Green Bay Packers ideal NFL Draft scenario post-Aaron Rodgers

The Green Bay Packers are going to need to move on from Aaron Rodgers sooner or later. If they don’t get a deal done in the coming days (which is possible), they are going to miss out on valuable 2023 NFL Draft compensation. The price to acquire Rodgers from the Packers dropped significantly after this past season, but why?

Well, for starters, Rodgers’ play took a bit of a decline last season, as did the Packers as a whole. No coincidence of the correlation there. Then you have the fact that, after the 2022 season, Rodgers took his “darkness retreat” and came back saying he was “90 percent” retired but then decided he wanted to play for the Jets. There’s not really competition for Rodgers’ services at this point now that he’s made those statements, and there’s also no guarantee that he will play beyond this season.

For that reason, the Green Bay Packers don’t appear poised to get a first-round pick from the Jets, but they might get their second-rounder this year (and something good next year). With that in mind, let’s say the Packers are able to get the 42nd overall pick from the Jets — in an ideal world. What might be an ideal NFL Draft scenario for GM Brian Gutekunst in the first year post-Aaron Rodgers?

Let’s look at the top three rounds (four picks).

Green Bay Packers’ ideal 2023 NFL Draft scenario post-Aaron Rodgers

1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Ohio State (15th overall)

As funny as it would be to see the Packers go after a wide receiver in round one after Aaron Rodgers is done playing, I don’t know that there is a better scenario for this team in round one of the 2023 NFL Draft than to land the top receiver prospect in the class. Although Jaxon Smith-Njigba is not your prototypical WR1 in terms of size and athletic profile, but he’s going to be a high-volume target at the next level thanks to his ability to get open.

Actually, it’s kind of interesting to think about this scenario. Let’s say the Packers don’t trade Rodgers before the 2023 NFL Draft, what happens if Rodgers really likes the look of the offensive skill position groups after the Draft?

It might not be completely out of the realm of possibility.

At any rate, I think this is the top option for Green Bay in round one, and if you try to picture the “ideal” draft class for Brian Gutekunst in 2023, there’s no way Smith-Njigba isn’t in it.