Yahoo Sports Packers again decline to draft offensive help for Aaron Rodgers, take Georgia CB Eric Stokes
The Green Bay Packers had the chance to fill an offensive need on a championship contender fresh off an NFC title game appearance in last year's draft.
Instead, Green Bay traded up in the first round to select Jordan Love, a bench-bound quarterback lined up to eventually succeed Aaron Rodgers.
With the fruits of that decision culminating in Thursday's report that Rodgers wants out of Green Bay, the Packers again had a chance to make a move on offense in a draft top-heavy with wide receiver talent. Green Bay instead stood pat at No. 29 while watching five receivers go off the board in the first round.
Will a cornerback change Rodgers' mind?
When it was their turn to pick, the Packers selected Georgia cornerback Eric Stokes, a player Yahoo Sports' Eric Edholm projected as a potential NFL starter and top-60 selection. While the pick fills a need in Green Bay, it also continues a long tradition of the Packers failing to invest in offense around their Hall of Fame quarterback talent.
Green Bay's history of ignoring offense at top of draft
Since drafting Rodgers in the first round in 2005, the Packers have spent a grand total of three first-round draft picks on offensive players. One of those was Love. The other two were offensive linemen Brian Bulaga (2010) and Derek Sherrod (2011).
Bulaga turned out to be a winning pick, spending nine seasons as starter in Green Bay protecting Rodgers at right tackle. Rodgers would surely have like to have seen more first-round talent like him.
Should the Packers have placated Rodgers by prioritizing drafting an offensive weapon on Thursday? It's debatable. It would have been far from guaranteed to sway Rodgers' reported intent to leave town.
But if you're the Packers' brass, doing everything you reasonably can to ensure that Rodgers sticks around while your championship window remains open is a no-brainer priority. But a front office thinking like that would have never drafted Love to begin with.
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