After Green Bay Packers fans waited patiently on Thursday of the 2026 NFL Draft, they were gifted with a cornerback with the 52nd overall pick, as general manager Brian Gutekunst selected Brandon Cisse out of South Carolina.
The move is one Packers fans had been clamoring for, hoping for an opportunity to bolster the secondary with one of their Day 2 picks. There were plenty of options in later rounds, but Green Bay landing the 44th-ranked player on the expert consensus board with the 52nd overall
pick feels like good value.
Cisse is still just 20 years old after a short three-season college career spent between NC State and South Carolina, where he showed real signs of promise during the 2025 season. He finished the year with five pass breakups, an interception, a forced fumble, and a passer rating allowed of just 78.9 when targeted.
The athletic profile is what likely drew Brian Gutekunst and his front office to Cisse. Just a tick under six feet tall and 189 pounds, he excelled in the pre-draft testing with a 4.41 40-yard dash, a 41-inch vertical, and a broad jump of 10-foot-11.
When you turn on the tape, it’s clear that Cisse has the physical tools, athleticism, and competitive toughness to quickly develop into a legitimate starting cornerback in the NFL. After Cisse was drafted, I went back to watch a pair of games against Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech to highlight some of his biggest strengths and areas of improvement, which we’ll talk about below.
You can also see the video cut-ups and breakdown of these traits in the video below.
Areas of Improvement
Let’s start with some of the current weaknesses first. The good news is that some of Cisse’s biggest issues are easily correctible, but the bad news is that if they don’t get addressed, they’ll lead to some real issues at the NFL level.
The most notable coverage deficiency in Cisse’s game currently is his ability to track the ball when targeted deep. While he’s more than capable of sticking to the hip pocket of a receiver and using leverage to force WRs to drift towards the sideline, he struggles to get his head turned when running and locate the football.
It often looks like he’s too worried about losing his feel for where the WR is in relation to him instead of understanding that he has just as much right to attack the football as the receiver does.
As a tackler, Cisse needs to improve his tackling technique to match his intensity and willingness to hit ball carriers. He often tries to throw a shoulder or dive into ball carriers instead of wrapping and driving, although he has still shown an ability to cleanly tackle on occasion.
Strengths
Cisse projects to be a versatile and effective coverage cornerback. He has enough long speed and intensity to play press and carry receivers vertically, along with the quick trigger and explosiveness to attack underneath routes from off coverage.
While Cisse’s post-snap processing is a work in progress, there are some moments of his natural instincts taking over in Zone coverage, allowing him to drift off of his initial landmark to get into throwing windows by reading the quarterback’s eyes.
For such a young player, one of the more impressive aspects of Cisse’s game is his discipline as a run defender. The second-round pick is constantly focused on holding outside contain on the perimeter against outside runs/screens and staying disciplined as a conflict defender in the option game. He knows how to stay home and not try to cheat the process to give up explosive runs.
Perhaps Cisse’s most appealing trait is his tenacity. He’s not a 200-pound corner, but he plays like one, constantly trying to get into the action against the run or attacking the catch point. When tackling ball carriers, he does a terrific job of lowering his pads and aiming for the hamstrings instead of trying to go at them too high.
Bottom Line
Cisse is still a work in progress, but that should be expected from a 20-year-old cornerback. The things that Cisse already has in his arsenal are hard to coach in terms of his athletic ability and competitive toughness. The rest of his deficiencies can be worked on, and will most likely continue to improve with playing time at the NFL level.
While Cisse will likely take some rookie lumps, he’ll have a real chance to be a starting outside cornerback for the Packers in 2026, with a chance to take over the No. 1 spot in the coming years with the right development.
