The 2024 NFL mock draft SZN is almost a thing of the past as the NFL Draft is set to get underway this week in Detroit, Michigan. The first round is on Thursday, with coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. CST. The second and third rounds are on Friday, with coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m. CST, and the remaining rounds are on Saturday, with coverage beginning at 11:00 a.m. CST. 

Green Bay! Head down to the The Lyric Room downtown next Thursday night, April 25th at 7pm for the first ever @cheeseheadtv Draft Party! Hang with @coreybehnke and fellow Packers fans and be part of our Livestream. $5 at the door, get there early for Carry The G specials and to… pic.twitter.com/ndfKUeM2pf

— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) April 17, 2024

Looking to do some last-minute research? The 2024 CHTV Draft Guide has you covered. 

• 2024 will be general manager Brian Gutekunst’s seventh draft since taking over at the helm in 2018. 
• As it stands today, the Packers own 11 total draft picks – No. 25, 41 (via the New York Jets), 58, 88, 91 (via the Buffalo Bills), 126, 169, 202, 219, 219, 245, and 255. 
• According to Tankathon's Draft Power Rankings, which "assigns a value to every pick in the draft and ranks teams based on the sum of their pick values," Green Bay is currently sixth in the NFL with a value of 972.4. Every team in front of them missed the playoffs and is picking in the top ten of the first round. In other words, this year’s NFL Draft is a golden opportunity for Gutekunst to differentiate the Packers from the other NFC contenders. 
• One big reason why the Packers are sixth is because they currently have five selections in the top 100. Since the NFL Draft moved to a seven-round format in 1994, the franchise has only had five picks in the top 100 twice: 1995 (five picks in the top 90) and 2006 (five selections in the top 75; LB AJ Hawk, OL Daryn Colledge, and WR Greg Jennings were the team’s first three picks). The NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, as pointed out by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. 
• 2024 will mark the fourth time they have owned the 25th overall selection in the first round (1967, QB Don Horn; 1999, DB Antuan Edwards; and 2004, DB Ahmad Carroll). 
• Other players selected with the 25th overall selection in the first round include: WR Santonio Holmes (2006), LB Jon Beason (2007), QB Tim Tebow (2010), LB Dont'a Hightower (2012), DB Jabril Peppers (2017), WR Marquise "Hollywood" Brown (2019), WR Brandon Aiyuk (2020), RB Travis Etienne (2021), OL Tyler Lindenbaum (2022), and TE Dalton Kincaid (2023). 
• When Thursday rolls around, will the Packers stand pat at No. 25, or move around the board? Gutekunst traded up in the first round in his first three drafts, which resulted in CB Jaire Alexander in 2018 (27th, 76th, and 186th picks to the Seattle Seahawks for the 18th and 248th picks), S Darnell Savage in 2019 (30th, 114th, and 118th picks to the Seahawks for the 21st pick), and QB Jordan Love in 2020 (30th and 136th picks to the Miami Dolphins for the 26th pick). A pretty good hit rate, if you ask me. Gutekunst originally traded back in the 2018 NFL Draft, swapping the 14th pick (eventually used on edge rusher Marcus Davenport) to the New Orleans Saints for the 27th pick, 147th pick, and a 2019 first round pick. Gutekunst technically moved up in the 2023 NFL Draft, from No. 15 to No. 13, after swapping first-round picks with the New York Jets in the trade for QB Aaron Rodgers, which included other draft compensation. In sum, the Jets drafted edge rusher Will McDonald IV with the 15th overall pick, traded away the 170th pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for No. 204 (CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse) and No. 220 (TE Zack Kuntz), and were gifted with four plays in 2023 from Rodgers. (The number of plays in 2024 is TBD.) Meanwhile, the Packers used the 13th overall pick on DL Lukas Van Ness, drafted TE Luke Musgrave with the 42nd overall selection, drafted K Anders Carlson with the 207th overall selection, and will have No. 41 in this year's draft courtesy of the Jets. I think we can now safely assume Gutekunst is a smart person. 
• Sticking with Green Bay draft trades, don’t be surprised to see one on Friday as the Packers have executed trades in the second round in back-to-back years. They traded the 53rd and 59th selections to the Minnesota Vikings for the 34th pick in 2022, selecting WR Christian Watson. Last season, they traded the 45th selection to the Detroit Lions, which the Lions used to select DB Brian Branch, for the 48th and 159th picks. The Packers traded back again, this time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, sending the 48th overall selection to the Bucs in exchange for the 50th and 179th picks. Tampa Bay selected OL Cody Mauch. The total haul for Green Bay: WR Jayden Reed (No. 50), Dontavyion Wicks (No. 159), and DL Karl Brooks (No. 179). *Cue the Larry David “pretty pretty good” GIF*
• Gutekunst has had a knack for finding starters or key role players in the last two rounds. Those players include, but are not limited to ... Carrington Valentine, who started 12 games last season and appeared in all 17 games, was drafted in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Rasheed Walker, who started 15 games at left tackle last season, was drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie started eight games in 2023, finishing second on the team in total tackles, and was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Jon Runyan Jr., who signed a three-year, $30-million deal with the New York Giants during free agency last month and started 50 games for the Packers over the last three seasons, was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. And while it is still early, Brooks, who showed flashes throughout his rookie campaign, was selected in the sixth round last year. 
• Other late-round finds include but are not limited to: OL Zach Tom (4th round, 2022), WR Romeo Doubs (4th round, 2022), WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (5th round, 2018), Wicks (5th round, 2023), and DL Tedarrell Slaton (5th round, 2021). 
• The Packers’ wide receiver room seems to be filled with talent, but will the organization look to add to it? This year’s class is loaded, and Gutekunst has drafted at least one wide receiver in four of his six drafts.
• Gutekunst has selected eight players in the first round, a group that has included only one offensive player: Love, the franchise quarterback. The seven other picks have consisted of two cornerbacks (Alexander; Eric Stokes, 2021), two defensive linemen (Van Ness, 2023; Devonte Wyatt, 2022) one safety (Savage, 2019), one linebacker (Quay Walker, 2022), and one edge rusher (Rashan Gary, 2019). And even before Gutekunst's time as general manager, the Packers selected a defensive player in the first round from 2012 to 2016. (Green Bay traded out of the first round in 2017.) That is all a fancy way of saying that the organization has selected one offensive player in the last 11 drafts in which they have had a first-round pick. At least that offensive player is good!
• The Packers selected three offensive linemen in three consecutive drafts (2020-2022), but zero in 2023. It would not surprise me if 2024 is another draft that features three offensive linemen being taken, given the depth issues they are currently facing. The three linemen selected in the 2022 NFL Draft (Sean Rhyan, Tom, and Walker) could all potentially serve as starters in 2024. 
• Right on cue, several draft analysts have mocked an offensive lineman to Green Bay in the first round. The last time the franchise selected an offensive lineman in the opening round? 2011, when they picked Derek Sherrod, who started one game in 20 career appearances. 
• A lot of attention has been paid to the players taking “top 30” visits with the Packers. Every NFL team is allowed 30 official visits with prospects. As of April 18, there have been 24 players that have taken “top 30” visits with the organization, according to Packers Wire – six offensive linemen (Amarius Mims, Georgia; Zak Zinter, Michigan; Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma; Giovanni Manu, British Columbia; Tanor Bortolini, Wisconsin; and Donovan Jennings, University of South Florida), four safeties (Kitan Oladapo, Oregon State; Akeem Dent, Florida State; Chris Edmonds, Arizona State; Omar Brown, Nebraska), three cornerbacks (Ja’Quan Sheppard, Maryland; Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama; Jarrian Jones, Florida State), three linebackers (Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M; Ty’Ron Hopper, Missouri; Trevin Wallace, Kentucky), three defensive linemen (Michael Hall Jr., Ohio State; Khristian Boyd, Northern Iowa; Maason Smith, LSU), two edge rushers (Austin Booker, Kansas; Marshawn Kneeland, Western Michigan), one running back (Ray Davis, Kentucky), one wide receiver (Jermaine Burton, Alabama), and one quarterback (Gavin Hardison, UTEP).
• Wicks, QB Sean Clifford, Brooks, and RB Lew Nichols all came in for a “top 30” visit and were drafted by the Packers in 2023. In 2022, the Packers drafted six players whom they brought in for a "top 30" visit (S Tariq Carpenter, WR Samori Toure, Wyatt, Walker, Watson, and Doubs). In 2021, Green Bay did not draft a single player brought in for a "top 30" visit. 

Oddly, none last year BUT

'18
Boyle
Burks
Donnerson
Moore
MVS
de Beer

(And he signed Jamerson a year later)
'19
Jace
Hollman
Bolton

'20
Love
Deguara https://t.co/x7KA2Cs4Z1

— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) April 25, 2022

• However, just because a player does not have a “top 30” visit with Green Bay does not mean he is off the team's draft board. 

Top-50 picks by Brian Gutekunst that did NOT 30-visit the #Packers:

Lukas Van Ness
Luke Musgrave
Jayden Reed
Quay Walker
Eric Stokes
Jordan Love (Covid-19 Draft)
Rashan Gary
Darnell Savage
Elgton Jenkins
Jaire Alexander
Josh Jackson https://t.co/WZczWC9AHx

— Ross Uglem (@RossUglem) April 17, 2024