When Brian Gutekunst and the Green Bay Packers’ front office staff sit down with Mike McCarthy and Mark Murphy to decide who they’re going to draft, they’ll also have to determine another critical piece: who they won’t draft.
I don’t mean eliminating players with red flags, though they will do that as well. No, the calculation has to be made as to opportunity cost. A player’s value is as much determined by who a team isn’t picking as it is by the player himself. If the Packers take Harold Landry at 14, they’re not picking a host of other players, guys they presumably won’t have a chance to pick.