The Green Bay Packers entered the 2024 NFL Draft with a bevy of picks and used them to great effect. The team took Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan in Round 1 to replace David Bakhtiari and Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper to take over for De'Vondre Campbell.

While the Packers' draft was a success overall, these are the Packers' three biggest mistakes in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Overdrafting on Missouri linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper

The Packers did a great job in the NFL Draft of addressing their needs, strengthening the offensive line while adding help at the safety and linebacker positions. Linebacker in particular was an underrated need for Green Bay. The team released De’Vondre Campbell (40 starts over three years in GB) and is also switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense this season. These changes led to a lack of the necessary inside linebackers for the Packers.

The team drafted Edgerrin Cooper in the second round — a speedy ILB with 17 TFL and 8.0 sacks as a senior — then doubled down with the addition of Ty'Ron Hopper in the third round. Hopper is a talented player but Green Bay drafted well above his fifth-round evaluation. The Missouri linebacker was second in the SEC with 16 tackles for loss last season and also missed 18 tackles (third-most in the conference). Like Cooper, Hopper is a speedy, undersized backer, so adding two players with very similar skill sets is a bit redundant.

Green Bay also had several higher-rated linebackers available at pick number 91, including NC State's Payton Wilson — the Chuck Bednarik Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 who had a second or third-round evaluation — and Cedric Gray of North Carolina, another quick inside backer who plays downhill. Hopper could end up being a good find for Green Bay, but better prospects were still on the board late in the third round.

Waiting until the seventh round to take a cornerback 

Green Bay was wise to address a defense that ranked 29th in pass efficiency defense. Following the losses of Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens, and Rudy Ford (combined 30 starts in 2023) in free agency, the team added Georgia safety Javon Bullard in Round 2, Oregon safety Evan Williams in the fourth round, and Kitan Oladipo of Oregon State in the fifth round — giving the team three rookie safeties. The Packers also added free agent safety Xavier McKinney, an up-and-coming star for the New York Giants.

But surprisingly, the Packers waited until their final pick in the seventh round to select a cornerback — Kalen King of Penn State. After trading away Rasul Douglas mid-season, the franchise needed a solid #2 starter opposite Jaire Alexander. Eric Stokes, Keisean Nixon, and Carrington Valentine are far from dependable, with all three falling in the “Below Average” category in Pro Football Focus' player grades. The team is set at safety but still has a hole at cornerback that it did not address in the NFL Draft.

Not adding another day one or two pick

The Packers entered the draft with 11 picks and went on to select 11 players. There were a few minor trades up and down, but nothing notable for a team with significant draft capital. The team had a pair of third-round picks and had six picks over the final four rounds. Why not trade up into, at worst, the first or second round? As nice as it is to have a pair of fifth-round picks, it is difficult to see all 11 rookies making the final 53-man roster for Green Bay.

Using the traditional NFL Draft Trade Value Chart, Green Bay could have trade picks 88, 91, and 169 to trade into the back end of the second round, or picks 41 and 91 to get a late first-rounder. Another first-rounder would have been ideal to get an elite cornerback like Cooper DeJean or Kool-Aid McKinstry.

The Packers took the safe route in the NFL Draft, but it would have been nice to see them get aggressive with their high number of draft picks.