NFL mock draft 2023: Packers 7-round post-Combine projection with an Aaron Rodgers trade

Aaron Rodgers gets traded and the Packers are starting anew with the Jordan Love era in this post-Combine 7-round 2023 NFL mock draft.

It’s only a matter of time before Aaron Rodgers gets traded by the Green Bay Packers. The New York Jets are all-in on the quarterback and making this deal happen and, as long as Rodgers doesn’t retire — which, admittedly, isn’t out of the question yet — he’s going to the Big Apple.

That, however, raises questions for the Packers. Sure, they know that Jordan Love is going to be the next starting quarterback, but what about the rest of the roster? This is a team that missed the playoffs with Rodgers at the helm last season, and now they need to replenish it with a cheaper quarterback and a new lease on life (namely not being held hostage by Rodgers moving forward). So why not fire up a 2023 NFL mock draft for Green Bay to get everything working.

But first, the Aaron Rodgers trade.

The 2024 second-rounder could become a first-rounder depending on Rodgers hitting certain thresholds laid out in the trade. Given the money both teams are going to have to work out here, the return package isn’t going to be all that substantial.

But again, this trade would usher in the Jordan Love era and, as such, the Packers would have to build around their new, young quarterback. That’s the goal to fill out the roster in this post-Combine 7-round 2023 NFL mock draft for Green Bay.

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NFL mock draft 2023: Packers 7-round projection featuring Aaron Rodgers trade

Packers troll Aaron Rodgers by finally drafting a WR in Jaxon Smith-Njigba

It’s been something that Packers fans have long decried while Rodgers was the quarterback, but Green Bay has simply avoided taking wide receivers in the first round. Even after the team traded away Davante Adams last offseason, they waited until Day 2 to take Christian Watson. Granted, Watson came on strong at the end of the year and Romeo Doubs, a Day 3 pick, flashed. But the need is still there to fill out this receiver room.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba would be the type of player that you would draw up in a lab to fit seamlessly into the Packers wide receiver room. He doesn’t have the deep speed that someone like Watson and Doubs does but his quickness and route-running are second to none in the 2023 draft class.

The two concerns about JSN are the fact that he missed the majority — basically all — of the 2022 season at Ohio State with a hamstring injury, which could raise some durability issues to watch. And again, the top-end speed just isn’t there on tape and was seemingly backed up by the fact that Smith-Njigba didn’t run the 40 at the Combine.

Even still, when you think about the type of slot player who can get open at all levels of the field and create space that Green Bay’s offense will need to put Jordan Love in the best position to succeed, this is the exact type of player we’re talking about.

Round 3 | Rounds 4-5 | Rounds 6-7