In their more than 100 years of history, the Green Bay Packers have made a selection at nearly every possible slot in the NFL Draft. The franchise predates the event itself, of course, as the first NFL Draft took place in 1936, but that — and the fact that the Packers were one of only a handful of teams in the early days — means that they have plenty of opportunities to make selections at each overall selection from 1 to 256.
This year, the Packers have no first-round pick, instead starting their
2026 Draft out with their first selection coming at 52. The team heads into Draft week with eight total picks, however, including two each in rounds 5 and 7. And yes, the team has made a handful of picks at each of these slots in its history.
A few of those spots have been more successful than others, however. All told, the Packers have drafted three Pro Bowl players with the picks they currently hold for 2026. Let’s start off our look at their history in these slots with one of those excellent selections, which took place almost exactly 20 years ago.
#52
The Packers’ most recent selection with the 52nd overall pick was an excellent one. In 2006, the team was coming off an abysmal 4-12 season and had the 5th overall selection. They also had back-to-back picks in the early second round, their own at #36 and another at #37 that they received when trading wide receiver Javon Walker to Denver. The Packers traded back from both of those spots, adding a pair of third-round picks. The trade for pick 36, which they sent to New England, gave them the 52nd and 75th overall selections, while the move back from 37 got them picks 47 and 93.
After taking offensive lineman Daryn Colledge at 47, the Packers got a two-time Pro Bowl receiver at 52, selecting Greg Jennings out of Western Michigan.
- 2006: Greg Jennings, WR, Western Michigan
- 1965: Wally Mahle, back, Syracuse
- 1952: Dave Hanner, DT, Arkansas
- 1951: Wade Stinson, back, Kansas
- 1947: Dick Conners, back, Northwestern
- 1936: Bob Reynolds, tackle, Stanford
#84
The most prominent Packers pick with the 84th selection came in the mid-1980s. The Packers had no first-round pick in 1986, having traded it the year before for the rights to defensive back Mossy Cade. Thankfully, they found a dynamite player with the 84th selection, which then came in round four.
That player was Tim Harris, a standout pass-rusher out of the University of Memphis. Harris would spend five years with the Packers, totaling 55 sacks and earing two All-Pro nods and a second-place finish in the Defensive Player of the Year race in 1989. That year saw him record 19.5 sacks, which still stands as the Packers’ single-season franchise record (at least officially, as sacks only became an official statistic in 1981).
The other notable selection at 84 was running back LeShon Johnson in 1994, though infamous might be a better word than notable. Johnson led the FBS in rushing in 1993 but lasted just a year and change with the Packers, getting waived midseason after 17 games. He would be out of the NFL after 1999. Just last year, Johnson was convicted of a massive dog fighting and trafficking operation.
- 1994: LeShon Johnson, RB, Northern Illinois
- 1986: Tim Harris, OLB, Memphis
- 1963: Jan Barrett, TE, Fresno State
- 1962: Oscar Donahue, WR, San Jose St.
#120
The Packers have only used pick number 120 twice in team history, and neither player ever ended up playing an NFL game.
- 1970: Cecil Pryor, DT, Michigan
- 1945: Ed Podgorski, OT, Lafayette
#153
Green Bay acquired the 153rd pick in this year’s draft from the Philadelphia Eagles in the trade for Dontayvion Wicks.
The most recent selection by the Packers at 153 was for a local prospect. They drafted quarterback Randy Wright out of Wisconsin in 1984, and Wright would go on to start 32 games in a Packers uniform over the next five years. They did not go well — the team was just 7-25 when he started — and he threw just 31 touchdowns against 57 interceptions in his career.
- 1984: Randy Wright, QB, Wisconsin
- 1979: Dave Simmons, LB, North Carolina
- 1964: Jack Petersen, OT, Nebraska-Omaha
- 1945: Robert “Buster” McClure, OT, Nevada
#160
The Packers’ own 5th-round pick this year comes at 160 overall. As with pick 120, the Packers have only selected at 160 twice in their history. One player never appeared in an NFL game, but the other, Carl Elliott, was a two-way player for four seasons in the early 1950s. Elliott logged 60 pass receptions for 581 yards and six touchdowns while also playing defensive end.
- 1950: Carl Elliott, TE/DE, Virginia
- 1947: Jim Goodman, OT, Indiana
#201
The Packers have only used the 201st overall selection once, doing so on someone who would not play in an NFL game.
- 1948: Don “Red” Anderson, back, Rice
#236
While the 236th pick has gone to Green Bay an impressive ten times in history, few of these players had notable careers. The most recent pick was safety Vernon Scott out of TCU, who lasted a few short years in Green Bay. But the most recognizable name here — especially for current Packers fans — was Jeff Janis, the third of three wide receivers that the team selected in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Janis was the prototypical big, fast, small-school wide receiver. Although he effectively redshirted as a rookie and barely saw the field on offense for much of his Packers career, he became a special teams staple for the final three years of his rookie contract before moving on to Cleveland in free agency. Janis, always a bit of a cult favorite, stepped up big in the Packers’ 2015 Divisional Playoff game in Arizona. In the lineup amid injuries to Randall Cobb and Jared Abbrederis, Janis caught 7 of 11 targets for 145 yards and two touchdowns. But those numbers don’t really explain his performance in that game; he caught back-to-back Hail Mary receptions from Aaron Rodgers, first a 60-yarder on 4th-and-20 with Rodgers heaving the ball out of the Packers’ own end zone, then a 41-yard touchdown as time expired to tie the game and send it to overtime. (Never mind what happened after that.)
- 2020: Vernon Scott, S, TCU
- 2014: Jeff Janis, WR, Saginaw Valley St.
- 1986: Brent Moore, LB, USC
- 1967: Harlan Reed, TE, Mississippi St.
- 1961: Jim Brewington, OT, NC Central
- 1956: Clyde Letbetter, T, Baylor
- 1955: Bob Antkowiak, end, Bucknell
- 1953: John Harville, back, TCU
- 1946: Chick Davidson, T, Cornell
- 1944; John Wesley Perry, back, Duke
#255
Although the most recent Packers pick at 255 was just two years ago, he is not the player that Packers fans will remember from this draft slot. The year was 1987, and Green Bay took a late-round flier on a quarterback out of Virginia. Don Majkowski made five starts for the Packers as a rookie, splitting time with Randy Wright, then took over as the full-time starter midway through the 1988 season.
In 1989, he made the Pro Bowl, leading the NFL in passing yards, attempts, and completions as he helped lead the Packers to a 10-6 record. The “Cardiac Pack” won a ton of close games that year, with four wins by a single point and another two by a field goal or less. That run included 5 fourth-quarter comebacks and seven-game winning drives, and along with Majkowski’s ability to scramble and make plays with his legs it helped earn him the nickname the “Majik Man” and cemented his place in Packers lore.
Majkowski battled injuries the next few years, making just 16 starts over the following two seasons. His final start for Green Bay came in week three of the 1992 season, but after he was injured in that game, a young Brett Favre led the Packers to a comeback win over the Cincinnati Bengals and would start every game at quarterback for the Packers until his first retirement at the end of the 2007 season.
- 2024: Kalen King, CB, Penn State
- 1987: Don Majkowski, QB, Virginia
- 1981: Nickie Hall, QB, Tulane
- 1973: Larry Allen, LB, Illinois
- 1957: Ronnie Quillian, QB, Tulane
- 1954: Willie Buford, T, Morgan St.
- 1952: Karl Kluckhohn, end, Colgate
Who will be the next great Green Bay Packers player drafted in one of these slots? Hopefully we’ll be able to add a legendary name to the list as a 2026 pick the next time one of these slots ends up in the Packers’ hands in a few years.
