Every Green Bay Packers fan wants two new starters at cornerback in 2026. I want Sauce Gardner and Patrick Surtain playing outside for my team, too. But it won’t happen this year because of the team’s cap situation and the fact that they’re out of a first-round pick (and will be in 2027, too). The Packers also don’t really play rookies, as even first-round picks have only started an average of six games since the draft-and-develop mantra was reestablished in Green Bay more than two decades ago.
What
I think is more likely to happen this draft cycle is that the Packers look forward to 2027, when the contracts of starters Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine are set to expire and Nate Hobbs could be a potential cap casualty. I’d bet they come out of this draft with a starting cornerback (at least one that they’ll let push for a job in 2027), but I doubt he will be a 2026 starter.
So who could that cornerback (or cornerbacks) be? Well, let’s take a look at current draft projections — including who the Packers aren’t even expected to have access to, considering their first draft choice will be 53rd overall in 2026 — and Green Bay’s historical trends to avoid drinking water through a firehose. Ultimately, I settled on 9 of the top 20 cornerbacks in the class having a decent chance of being a Packer.
Expected to be off the board
- #13 Mansoor Delane, LSU
- #14 Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
- #18 Avieon Terrell, Clemson
- #30 Brandon Cisse, South Carolina
- #31 Colton Hood, Tennessee
- #42 Chris Johnson, San Diego State
- #43 Keith Abney II, Arizona State
As of now, seven cornerbacks are expected to be drafted before the Packers go on the clock in 2026, per the consensus board. Obviously, things could look different on draft day, but do not assume these players will be available. The lowest-ranked among these seven, Keith Abney II of Arizona State, expected to be taken 10 slots before Green Bay’s second-round selection, is also notably small for the position (which matters a lot to the Packers, historically). Abney is around 5’9”-flat and 185 pounds, per sources in the scouting world.
Slot cornerbacks
- #71 Keionte Scott, Miami
- #123 Treydan Stukes, Arizona
The last thing that the Packers need is to add another nickel defender to their secondary. They already spent a second-round pick on Javon Bullard, signed Nate Hobbs to a $48 million deal last offseason, moved Keisean Nixon from the slot to outside cornerback and have another slot option in Kitan Oladapo under contract for two more years.
Both Keionte Scott and Treydan Stukes were already moved into the slot at the college level. Last season, Scott played 553 nickel snaps to just 5 at outside cornerback. Stukes played 321 nickel snaps to 5 outside cornerback snaps. I believe (not know) that the team will specifically be in the outside cornerback market, so you can go ahead and rule out these two, too.
Small cornerbacks
- #63 D’angelo Ponds, Indiana
- #97 Chandler Rivers, Duke
Here we get to talk a little bit about the Packers’ history. Since the scouts got back the general manager position in 2005, after it was held by head coach Mike Sherman from 2001 to 2004, Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst haven’t taken a cornerback smaller than Jaire Alexander (5’10.25”) in height. The average height of cornerbacks drafted to Green Bay since 2005 is basically 5’11.75”. According to RAS, that average is in the 71st percentile among cornerbacks.
On top of that, the average weight of a drafted Packers cornerback is 194.5 pounds over this period, too. That would be between the 73rd and 76th percentile.
Green Bay is pretty specific about the type of player that they look at for this position, as they generally tend to avoid smaller players. Ahmad Carroll was taken under the Sherman era, a move the front office wouldn’t have made otherwise because of his 5’9.5” height, and has become somewhat of a rallying cry in the building over the years (That is a know).
Unless things changed a lot front office-wise, I’d expect Ponds (expected to measure in somewhere around 5’8.5” and 173 pounds per sources in the scouting world) and Rivers (5’9.5” and 185 pounds) to not even really make the cut for Green Bay’s board (do not be alarmist about this, the average draft board for NFL teams is really in the 120-player range with various sub-boards for injury risks, character risks and non-scheme fits that have been ruled out during the process).
The real 2026 Packers cornerback board
- #69 Julian Neal, Arkansas
- #74 Malik Muhammad, Texas
- #85 Davison Igbinosun, Ohio State
- #86 Will Lee III, Texas A&M
- #89 Devin Moore, Florida
- #106 Tacario Davis, Washington
- #126 Daylen Everette, Georgia
- #128 Domani Jackson, Alabama
- #132 Hezekiah Masses, California
With the guys expected to be drafted before the Packers’ first pick, slot cornerbacks and smaller cornerbacks slashed off the board, here’s what’s left of the outside cornerback position among the expected top 150 prospects of the draft (after that range, it’s usually not really certain whether players will even be draft choices or fall into undrafted free agency).
I will say that Masses, who is assumed to be in the 185-pound range, might be a little too small for the Packers, too, but I left him up because height is not an issue there. Green Bay has only gone under 190 pounds (196-pound average otherwise) at the position in the last two-plus decades: 2021 178th overall pick Shemar Jean-Charles (played 40 snaps for the Packers on defense) and 2025 237th overall pick Micah Robinson (didn’t make the 53-man roster).
Based on where Green Bay is picking in the draft, if they’re taking a cornerback in the second round, it’s probably one of Neal or Muhammad. In the third, Igbinosun, Lee, Moore and Davis are expected to still be on the board. In the fourth, Everette, Jackson and Masses should be available (but they are projected to go within 12 picks of the Packers’ fourth-round pick, 120th overall, so an early run could wipe the board at that point, too).
If the Packers take a cornerback early, look for it to be one of those players in one of those ranges. Now, it’s time for me to actually watch these players.
