Brian Gutekunst wants to go young at safety. What are the Packers' best options?

The Green Bay Packers went full Leonardo DiCaprio this offseason, trading in their older stars for younger models. And general manager Brian Gutekunst isn’t going to stop despite some obvious roster holes and veterans available to fill them (we won’t take the metaphor any further).

But just about every team would like to get better while simultaneously getting younger and, preferably, cheaper. Gutekunst had to pay considerably to get better and younger at safety with free-agent addition Xavier McKinney.

“He’s a unique player to come available,” Gutekunst said of the 24-year-old McKinney, who Gutekunst called “one of the top safeties in the game.”

Now, the Packers just need more bodies there. So, where can they go to get younger than they were last year and still have a chance to get better?

The Green Bay GM added they liked McKinney “quite a bit” during the pre-draft process as well, a trend we’ve seen during Gutekunst’s tenure. When asked if the Packers would consider another veteran at the position or if they’d prefer to go the draft route, Gutekunst did not equivocate.

“Certainly, I think we'd always prefer to have a younger guy that's gonna have his best football ahead of him,” said Gutekunst, adding that the Packers have had success finding safeties after the draft as well. That’s true to a point. Green Bay signed Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens after the draft, but neither played well enough to become entrenched starters. Owens recently signed in Chicago and Ford remains a free agent.

He didn’t rule out spending money at the position though, noting that the team wouldn’t jeopardize future development or cap space to make another splash now.

“You can do whatever you like (financially). It's just there's going to be consequences to that, right? Not only within this year but in future years," said Gutekunst. “If there becomes a player that fits what we're looking for not only as a player. But financially, we'll consider it. We can do that, but I do think there's ramifications to that.”

In terms of quality young options, first- and second-wave free agency emptied the shelves.

Here are a handful of ways the Packers could approach that second safety position moving forward. Recognizable names like Justin Simmons, and to a lesser degree Tashaun Gipson wouldn’t fit with Gutekunst’s desire to get younger, so for the sake of this exercise, let’s take them off the board.

You’ll notice there’s no low-end free-agent signing, mostly because there aren’t currently options worth discussing. That may change after the draft as teams fill roster spots with picks. Re-signing Rudy Ford would give the Packers a quality backstop if they want to go the draft route and wouldn’t preclude them from making a bigger move if they so choose.