Packers’ Biggest Draft Needs and Most Likely Picks in Rounds 2 and 3

GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers, finally, will be on the clock in the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday night.

With short- and long-term needs up and down the roster, here’s what Day 2 of the draft could look like.

Nose Tackle

State of the Packers: The need to strengthen the defensive line was obvious even before they traded Colby Wooden. Now, they need a nose tackle for their new 3-4 scheme – unless they want to roll the dice that Nazir Stackhouse and/or Jonathan Ford can get them through limited snaps.

Second round: Texas Tech’s Lee Hunter, Georgia’s Christen Miller. Miller is the more athletic player, and you know how Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst likes players from Georgia. He’s also got a bit of a concerning injury history, which makes Hunter the cleaner prospect.

Third round: Iowa State’s Domonique Orange, Missouri’s Chris McClellan, Florida State’s Darrell Jackson. At 322 pounds, Orange is a ready-made run stopper. He might never play a third-and-long snap in his career, though. With long arms and big hands, McClellan is physical at the point of the pocket and can push the pocket. Jackson is an absolute mountain of a man who isn’t the sum of his parts.

Cornerback

State of the Packers: The Packers will have Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Benjamin St-Juste competing for the two starting spots on the perimeter. Do any of them have the ability to stop Caleb Williams, Jared Goff, Sam Darnold or Matthew Stafford on a do-or-die final drive?

Second round: South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse, Arizona’s Treydan Stukes, Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun. At 5-foot-11 3/4 with 4.41 speed, Cisse allowed a completion percentage of less than 50 percent the last two seasons. Stukes is bigger and faster than Cisse. He’s also older as a sixth-year senior. While he played a lot of perimeter cornerback in 2022, he played just 15 snaps at that spot the last two seasons. Igbinosun, who’s 6-foot-2 with 4.45 speed, is a three-year starter who made big strides last season in cutting back on penalties.

Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Davison Igbinosun tests his vertical jump at pro day. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Third round: Arkansas’ Julian Neal, Georgia’s Daylen Everette, Texas’ Malik Muhammad, Washington’s Tacario Davis.

Muhammad is the small corner on this list at 6-foot. He allowed a 57.8 passer rating in 2025. Everette is 6-foot-1 1/4 with 4.38 speed. Neal is 6-foot-1 5/8; while he ran only a 4.49, he’s the only corner more than 200 pounds in the class. Davis is the king-sized corner at 6-foot-3 7/8 and has 4.41 speed. That type of corner didn’t work out with another Washington prospect, Kevin King, but his unique traits and 50.6 passer rating can’t be ignored.

Offensive Line

State of the Packers: Even if the new starting five is fine, the Packers badly need to improve their depth chart. The team didn’t just crumble down the stretch because of Micah Parsons’ torn ACL. It fell apart without right tackle Zach Tom, who was injured in that same game. Left tackle and center are critical positions. There’s no obvious backup at either spot.

The Packers like versatility from their linemen, so that’s the focus here.

Second round: Northwestern T/G Caleb Tiernan, Iowa G/T Gennings Dunker. Tiernan’s arm length is an issue but he was a three-year starting left tackle – a position in which the Packers lack a backup. Arm length is also an issue for Dunker, a standout right tackle.

Emmanuel Pregnon of Oregon is a pure guard who could push Anthony Belton at right guard, with Belton then being a contender for the utility role.

Third round: Florida T Austin Barber, Texas A&M OL Trey Zuhn III, Duke OL Brian Parker. Barber has played left and right tackle. Zuhn thrived at left tackle but started one game at center in 2025. Barber thrived at right tackle and played center at the Shrine Bowl.

Receiver

State of the Packers: The Packers, of course, have a superb second-round track record at receiver. The depth chart is strong for 2026 but consists of only Matthew Golden and Savion Williams for 2027.

Without Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks and with Golden and Jayden Reed, the focus might be on a bigger perimeter receiver.

Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) dives for a score at the pylon against Wisconsin. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Second round: Alabama’s Germie Bernard, Mississippi’s De’Zhaun Stribling. These aren’t the tall toothpicks that populate the draft class. Rather, Bernard is 6-foot-1 1/4 and 206 pounds with 9 7/8-inch hands and Stribling is 6-foot-2 1/4 and 207 pounds with 10-inch hands. They are good receivers and blockers, which is important for coach Matt LaFleur.

Third round: Georgia State’s Ted Hurst, Tennessee’s Chris Brazzell II, Indiana’s Elijah Sarratt, Louisville’s Chris Bell, North Dakota State’s Bryce Lance.

Hurst and Brazzell had “30” visits with the Packers. Hurst, Brazzell and Lance are all taller than 6-foot-3 and can fly (Hurst is the turtle of the group at 4.42). Sarratt, who also has Green Bay’s preferred size at 6-foot-2 1/2 and 207 pounds with 10-inch hands, lacks high-end athleticism but has superior hands. Bell is 6-foot-1 7/8 and 222 pounds with 10-inch hands but is coming off a torn ACL that could sideline him for camp.

Edge Rusher

State of the Packers: With Parsons out of the lineup and Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare playing elsewhere, the entire Week 1 depth chart consists of 15 sacks in their combined eight seasons in the NFL: Lukas Van Ness has 8.5, Brenton Cox has five, Barryn Sorrell has 1.5 and Collin Oliver has zero.

Second round: Illinois’ Gabe Jacas, Penn State’s Dani Dennis-Sutton, Auburn’s Keyron Crawford, Michigan’s Derrick Moore. This is a loaded group o edge rushers. Of note, Dennis-Sutton has played a lot of high-level reps on special teams, a fact he used to sell himself to teams. Crawford played in a stand-up role at Auburn and dropped into coverage 126 times in 2025.

Third round: Texas Tech’s Romello Height, who had a “30” visit. At 239 pounds, he might be a designated pass rusher. That was the role given to Oliver.

Wild Card

Stanford Cardinal tight end Sam Roush catches a pass against Washington State. | James Snook-Imagn Images

State of the Packers: Who’s the No. 2 running back (and running back of the future)? Is it time to draft a different tight end to work in tandem with Tucker Kraft? There is one incredibly intriguing option at each position.

Running back: Arkansas’ Mike Washington. Washington had a “30” visit. He has Green Bay’s size at 220-plus pounds and has home-run-hitting speed. He’d be an explosive counterpuncher to Josh Jacobs this season with the potential to be a starter.

Tight end: Stanford’s Sam Roush. With Tucker Kraft coming off a torn ACL and with John FitzPatrick unsigned following a torn Achilles, the Packers could use a blocking tight end for 2026 and a potential upgrade to Luke Musgrave and Josh Whyle as the backups to Kraft in 2027. While he’s not an explosive downfield threat, Roush is the best combo receiver-blocker in the class.

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