The Green Bay Packers have 11 selections remaining in the 2012 NFL Draft. Four of those selections are compensatory picks. The other seven can be traded. Two of those compensatory picks are in the fourth round, meaning Ted Thompson has some solid arsenal to make a trade on Friday, even if there are late 4th round prospects that he values very highly. The reasons for making a trade up aren't rocket science, but we'll go over them anyway.
There are some great players left
Courtney Upshaw, Devon Still, Jerel Worthy and Peter Konz are among the guys still available that I think are first round talents. The Worthy and Still fill immediate needs for the Packers, Konz fills an eventual need and Upshaw would still be extremely useful. There are probably some other guys who will go in the top half of the second that we're not considering, but Thompson and others have high grades on.
The Packers don't have that many needs
The Packers' defense was poor last year, but this is a 15-1 team that didn't lose any key players that they did not replace. Most of the stars of the team are young. This is not a team that needs to stockpile draft picks and pick up a high volume of good football players. They just need to go get the best players they can possibly get, and not worry about volume.
There's a drop off in quality around 45-50
There were about six truly elite guys in this draft class and another 10-15 surefire first rounders after that. The players from 20-25 down to 45-50 are all similar in talent, all late 1st-early 2nd guys. After that, there seems to be a bit of a drop-off. If the Packers wait until 59, they might not get a guy who can contribute early in his career.
So what's it going to take to move up?
Here's a link to the NFL Draft trade value chart. We've had debates about whether or not this is obsolete, but no one's made a better one and the trades yesterday followed it closely, so we're going to stick with it. If the Packers packaged their 2nd, 4th and 5th round picks, they could move up to around 50th overall. Their 2nd and 3rd together will move them up to around 47th overall. Their 2nd, 3rd and 4th together will move them up to around 42nd overall.
My guess is that Thompson isn't going to move until the value is obviously fantastic for him, and/or another player at the same position as the player that he likes is off the board.
A move to get Devon Still is probably unrealistic, but if someone like Worthy or another guy he's very high on falls to the mid-2nd, in the neighborhood of 47th overall, a trade becomes very feasible.