One Perfect Cornerback Target for Packers in Every Round of the NFL Draft

The Green Bay Packers will head into the NFL Draft this week with a few needs that they’d like to address in an attempt to get back to the Super Bowl.

Perhaps the biggest of those needs comes at cornerback, where the group that finished the 2025 season looks a lot like the group who is set to start the 2026 season. Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine look set to start – with free-agent addition Benjamin St-Juste pushing both – with Javon Bullard occupying the slot.

Is that group good enough to get to a Super Bowl?

Actions will speak louder than words next week for general manager Brian Gutekunst, who said after the season he did not expect the cornerback room would need dramatic changes.

“Do we need wholesale changes? No, I do think it’s an area though that those guys can get hurt, they’re the smaller guys on the field, we ask a lot of those guys in run support, so depth there for me is important (so) that we have answers,” Gutekunst said.

Does improving the depth mean using high-end draft capital to eventually get players onto the field?

It’s possible. Here is a look at a cornerback from each round who could be drafted by the Packers.

Round 2: Chris Johnson, San Diego State

If there were a player who fit exactly what the Packers need and their preferred athletic type, it’s San Diego State’s Chris Johnson. Johnson played on the boundary in college and stands at 6-foot tall and 193 pounds. He ran his 40 in 4.40 seconds.

The big question is whether or not Johnson will make it to where the Packers are picking in the second round.

Johnson is rated as Dane Brugler’s third cornerback in this draft class and has a borderline first-round grade, according to The Athletic’s draft expert. He is the No. 40 overall prospect, according to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. If he were to fall in the 40s, would Gutekunst move up to get his man? It’s not unprecedented.

In 2022, the Packers had a big need at receiver when Gutekunst packaged both of his second-round picks to move up to Pick 34 for Christian Watson.

Would Johnson be worth such a move? That’s in the eye of the beholder, but there’s no question his skill-set can help the Packers. He picked off four passes in 2025 to go with eight pass breakups. In two years as a starter, he intercepted five passes and forced four fumbles. Once Johnson has the ball in his hands, he has a nose for the end zone, as he returned two of his four interceptions last season for touchdowns.

Johnson seems like the perfect player to fit what ailed Green Bay a season ago. Perhaps they’ll be holding their breath in hopes he gets into range for them to pounce.

If he is available at 52, Gutekunst may have to run the card to the table himself.

Round 3: Julian Neal, Arkansas

Memphis' Marcello Bussey (6) has the ball pulled out of his hands by Arkansas' Julian Neal. | Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Julian Neal started only four games in four seasons at Fresno State before going to Arkansas for his final season. He started all 12 games and intercepted two passes with 12 passes defensed.

He’s big (6-foot-1 5/8 and 203 pounds), physical and capable of making plays in the backfield, as well, as evidenced by his 8.5 tackles for losses in his last three years in college.

Those ball skills are something sorely lacking from Green Bay’s defensive back room last season, when Nixon had the only interception among the cornerbacks in the regular season.

Neal is not going to be a prospect that everybody loves in this class – his 40 time was only 4.49 seconds – but chances are high that the Packers loved reading this quote from Neal.

“Me going out there every day, I’m going to give it my all,” Neal said at the Scouting Combine. “I’m somebody – I’ll die on the field if I have to. I feel like I take very much pride in that, and that’s something I want every NFL team to know.”

One question the Packers have had in recent years, given how the transfer portal and NIL money have changed the landscape of the game, is whether the player a prospect only wants football for all it can bring to them or whether he needs the game itself.

“This is where the scouting process, in my opinion, is so imperative is you’ve got to do a lot of digging to find out how much not only do they love the game but do they need it,” coach Matt LaFleur said after last year’s draft.

“I think guys that are genuinely invested and love it, you’re going to get the most out of them. Our scouts do an unbelievable job of uncovering some of that stuff because, if you ask them all, they’re all going to give you pretty much the same answer.”

The Packers don’t need Neal to die on the field, but that quote at least demonstrates a need for the game.

Round 4: Daylen Everette, Georgia

Perhaps Philadelphia’s Howie Roseman has a claim here, but there may not be a general manager across the NFL who loves the Georgia Bulldogs as much as Gutekunst.

Could he go to that well again in the middle rounds to find a cornerback? It’s certainly possible.

Everette began his high school career as a quarterback before switching to defense. He played four years at Georgia. He had only one interception last season but three in 2024. He’s tall (6-foot-1 1/4) and fast (4.38 in the 40).

His character and maturity is something that was raved about behind the scenes, which could make him a candidate to grow quickly into a potential NFL contributor.

“Leader of the DB room … carries himself like a future coach,” a scout told Brugler.

His size and length lend himself to playing on the boundary at the next level, and the Packers will certainly be a team that values his tackling ability.

Everette is ranked as a potential third- or fourth-rounder by Brugler, so it’s possible he slips to where the Packers are picking in the middle of Round 4.

Round 5: Will Lee III, Texas A&M

Texas A&M Aggies cornerback Will Lee III (4) reacts after breaking up a pass intended for Teas receiver Emmett Mosley V. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

When a child is scared, they ask for their blanket. Perhaps the Packers will ask for a blanket to help aid their scary cornerback room?

It’s possible. Lee – aka “The Blanket” – is the only cornerback on this list known to have taken a “30” visit to Green Bay.

His technique is something he takes pride in, and it could help him make more plays on the ball at the next level.

“When people see me play good technique and they see me in the hip of the receiver and he can’t get open, that’s all I need,” he said when asked about his ball production at the Combine. “The ball’s going to come when the ball’s going to come, but I ain’t going to force it.”

Lee, who measured 6-foot-1 1/2 and ran his 40 in 4.52 seconds, had just two interceptions across two seasons at Texas A&M, and the Packers need more production on the ball in 2026.

Lee is listed as a potential fifth-round pick by Brugler, which puts him right in range for one of the two Packers selections in that round.

Round 6: Thaddeus Dixon, North Carolina

Dixon was one of the rare college corners who was asked to follow the opposing team’s best receiver. Steve and Bill Belichick gave Dixon that assignment during his one year as a full-time starter for the Tar Heels.

Prior to coming to North Carolina, Dixon bounced around. He started his career at North Carolina, but did not play during the 2020 season before transferring to Long Beach City College for two years before finding his way back into FBS with Washington.

Dixon started 13 games in two years at Washington, intercepting two passes and breaking up 18 passes, before moving to Chapel Hill to play for Belichick.

Dixon only played seven games for the Tar Heels, as his final season was marred by injury issues that plagued him throughout the year. He had zero interceptions and six pass breakups.

His size (6-foot 5/8) and physicality are things the Packers have typically been drawn to with their cornerbacks and could help him become a contributor on special teams. That would be a necessity at this spot in the draft.

If nothing else, Dixon has experience and has been coached by arguably the greatest defensive mind in NFL history. There are worse places to start for a late-round draft choice.

Round 7: Toriano Pride Jr., Missouri.

In the later rounds of the draft, most general managers are looking for one elite trait they can help mold at the next level.

In Toriano Pride’s case, that trait is arguably the most important one at the cornerback position. Pride has speed to burn, and showed plenty of it at the Scouting Combine by running a 4.33 40-yard-dash. He had four interceptions, including two pick-sixes, in two seasons with the Tigers.

That speed could make him a contributor on special teams early in his career as he tries to hone his craft more on defense. If nothing else, he’d provide competition to players like Kamal Hadden and Bo Melton at the back of Green Bay’s cornerback room.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

Add us as a preferred source on Google