The Green Bay Packers used their first round pick on Arizona offensive lineman Jordan Morgan.
Seven years ago, Packer Nation fell in love with University of Wisconsin product T.J. Watt and were ecstatic when the outside linebacker was available with the 30th pick in the NFL Draft.
Packers general manager Ted Thompson then busted their collective balloon by trading back and eventually taking cornerback Kevin King.
Of course, the arm-chair quarterbacks were proven correct on that one, as Watt is a six-time Pro Bowler today and King was out of the league last season.
A similar love affair developed this offseason with Green Bay fans and Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean. So when DeJean was available with pick No. 25 Thursday night, you could hear the celebrations starting from Racine to Rhinelander.
Only this time, general manager Brian Gutekunst played the bad guy.
Instead of taking the fan favorite in DeJean, Gutekunst selected Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan. And of course, the natives got restless once again.
The guess here, though, is years from now, people will be far happier with Gutekunst’s pick of Morgan than they were with Thompson’s selection of King.
“Really athletic,” Gutekunst said of Morgan. “Really feel like he could probably play four positions for us, two-time team captain — just our kind of guy.”
In Morgan, Green Bay landed an extremely versatile player who will be given every chance to be the Packers’ left tackle of tomorrow. Morgan (6-5, 311) has terrific feet, outstanding athleticism and ran the 40-yard dash in 5.04 seconds at the NFL Combine.
Since 2022, Morgan has allowed just three sacks in 880 pass-blocking snaps. And of 96 FBS-level tackles in this draft class who played at least 650 offensive snaps, he ranked 14th in pass-blocking efficiency by Pro Football Focus.
The negatives are Morgan has extremely short arms (32 7/8), isn't as physical as some scouts liked and suffered a torn ACL on Nov., 2022.
“Obviously it’s a premium position,” Gutekunst said of left tackle. “For me, there’s only so many big guys usually in each draft and you realize that they’re going to go early and they’re going to go quick and if you don’t get one, you might be out of luck. There’s some of that. But again, where we had him valued, this was a pretty easy decision for us.”
Green Bay’s No. 1 need in this draft was offensive line after losing Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman in free agency, and waiving former Pro Bowl left tackle David Bakhtiari. Morgan should give the Packers the depth and versatility to field one of the NFL’s top offensive lines — and offenses — in 2024.
Prior to Thursday, Green Bay’s projected offensive line next season was (from left) Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom. The addition of Morgan, though, will give the Packers several options up front next season.
Green Bay has always drafted versatile offensive linemen capable of playing multiple positions. And as Gutekunst said Thursday night, “we’ll kind of let the best five battle it out and see where that ends up.”
Assuming Morgan plays immediately — and first round picks rarely sit — Green Bay will have some interesting options up front.
If Morgan wins the left tackle job, Walker could become a terrific swing tackle. After having a solid 2023 season, though, Walker could also emerge at right tackle and the Packers could shift Zach Tom inside where they believe he could be dominant.
Morgan also has the versatility to move inside, where Rhyan and Myers would be the most vulnerable of the starters. Either way, the Packers gave themselves several attractive possibilities to keep Jordan Love clean.
“He played left tackle, he’s got left tackle feet, very athletic kid, very sturdy/strong lower body,” Gutekunst said of Morgan. “And he did 27 I think on the bench as well, so he’s a very strong athlete. When you move inside there things move a little bit quicker and you’ve got to handle a little bit more power and he certainly has shown the ability to do that.”
Gutekunst has been on a heater, of late.
His 2022 draft produced a remarkable six starters — wideouts Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson, linebacker Quay Walker, defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, and offensive linemen Walker and Tom.
Gutekunst’s 2023 class was led by wideouts Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks, tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, defensive linemen Lukas Van Ness, Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden, and cornerback Carrington Valentine.
Those two classes were an enormous reason the Packers shocked the world last season, made the playoffs and upset Dallas in the Wild Card round. Right now, Gutekunst has earned the benefit of every doubt.
Emotions always run high around draft picks, especially with Packer Nation that lives and dies with every selection.
This year, they had their heart set on the playmaking DeJean. Instead, they were given the far less exciting Morgan.
While they might have bemoaned the pick Thursday — and uttered the name Kevin King — that won’t last for long.
This time, Gutekunst’s decision to bypass the fan favorite will prove wise down the road.
