Rather than make a pick late Thursday night, general manager Ted Thompson has the Packers positioned to get the second day of the NFL Draft started Friday night.
Thompson traded out of the first round for only the second time in his 13 years of leading the Green Bay draft room, orchestrating a swap with the Cleveland Browns that came with little drop-off and an additional pick.
"The board held up pretty strong, so, yeah, we felt pretty good about it," Thompson said.
The Packers moved out of the No. 29 spot, four picks from the bottom of the opening round, to allow the Browns to jump back up and take a third player on the night.
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Green Bay merely had to move back to No. 33, which will be the first pick of the second round when the draft resumes Friday night. The Packers also picked up the Browns' fourth-round spot at No. 108, which incidentally will be the first selection of the draft Saturday.
"The reason we were doing something like trading was we felt like the board was strong enough to absorb it, and I think it did, and we're looking forward to picking tomorrow," Thompson said.
Though the Packers are on the clock going into Day 2, the notoriously ambiguous Thompson wouldn't lead on as to whom the team is considering with its first pick of this year's draft.
"I don't think it's just one name that we would consider," he said.
The Packers have obvious needs at cornerback, linebacker and running back that could be addressed in short order Friday. They now have a pair of second-round picks, the other coming at No. 61, and are to close their night with a third-round choice at No. 93.
However, Thompson acknowledged a few times after making the trade late Thursday that he's willing to discuss trading back some more, given the attractiveness of having the leadoff spot in the second round.
"You bet, we're taking calls," Thompson said.
The only other time the Packers dropped out of the first round on Thompson's watch came in 2008. They moved back six spots from No. 30 and selected wide receiver Jordy Nelson early in the second round in a trade with the New York Jets.
"I think it's very good strategy wise," Thompson said about moving into a coveted position at the outset of Round 2 this year. "We know where we're at and what we're going to do. There's a couple of different ways of looking at it, in terms of being helpful to us.
"It could be that we highlight a player that we know we can get and (other teams) can't take him away from us, so we sit there and pick him. It could be that a team sees an opportunity to maybe trade up and get a player they didn't think they could get, and maybe it's again a trade that works well for us."
