Four things the draft could teach us about the Packers' future (and one thing it won't)

Drafts have a way of revealing what a team thinks about itself, how it sees the future playing out and where it wants to go. What insight could it offer for the Packers?

When teams draft for need, they tell us what they think of their team near term. The Green Bay Packers take a different tact: perpetually planning for the future. This can be frustrating for fans who still lament not adding a playmaker for late-career Aaron Rodgers, even now that such foresight brought the team Jordan Love. Brian Gutekunst and his staff live in the longview, understanding they aren’t solely drafting for a run in 2025, but 2026 and beyond.

With that in mind, what kinds of planning might they be doing? What can we glean about their plans for the future of this team? Here are four things we can take from the draft and one we shouldn’t.

The future of Kenny Clark

As Clark heads into the first year of a three-year extension, he stands to cost $31.3 million on the cap in 2026. Moving on from Clark would save the Packers $14.3 million, with just over $17 million in dead money. The savings would be nice, but eating that much on a brand new deal would be stomach-turning for the front office.

It’s a shame to reduce Clark, a long-time franchise cornerstone, to salary cap figures, but his play in 2024 brought us to this moment. Jeff Hafley furthered the experiment with Clark playing more three-technique, which robbed them of opportunities to put Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt on the field more, despite both out-performing Clark as pass rushers last season.

With T.J. Slaton out the door and no nose tackle replacement, it could be back to the A-gap for Clark. That might be the best thing for Clark and the defense for precisely the reason stated above: getting Brooks and Wyatt on the field more with Clark brings more juice to a front that desperately needs it after a disappointing campaign.