams and USC’s Drake London all could hear their names before then.
“I think it’s a pretty good receiver class,” Gutekunst said. “I think the last few have been pretty deep, and I think this one is another one. I think it’s a product of just kind of how these players are coming up through high school and college, how much more they’re throwing the ball in college and I think certainly seven-on-seven and some of the flag football youth leagues, these guys have been catching and throwing for such a long period of time now.”
The Packers have not selected a first-round receiver since Javon Walker at 20th overall in 2002, and Walker is the only wideout the team has selected in the first round in the past 33 drafts.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good quarterback and that helps significantly, so certainly I think there’s probably going to be more opportunity for that young player if we happen to go that route to come in and have some opportunities,” Gutekunst said. “Hopefully it’ll be quicker if we go that route this year, but . . . when Tae (Adams) came in, certainly having those guys ahead of him was a challenge for him to get the opportunities, where maybe this time it won’t be as big of a challenge, but I will say we got some pretty good players in the building that I think are very eager for their opportunity, which maybe they haven’t had yet.”
