So everyone seems happy with Cooper.
But lets not forget, he was the top ILB
coming out.
And that is the key to Gute being successful.
When the best positional player of the draft,
is still on the board. TAKE HIM>
That was the mistake of not taking Branch.
And so many others.
Top players always start.

Gutey has had his share of hits and misses for sure.
Branch was drafted #45 so he was passed on 44 times. That’s the case with every player the Packers should have draft in hindsight.

Every GM hits and misses in the draft. The same holds true for Gutey.

But there are some real bad misses that continue to haunt:

In 2019, the WR starved Packers traded up in round 1 to take ... Darnell Savage. Not only did Savage not pan out but Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf, and AJ Brown were all on the board.

Then, in round 3, the Packers took Jace Sternberger 1 pick before Terry McLaurin. Even Sternberger laughs at that.

In 2021 the Pack had a need at Center. The consensus #1 Center on the board was Creed Humphrey. Gutey shocked by making Josh Myers the first C to be drafted that year. Humphrey went the very next pick to KC where he has become an All-Pro player whereas Myers was one of the lowest rated Centers in the NFL again this year by PFF and he may well walk in free agency.

Green Bay also still needed a WR in 2021, so Gutey again traded up to take slot WR Amari Rodgers in round 3. The Lions took slot WR Amon-Ra St. Brown in round 4.

Finally, Green Bay doesn't often get a top half of the draft selection, but it had #13 in 2023. There were a number of players who have already contributed to their teams on the board when GB took Lukas Van Ness. To date, LVN has been perhaps Gutey's biggest first-round bust.

The reality is that all GMs are made by two things. The first is finding a QB of true class, the second is an extraordinarily fortunate draft or a couple of very good ones in close succession. I say lucky because no GM has ever sustained that kind of success.

Teams also need good coaching. A bad coach leads to any draft looking worse and stunts player growth as well, compounding the problem. The regression this year being so general is a sign of the latter regardless of Gute’s merits. Ordinarily a GM could address that.

Under our structure Gute can’t. It may yet mean we start over completely in the near future. Our D has been part of the problem, but may not be now. Our O design and calling definitely was this year and may have been previously. Gute and LaFleur are fast heading into a season where there are no excuses. LaFleur may yet take Gute down with him. This coaching staff isn’t looking particularly impressive on the offensive side.

20 years counted.
According to Pro Football Reference, most drafted players are busts. the only problem with their system is they don’t take into account the round they where picked. But anyway…
16.7% don’t even end playing for the drafting team (20 years average)
37% are considered ‘useless’, or busts.
5.3% are ‘poor’. Busts such as Jamarcus Russell are here.
So 69% are ‘poor’ or worst.
10.5% average
12.3% good 
6.8% great
1% legendary
That gives 20.1% good. 2 out of 10.

This is just a point of discussion, that's all.

We look at this history of BG's drafts and we are often told how Green Bay has wanted to get faster and more athletic in their player selections. RAS is a big driver in some of these picks if not many of these picks. If these guys look great in Under Armor at the Underwear Olympics (combine) and they come out with a really good RAS, GB gets a serious crush on some of these candidates. These are the players who make up GB's draft and develop crowd. LVN was a 9.39! Pretty impressive, right? AJ Dillon and his big thighs were a 9.18 when he was drafted.

The two players who made the biggest impact this year on either side of the ball were not selected in a draft by Green Bay, they were free agent acquisitions. Xavier McKinney sported a RAS of 5.85 and Josh Jacobs a RAS of 5.72 in their respective combines.

I get it. RAS is a measurable, and you do need measurable data sets when making decisions. Maybe, just maybe, GB is focusing a bit too much on RAS and missing some things with the eye test when it comes to film study and finding real football talent instead of football prospects and projects.