Packers Athletic Thresholds Big Board for 2024 NFL Draft

While it’s not entirely exlcusionary, the Packers tend to have a type

The combine is long since in the rearview mirror and almost every single pro day is behind us. Only a small collection of players are finishing up their individual pro days if they had to miss their school’s due to injury. The database of players’ testing numbers is basically full.

Every year I put together a big board that lists all of the players that at a bare minimum did not ‘fail’ to meet Green Bay’s traditional athletic thresholds for their respective positions. The reason I utilize this method is that many elite prospects do not test at all or only do a couple of drills nowadays, and it feels foolish to exclude them from the board.

Our own Justis Mosqueda covered this several years ago now, but Green Bay tends to have a type. While the very first articles about this go back to the Ted Thompson era, General Manager Brian Gutekunst has spoken repeatedly about how he is a disciple of Ted Thompson and Ron Wolf, and thus values athleticism quite highly. While he has shown some more leniency than his predecessor did, most famously with Jaire Alexander, he is still that disciple. The thresholds used here are not perfect. It’s unlikely Green Bay actually has a hard threshold for a position in the way it is being utilized here, but for folks trying to get caught up on prospects, it can provide a nice filtering mechanism for you if you’re trying to watch prospects that fit the typical mold of Packers selections. I only include players that are currently in the consensus top 150. After this point, Green Bay has been looser with their thresholds and are often looking for very specific roles to be filled or special teamers. Players that attended the combine were also the only ones included. In most years, only a small number of non-invitees are even drafted, and in many years none are taken in the first four rounds.

Quarterback: Very low confidence in the thresholds here, but it’s basically a combination of at least 6020 (6’2’’) tall and some resemblance at least modest athleticism. Green Bay takes so few quarterbacks, and many of them have been day three, so don’t think Green Bay wouldn’t take Caleb Williams, who misses, if they had the chance/necessity to do so.

Runningback: Green Bay hasn’t drafted a sub-200 pound back in the modern era, though Aaron Jones was routinely weighing in in the 190s, per coach Matt LaFleur. They don’t require high-end speed, but 4.62 was used as the threshold here. At least competent agility has been required, with a 7.25 3-cone being the other threshold.

Wide Receiver: At least 5110, at least 185 pounds, at least a 4.6 40-yard dash, and at least a 7.1 3-cone. Green Bay has been pretty particular with their wide receivers, not that we expect them to be in the market for one this year.

Tight-end: They basically just don’t draft slow guys. At least a 4.7 40-yard dash. Don’t pay this too much mind this year. If they add someone, it’ll probably be to replace Josiah Deguara’s hybrid fullback role.

Offensive line: Justis wrote about this earlier, but Green Bay has traditionally been quite stringent on the offensive line. I did not eliminate non-college tackles, but that’s probably a worthwhile thing for someone to do mentally if they’re not expected to play center. Sub 7.78 3-cone and sub 4.75 short shuttle.

Defensive line and EDGE: These ones are more complicated since they are specialized density-adjusted athleticism scores taking into account straight-line explosiveness using the 10-yard split and broad jump, and then agility using the 3-cone. So there’s no hard number threshold, it’s a sliding scale depending on the size of the player.

Linebacker: Green Bay hasn’t spent much capital at this position outside of Quay Walker, so we have pretty low confidence in this position’s thresholds. Used sub 7.2 3-cone and sub 4.4 short shuttle. Green Bay generally looks for bigger bodies, but don’t require massive players. 230 pound weight minimum was used.

Defensive backs: Corner and safety have slightly different numbers, but the story is pretty similar across the board. At least a 4.6 40-yard dash and 6.9 3-cone. At least 5100 and 185 pounds at corner and 5100 and 190 pounds at safety.

And with that, your Packers thresholds board for the 2024 NFL Draft:

A couple of noteworthy things pop up right away. At Green Bay’s major positions of need on defense, linebacker and safety, it’s a rough class. There isn’t a lot of talent at these positions in general, and even less once you start looking for higher-end athleticism. Thankfully, another position where Green Bay will likely put some resources, offensive line, is quite plentiful this year.