It is no secret that Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst loves his athletes when it comes to the NFL draft.

More often than not, if a prospect puts up pedestrian numbers at the Combine or their pro day, you should not expect them to end up a Packer.

But what exactly are the thresholds Gutekunst has adhered to? It is difficult to pinpoint exactly, but by examining the players selected by the Green Bay since his first draft 2018, there are trends which emerge.

Note: This article will often refer to Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score (RAS). This uses athletic testing data to build a composite score out of a possible 10, comparing prospects to thousands of their positional peers to have previously entered the NFL.

The first trend is that in the first and second round of the draft, Gutekunst has only selected well-above-average athletes.

Darnell Savage is the ‘worst’ athlete the Packers have drafted in the first round, and he put up an impressive 8.37 RAS.

In round two, A.J. Dillon’s 9.15 RAS (an elite score) is the lowest of the players drafted since 2018, although Josh Myers did not complete enough testing to get a complete score.

Moving onto positional trends, one of the most well-known thresholds the Packers appear to adhere to is weight for wide receivers. No receiver has weighed less than 191lbs. and been drafted by Brian Gutekunst.

There have been rumours he has considered breaking from tradition for Chris Olave in 2022, and that the Packers hold a strong interest in Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt this year, who weighs just 176lbs.

But as a general rule of thumb, do not fall in love with undersized slot receivers if you are a Packers fan. It will only lead to disappointment.

Size also matters for Green Bay at other positions, such as running back, EDGE and corner.

All three running backs drafted by Gutekunst have weighed at least 208lbs, while every EDGE player has weighed at least 250lbs and measured at 6’3” tall. The Packers have traditionally preferred bigger, powerful rushers over smaller, speedy ones.

When Jaire Alexander was drafted, Gutekunst mentioned he was right on the border of their height threshold for cornerbacks. Alexander is 5 feet and 10.2 inches tall, so this would appear to be the absolute floor for the height a Packers cornerback can be.

The minimum weight for a player drafted by Green Bay at this position has been 194lbs., ignoring Shemar Jean-Charles, who Gutekunst admitted was an outlier for them. He weighed in at just 184lbs.

Interestingly, the offensive line position may have an upper limit for height. Every OL Gutekunst has drafted has been at least 6’4” tall, but shorter than 6’6”. No offensive lineman selected by the Packers has weighed less than 303lbs or more than 321lbs.

For defensive linemen, the minimum weight threshold has been 287lbs, while for linebackers it has been 227lbs. There have not been enough players drafted at the quarterback, tight end or safety position to get a sense of any trend.

When it comes to the actual athletic tests players traditionally complete at the Combine or their pro day, the Packers seem to value the vertical and broad jump more than anything else.

These two drills combine to make up the ‘explosion’ portion of the RAS score, and the Packers care about this quite a bit, based on their draft picks since 2018.

Of the 46 players Gutekunst has selected, only five of those who completed the explosion drills received lower than a ‘good’ score, and none of them scored in the ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ band compared to their positional peers.

This is worth remembering when considering who the Packers may or may not draft. If they have a poor vertical and broad jump, they may be off Green Bay’s board.

On the flipside, the Packers do not appear to care much for the agility drills, which are the 3-cone and short shuttle. They have drafted plenty of players with poor agility scores or did not complete the tests at all.

The only position where this may change is offensive line. Of the Packers draft picks who completed the agility drills, none of them scored poorly or very poorly.

There is logic to this, as there is evidence to suggest elite agility is a key ingredient for a top NFL offensive lineman.

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So, when looking at players you would like the Packers to draft, consider whether they meet the traditional athletic thresholds which would put them on Green Bay's board. It will save you so much pain on draft day.