2026 NFL Draft Discussion

[CheezWizHed]

I figured we could use a new thread to discuss the Packers' picks and other interesting happenings.  Got any predictions?  Any favorite players?

I suspect that the 2nd round pick (if we stay there) won't be a DT or CB that everyone is hoping for (like my hope of getting DT Christian Miller).  I'll predict an EDGE like Dani Dennis-Sutton or Gabe Jacas

Later in the draft, I'll guess we add Jordan van den Berg, Trey Zuhn III, and Jaden Dugger.  All three seem like Packer stereotypical picks. 

 

[JosephC]

What Gutekunst should do-

Don't trade up.  There are too many depth issues all over the field.  They need to come out of this draft with a minimum of 8 players, and I personally would be shooting for 10.  I brought up targeting the Dolphins 5th round pick for a 4th round pick next year, and I would still do that today.

Take a minimum of two offensive lineman, and taking three is not out of the question.  Too many questions involving the returning starters, and depth at with this group is pretty much non-existent when one gets past Kinnard.

Take a minimum of two cornerbacks.

If they are going to play a 2-gap 3-4 system, they need to prioritize a nose tackle who can stuff the run regardless of his pass-rush upside, AND they will need a big DE who can occupy two gaps which is something they are sorely lacking on this roster.

They need to take a tight end.  Modern day NFL rosters call for four.

Don't go crazy at EDGE.  You have Parsons (who it sounds like will be back by week 3), Van Ness, Sorrell, Cox and a decent enough developmental prospect in Oliver.  That's five.  Is this ideal?  No.  But don't screw up everything chasing after this position when there are other positions that look worse.

Ignore QB.  I don't see anything at #153 or past #153 that looks any better than Kyle McCord.

What Gutekunst will do-

He will trade two picks, one pick this year and one next year, to move up from #52 to take an EDGE.

He will take only one offensive lineman, maybe in the fourth round but more likely in round five.

He will take two cornerbacks.  He's learned his lesson after botching CB last year.

Rumors the last couple days is that Gannon is having significant input in the process.  Gannon did have Dalvin Tomlinson on the roster last year, who is a run stuffing 335 pound player that isn't much of a pass-rush threat.  Maybe there is some hope here.

I think he'll take a tight end, and despite some ridiculous approach about drafting a QB every other year, he will pass on the QB position in this draft.

 

[JosephC]

Packers picks are at #52, #84, #120, #153, #160, #201, #236, #255.

Final board.  ESPN/Scout INC top 150, Jermiah/NFL.com top 150, PFF (RIP content wing) top 150, Ourlads top 32, Zierlein/NFL.com top 150, Edholm/NFL.com second to last top 150, Rang/FOX top 150, Miller/ESPN top 150, Brugler/The Athletic top 150, Kiper/ESPN top 150

1	QB	Fernando Mendoza	Indiana
2	LB	Arvell Reese	Ohio State
3	RB	Jeremiyah Love	Notre Dame
4	EDGE	David Bailey	Texas Tech
5	S	Caleb Downs	Ohio State
6	LB	Sonny Styles	Ohio State
7	EDGE	Rueben Bain Jr	Miami, FL
8	OT	Francis Mauigoa	Miami, Fl
9	WR	Carnell Tate	Ohio State
10	CB	Mansoor Delane	LSU
11	WR	Makai Lemon	USC
12	OT	Spencer Fano	Utah
13	OG	Olaivavega Ioane	Penn State
14	TE	Kenyon Sadiq	Oregon
15	WR	Jordyn Tyson	Arizona State
16	CB	Jermod McCoy	Tennessee
17	OT	Monroe Freeling	Georgia
18	S	Dillon Thieneman	Oregon
19	OT	Kadyn Proctor	Alabama
20	EDGE	Keldric Faulk	Auburn
21	EDGE	Akheem Mesidor	Miami, Fl
22	S	Emmanuel McNeil-Warren	Toledo
23	WR	Denzel Boston	Washington
24	WR	Omar Cooper Jr.	Indiana
25	WR	KC Concepcion	Texas A&M
26	CB	Colton Hood	Tennessee
27	OT	Blake Miller	Clemson
28	OT	Caleb Lomu	Utah
29	EDGE	Cashius Howell	Texas A&M
30	DL	Kayden McDonald	Ohio State
31	CB	Avieon Terrell	Clemson
32	CB	Chris Johnson	San Diego State
33	OT	Max Iheanachor	Arizona State
34	EDGE	Zion Young	Missouri
35	DL	Peter Woods	Clemson
36	LB	CJ Allen	Georgia
37	EDGE	T.J. Parker	Clemson
38	QB	Ty Simpson	Alabama
39	DL	Caleb Banks	Florida
40	RB	Jadarian Price	Notre Dame
41	LB	Jacob Rodriguez	Texas Tech
42	CB	Brandon Cisse	South Carolina
43	LB	Anthony Hill Jr.	Texas
44	DL	Christen Miller	Georgia
45	EDGE	Malachi Lawrence	UCF
46	OG	Chase Bisontis	Texas A&M
47	OG	Emmanuel Pregnon	Oregon
48	WR	Germie Bernard	Alabama
49	CB	D'Angelo Ponds	Indiana
50	EDGE	R Mason Thomas	Oklahoma
51	EDGE	Gabe Jacas	Illinois
52	DL	Lee Hunter	Texas Tech
53	LB	Jake Golday	Cincinnati
54	CB	Keionte Scott	Miami, Fl
55	OG	Keylan Rutledge	Georgia Tech
56	TE	Eli Stowers	Vanderbilt
57	S	A.J. Haulcy	LSU
58	EDGE	Derrick Moore	Michgan
59	WR	Antonio Williams	Clemson
60	WR	Chris Bell	Louisville
61	WR	Chris Brazzell II	Tennessee
62	WR	Zachariah Branch	Georgia
63	LB	Josiah Trotter	Missouri
64	S	Treydan Stukes	Arizona
65	LB	Kyle Louis	Pittsburgh
66	EDGE	Keyron Crawford	Auburn
67	CB	Keith Abney II	Arizona State
68	OT	Gennings Dunker	Iowa
69	OT	Caleb Tiernan	Northwestern
70	WR	Malachi Fields	Notre Dame
71	TE	Max Klare	Ohio State
72	RB	Mike Washington Jr.	Arkansas
73	EDGE	Dani Dennis-Sutton	Penn State
74	EDGE	Jaishawn Barham	Michigan
75	S	Bud Clark	TCU
76	WR	De'Zhaun Stribling	Mississippi
77	CB	Malik Muhammad	Texas
78	DL	Domonique Orange	Iowa State
79	S	Jalon Kilgore	South Carolina
80	WR	Ted Hurst	Georgia State
81	WR	Skyler Bell	UConn
82	WR	Elijah Sarratt	Indiana
83	C	Sam Hecht	Kansas State
84	C	Logan Jones	Iowa
85	EDGE	Joshua Josephs	Tennessee
86	C	Connor Lew	Auburn
87	WR	Bryce Lance	North Dakota State
88	WR	Deion Burks	Oklahoma
89	EDGE	Romello Height	Texas Tech
90	S	Zakee Wheatley	Penn State
91	CB	Davison Igbinosun	Ohio State
92	TE	Sam Roush	Stanford
93	TE	Oscar Delp	Georgia
94	QB	Gerrett Nussmeier	LSU
95	OG	Jalen Farmer	Kentucky
96	DL	Tyler Onyedim	Texas A&M
97	CB	Daylen Everette	Georgia
98	DL	Gracen Halton	Oklahoma
99	C	Jake Slaugher	Florida
100	CB	Tacario Davis	Washington
101	QB	Carson Beck	Miami, Fl
102	DL	Zxavian Harris	Mississippi
103	OG	Brian Parker II	Duke
104	S	Genesis Smith	Arizona
105	WR	Brenen Thompson	Mississippi State
106	OT	Trey Zuhn III	Texas A&M
107	CB	Chandler Rivers	Duke
108	DL	Chris McClellan	Missouri
109	CB	Devin Moore	Florida
110	RB	Emmett Johnson	Nebraska
111	QB	Drew Allar	Penn State
112	EDGE	LT Overton	Alabama
113	TE	Justin Joly	NC State
114	WR	Ja'Kobi Lane	USC
115	OT	Travis Burke	Memphis
116	OT	Markel Bell	Miami, Fl
117	OT	Dametrious Crownover	Texas A&M
118	S	Kamari Ramsey	USC
119	DL	Darrell Jackson Jr.	Florida State
120	OT	Keagen Trost	Missouri
121	OT	Austin Barber	Florida
122	LB	Jimmy Rolder	Michigan
123	TE	Eli Raridon	Notre Dame
124	OT	Kage Casey	Boise State
125	CB	Jadon Canady	Oregon
126	S	VJ Payne	Kansas State
127	LB	Harold Perkins Jr.	LSU
128	CB	Will Lee III	Texas A&M
129	DL	Kaleb Proctor	Southeastern Louisiana
130	TE	Michael Trigg	Baylor
131	CB	Julian Neal	Arkansas
132	LB	Keyshaun Elliott	Arizona State
133	OG	Beau Stephens	Iowa
134	LB	Kaleb Elarms-Orr	TCU
135	OT	Jude Bowry	Boston College
136	WR	Josh Cameron	Baylor
137	RB	Jonah Coleman	Washington
138	TE	Nate Boerkircher	Texas A&M
139	LB	Bryce Boettcher	Oregon
140	LB	Deontae Lawson	Alabama
141	QB	Cole Payton	North Dakota State
142	WR	Cyrus Allen	Cincinnati
143	TE	Marlin Klein	Michigan
144	OG	Billy Schrauth	Notre Dame
145	DL	Rayshaun Benny	Michigan
146	RB	Nicholas Singleton	Penn State
147	OG	Anez Cooper	Miami, Fl
148	OG	Febechi Nwaiwu	Oklahoma
149	TE	Jack Endries	Texas
150	TE	Will Kacmarek	Ohio State
151	DL	DeMonte Capehart	Clemson
152	RB	Adam Randall	Clemson
153	OT	Alex Harkey	Oregon
154	OT	Drew Shelton	Penn State
155	EDGE	Mason Reiger	Wisconsin
156	S	Jakobe Thomas	Miami, Fl
157	RB	Le'Veon Moss	Texas A&M
158	DL	Albert Regis	Texas A&M
159	DL	Zane Durant	Penn State
160	LB	Justin Jefferson	Alabama
161	EDGE	Caden Curry	Ohio State
162	EDGE	Wesley Williams	Duke
163	RB	Kaytron Allen	Penn State
164	QB	Taylen Green	Arkansas
165	EDGE	Max Llewellyn	Iowa
166	CB	Ephesians Prysock	Washington
167	RB	Demond Claiborne	Wake Forest
168	TE	Joe Royer	Cincinnati
169	OT	Diego Pounds	Mississippi
170	DL	Dontay Corleone	Cincinnati
171	EDGE	Trey Moore	Texas
172	EDGE	Keyshawn James-Newby	New Mexico
173	EDGE	Anthony Lucas	USC
174	WR	Kendrick Law	Kentucky
175	CB	Charles Demmings	Stephen F. Austin
176	WR	CJ Daniels	Miami, Fl
177	S	Lorenzo Styles Jr.	Ohio State
178	DL	Nick Barrett	South Carolina
179	EDGE	Mikail Kamara	Indiana
180	P	Brett Thorson	Georgia
181	DL	Landon Robinson	Navy
182	WR	Caleb Douglas	Texas Tech
183	EDGE	Tyreak Sapp	Florida
184	FB	Max Bredeson	Michigan
185	CB	TJ Hall	Iowa
186	RB	Seth McGowan	Kentucky
187	S	Jalen Huskey	Maryland
188	WR	Jeff Caldwell	Cincinnati
189	OT	Enrique Cruz	Kansas
190	P	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State
191	S	Bishop Fitzgerald	USC
192	WR	Reggie Virgil	Texas Tech
193	TE	Riley Nowakowski	Indiana
194	DL	Brandon Cleveland	NC State
195	OG	Jeremiah Wright	Auburn
196	WR	Eric McAlister	TCU
197	LB	Wade Woodaz	Clemson
198	OG	Logan Taylor	Boston College
199	WR	J. Michael Sturdivant	Florida
201	RB	J'Mari Taylor	Virginia Tech
200	CB	Domani Jackson	Alabama
202	WR	Colbie Young	Georgia
203	WR	Kevin Coleman Jr.	Missouri
204	LB	Namdi Obiazor	TCU
205	C	Jager Burton	Kentucky
206	TE	Dallen Bentley	Utah
207	DL	Tim Keenan III	Alabama
208	LB	Taurean York	Texas A&M
209	QB	Cade Klubnik	Clemson
210	C	Parker Brailsford	Alabama
211	OT	J.C. Davis	Illinois
212	DL	Jordan van den Berg	Georgia Tech
213	EDGE	Nadame Tucker	Western Michigan
214	EDGE	Michael Heldman	Central Michigan
215	EDGE	George Gumbs Jr.	Florida
216	S	Dalton Johnson	Arizona

[patrickgpe]

Packers won't take him at 52 but I do really like D'Angelo Ponds. As I watch more and more of these and have less and less time to research, I am more hoping for positions rather than individual players. I do hope (and think) they focus on CB, pass rush, and offensive line. 

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

He will take two cornerbacks.  He's learned his lesson after botching CB last year.

Almost all of the CBs who were available in the 2nd round were injured.  I looked them up, and none of them played more than 12 games last year.  They were still injured or got injured again.  I think it was smart not to draft an injured CB, especially since they all had leg/lower body/back injuries.  Once Nohl Williams got picked (two spots before their 3rd round pick), there was a big dropoff.  If there is someone they should have picked who was available, healthy, and played more than 12 games last year, let me know.

And their CBs didn't start looking bad until after Parsons and Wyatt went down.  That's no coincidence.  

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Later in the draft, I'll guess we add Jordan van den Berg, Trey Zuhn III, and Jaden Dugger. 

Hey, those names sound familiar!

Dugger is interesting.  I would not at all be surprised if they are targeting him in the 7th, but not as an ILB - with the intention to convert him to OLB.  Been reading comments about him having natural pass rush abilities, and he did have 13 TFLs last year, but it makes me wonder why he didn't play Edge last year.

[adambr2]

It feels like almost every position is a low key need. Not great.

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

Hey, those names sound familiar!

Dugger is interesting.  I would not at all be surprised if they are targeting him in the 7th, but not as an ILB - with the intention to convert him to OLB.  Been reading comments about him having natural pass rush abilities, and he did have 13 TFLs last year, but it makes me wonder why he didn't play Edge last year.

Dugger just sounds like a ST demon to me.  JVDB too.  Both have potential upside/depth abilities at LB/DT, but a high RAS, 30 visit inclusion, and ST potential just seems to align as a Packer Pick. 

[JosephC]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/dougherty/2026/04/23/here-are-nine-possibilities-for-the-packers-nfl-draft-pick-at-no-52/89719259007/

Currently not behind a paywall, no idea of that will change later.

Dougherty thinks it's EDGE-Gabe Jacus at #52.  He has Jacus, EDGE-Dani Dennis-Sutton/Penn State, CB-Brandon Cisse/South Carolina, DL-Christian Miller/Georgia, EDGE-Zion Young/Missouri, DL-Caleb Banks/Florida, EDGE-R Mason Thomas/Oklahoma, RB-Jadarian Price/Notre Dame and CB-Avieon Terrell/Clemson as his 9 candidates.  Interestingly enough, WR-Chris Brazzell II/Tennessee and RB-Mike Washington Jr/Arkansas are both absent, and I think both of those are very strong candidates,  I'm also kind of surprised he didn't list DB-Tayden Stukes/Arizona, but maybe he just sees a safety and the Packers are unlikely to take a safety at #52.  He has 8 names and 9 are defensive players.

[homer]

Cardinals lol

[HarryDoyle]

Chiefs trade up to #6.

[HarryDoyle]

12 minutes ago, homer said:

Cardinals lol

Why?

[HarryDoyle]

Hard hitting journalism asking the parents of every drafted player how they are feeling.

[homer]

16 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Why?

They will burn all of his cheap and productive years with no quarterback.

[HarryDoyle]

14 minutes ago, homer said:

They will burn all of his cheap and productive years with no quarterback.

I don't understand. They weren't supposed to draft the best player available because they have no quarterback? Or they should've drafted a quarterback instead?

[HarryDoyle]

Do you know how many great players are still on the board one spot lower at 12? Idiots.

[HarryDoyle]

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[LouisEly]

How does Rueben Bain last all the way to #15 and the Bucs?

[nate82]

I don’t get this trade at all.  Bills trade 31, 66 and 101 and receive 35, 69 and 165.  Each of the picks they received are worse than what they gave up.  The 31-35 makes sense.  The others don’t make any sense at all.
 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

18 hours ago, adambr2 said:

It feels like almost every position is a low key need. Not great.

Aye, but it didn't really feel like that until the last 4-5 weeks of the season. Also not great, but that is the reality when you have a top 5 defensive player on your roster who's an elite pass rusher.

That said, I don't feel overly optimistic about the Packers this year. Some of that is reality, some of it is conditioning to the glass ceiling they've established the last 5 years.

They have bad OL and bad corners, not places you want to be bad in today's NFL. Then almost everywhere you think they're strong, they're dependent on rehab from major injuries. I don't really know what to expect. It's not delusion to think they're a contender if they hold together, but I can just as easily see a 2018 blow-it-up season coming.

[OldHeidelberg]

I didn't watch last night for an obvious reason but reading this morning the Vikings pick was a real head scratcher. #39 on JosephC's list above and broke his foot in offseason.

Looking forward to tonight, sort of expect the Packers to move up and snag a player they like higher in 2nd round since they lacked first rounder.  

 

[CheezWizHed]

42 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I didn't watch last night for an obvious reason but reading this morning the Vikings pick was a real head scratcher. #39 on JosephC's list above and broke his foot in offseason.

Looking forward to tonight, sort of expect the Packers to move up and snag a player they like higher in 2nd round since they lacked first rounder.  

 

Banks was generally seen as a 1st round talent with risk due to injuries.  Based on boards, I was kind of hoping he'd slide to the Packers, 

I've never understood why people are so in love with "the board"... as if that was absolute truth. People that aren't good enough to be the GM of an NFL team make up the boards.  (Granted some GMs in the NFL aren't good enough to be GMs either, but... ).  But GMs do get more access to medical records than the media does, so I suspect they vetted out the risk before taking him, but we can still hope it was a dumb pick. 😉

[JosephC]

10 hours ago, nate82 said:

I don’t get this trade at all.  Bills trade 31, 66 and 101 and receive 35, 69 and 165.  Each of the picks they received are worse than what they gave up.  The 31-35 makes sense.  The others don’t make any sense at all.
 

NFL.com screwed up.  Titans get #31, #69 and #165.  Bills get #35, #66 and #101.  #66 and #101 were Titans draft picks near the top of rounds three and four, those picks are going to the Bills. 

[LouisEly]

10 hours ago, nate82 said:

I don’t get this trade at all.  Bills trade 31, 66 and 101 and receive 35, 69 and 165.  Each of the picks they received are worse than what they gave up.  The 31-35 makes sense.  The others don’t make any sense at all.
 

This is not correct.  Per the Bills website:

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/buffalo-bills-trade-out-of-2026-first-round-deal-no-31-overall-to-titans

Bills get 35, 66, 101.

Titans get 31, 69, 165