Packers: Brian Gutekunst is right to be open to drafting QB early by Freddie Boston

The Green Bay Packers will have double-digit picks in April’s draft.

We knew the Green Bay Packers already had nine picks in the upcoming draft, but they’ve also received a sixth-round pick from the Tennessee Titans in a trade for edge rusher Reggie Gilbert last August.

Initially, it was reported to be a conditional 2020 draft pick.

We now know that the pick Green Bay received was a sixth-rounder, according to Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com.

The #Packers wound up with 10 draft picks. They received a sixth-rounder from Tennessee for Reggie Gilbert. — Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) February 21, 2020

This gives the Packers a total of 10 picks in this year’s draft, assuming they don’t receive any compensatory draft selections, which is the expectation.

It’s more good work by general manager Brian Gutekunst. Gilbert might not have even made the 53-man roster this past season, but by trading him to the Titans, Gutekunst was able to bring back another draft pick. Green Bay now has the flexibility to either pick 10 times in the draft or potentially package together a number of picks and trade up.

Gilbert played in 11 games for the Titans, including five starts. He made 22 tackles, a sack and three quarterback hits. It’s hard to imagine he would’ve played anywhere near as many snaps in Green Bay if he had made the roster given the dominance of Za’Darius and Preston Smith and the snaps that went to Kyler Fackrell and Rashan Gary.

While the Packers likely won’t receive any compensatory draft picks for the second year in a row, Gutekunst has managed to still add more selections via trades. Four of the team’s 10 picks in this year’s drafts have come from other teams in a trade.

Time will tell whether the Packers will use all 10 of these draft picks or trade up at some point. But if Gutekunst’s first two drafts are anything to go by, there’s a good chance he’ll move up the board somewhere during the three-day event.