Megan Teske breaks down what you need to know about the Green Bay Packers’ draft picks and team needs heading into the 2026 NFL Draft.
After trading for Micah Parsons just ahead of the 2025-26 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers looked like a legitimate threat to make a deep run in the postseason and hoist the Lombardi Trophy. However, the Packers’ season instead ended in another early postseason loss.
Following a couple of major injuries to key impact players — with both Parsons and tight end Tucker Kraft suffering torn ACLs during the season — Green Bay fell apart at the end of the season, losing all five of its final games, including a Wild-Card showdown with division rival Chicago. Roster changes were made, while coordinators moved on as well.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia stepped down, while defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley got hired as Miami’s new head coach. With Jonathan Gannon now in as the Packers’ new DC and expectations still higher than ever for Green Bay to make a run, let’s take a look at what kind of moves the Packers brass will make in the 2026 NFL Draft to bolster the roster to improve upon last season.
The Packers will be without a pick on Day One after they traded their first-round pick to Dallas in exchange for Parsons. However, with eight picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, there are still plenty of ways for Green Bay to shore up some areas of need, with general manager Brian Gutekunst finding a number of hidden gems in the later days of the draft.
One of those picks comes from a trade Green Bay made just weeks before the draft kicks off, as the Packers traded one of their many wide receivers in Dontayvion Wicks to Philadelphia in exchange for a couple of picks, including a 2026 fifth-rounder. Green Bay also let wide receiver Romeo Doubs walk in free agency. With two of the Packers’ top-four producing wide receivers from last season now gone, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Gutekunst take a wide receiver in one of the later rounds. But after finally using a first-round pick on receiver Matthew Golden at last year’s draft in Green Bay, doing so with the Packers’ first pick would come as a surprise.
Sticking on the offensive side of the ball, the offensive line is expected to be another place targeted. Green Bay let both Rasheed Walker and Elgton Jenkins go in the offseason, but the Packers have their five expected starters for next season, especially after extending center Sean Rhyan and drafting Anthony Belton and Jordan Morgan the last two years. Still, Green Bay and Gutekunst know all too well how prone to injuries the offensive line is, and adding to its depth with a pick or two in this year’s draft is all but guaranteed, though unlikely to be with the 52nd pick.
Instead, that lone Round Two pick will likely go one of two ways, and each on the defensive side. Every Packer fan will tell you that cornerback is a big position of need, but defensive tackle is a key position of need as well.
Green Bay started to address that initial need by releasing CB Nate Hobbs, who was often injured last season, and signing Benjamin St.-Juste to a two-year, $10.5 million deal. St.-Juste will bring some competition to an inconsistent and unreliable cornerback group that includes Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine as the starters, with Kamal Hadden, Shemar Bartholomew and Bo Melton available as backups. Though corner is clearly an unstable position for Green Bay, especially with Nixon and Valentine entering contract years, this draft class is also strong with plenty of depth and talent at the corner position. The Packers should take a couple corners to strengthen that group, but with a solid corner draft class, they may focus their first pick on another area of need.
Unlike the cornerback group, the defensive tackle class isn’t as deep in the 2026 NFL Draft, and it is another area the Packers will be looking to fill a need. Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks and Javon Hargrave are all starters on Green Bay’s defensive line, but the former two are entering contract years. Green Bay also traded defensive tackle Colby Wooden to the Colts for linebacker Zaire Franklin, so adding another run-stuffer to pair with Wyatt and Co. will be crucial to help its middling run defense, which gave up 117.7 rushing yards a game last year. With some strong options near the top of the draft class, the Packers should look to use their Round Two pick on the defensive line.
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