The Green Bay Packers entered the 2026 NFL Draft with eight draft picks. After three days of waiting, trading, and submitting selections, the team leaves with just six new players, the smallest draft class of Brian Gutekunst’s tenure as general manager and the smallest since 2004, when the team also drafted only six players.
However, the players that the Packers did draft make this one of the most exciting and interesting classes in recent memory. Gutekunst largely let the board come to him and still
managed to fill most of their pressing roster needs with players who seemed to be excellent values at the picks where they were selected. Gutekunst did trade up twice, moving up in rounds three and seven.
It is worth remembering the reason that the Packers did not have a first-round pick in this draft as well: the acquisition of Micah Parsons. Green Bay landed the All-Pro pass-rusher in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys last August, acquiring a player who is far more of a game-changer immediately than any rookie pick could have been expected to be.
Let’s run down how the Packers’ class came together.
#52: Brandon Cisse, CB, South Carolina
The Packers got the last of a tier of cornerbacks when they stayed put with the 52nd pick in the latter half of round two. Cisse is an extremely young player, just 20 years old until his 21st birthday in July, but he projects as a potential CB1 in a year or two. The Packers were reportedly very high on him coming into day two of the draft and were thrilled when he was still available when they made their first selection of the draft.
#77: Chris McClellan, DT, Missouri
Green Bay traded up seven spots from the 84th pick to select McClellan, sending away a fifth-rounder (#160) to make the move. McClellan has played a number of positions on the line in his career, split between Florida and Missouri, but he projects as a player who can contribute some snaps on the nose while also moving around the front and bringing a bit of pass-rush juice as well. He seemed a bit of a reach at the time, but the positional fit and versatility was key here, and the Packers had him rated very highly — even with more typical nose tackles like Domonique Orange still on the board.
#120: Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State
Maybe the best value pick by any team in the entire draft, Dennis-Sutton was largely viewed as a day-two pick before an inexplicable fall into round four. Pass-rushers with his combination of elite athleticism and high-level production at the highest levels of college football usually turn out to be good pros, and it feels like Green Bay pounced on a gem who simply kept getting overlooked by teams in the middle rounds. This was an absolute slam dunk pick on a player who many Packers writers would have been willing to consider at 52.
#153: Jager Burton, IOL, Kentucky
With the Packers needing depth on the offensive line, they found an exciting player who can play any of the three interior positions and has potential starter-level upside. Burton bounced around to both guard spots before settling at center as a senior in Lexington, and he proved to be one of the best ever athletes at the position using the RAS formula (9.88). He’ll immediately become one of the top backups on the line and could push Sean Rhyan for the starting center job in a year or two.
#201: Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama
Green Bay went back to the well for another cornerback in round six, taking another SEC player. As our Justis Mosqueda noted, he had potential top-50 hype before 2025, but injuries took a toll on him as a senior. He’s a former high school track star projects as a versatile backup and special teamer early, but he could be another player who is a better pro than his senior tape showed.
#216: Trey Smack, K, Florida
The Packers’ final pick of the draft came a bit earlier than expected. Holding picks 236 and 255 in round seven, Green Bay traded them both to Seattle to move up into the back of round six to take the first kicker of the draft. Smack was the Gators’ kicker for three years and has a huge leg — he made 10 of 13 career attempts from 50 yards or more and finished his career hitting nearly 83 percent of his field goal attempts with only one block. His arrival — particularly via a trade up — immediately puts Brandon McManus on notice after his abysmal 2025 campaign.
