Packers’ Brian Gutekunst Ready for Draft That’s 40 Years in the Making

The 2026 NFL Draft will begin on Thursday night.

For the Green Bay Packers, it will begin on Friday night.

The Packers, of course, don’t have a first-round pick following last year’s trade for Micah Parsons. So, what will Thursday night be like for general manager Brian Gutekunst?

“We’ve talked about that, joked about it a little bit, but I think we’re going to do our normal process,” he said in christening the new Packers media auditorium on Tuesday. “You know, the phones won’t be as busy, that’s for sure, but we’re going to keep our ears open. We put a lot of work into this with the players that are going to be picked in that round, and this year it’ll be a little bit more fun just because it’s going to be less chaotic.”

The Packers traded out of the first round in 2017, but this marks the first time the team entered the draft without a first-rounder since 1986, when Green Bay traded it away before the 1985 season to land defensive back for Mossy Cade.

The process has stayed mostly the same, though, Gutekunst said. There were tweaks in the pro days he attended and how the team used its “30” visits but, by and large, players were scouted, no different than ever.

That’s because the draft is the lifeblood of the Packers, even if that means not owning the 20th overall selection this year. The research compiled and the scouting reports written over the last several months will continue with a player throughout his career. So, just because the Packers won’t have a chance to select a consensus top-20 prospect doesn’t mean they won’t have a chance to add that player down the road.

“We’re very intense about that process and understanding, because that does carry over quite a bit,” he said. “Certainly, guys change as they get into our league, and they get better or worse, but a lot of the information we gather right now is stuff we’ll be using three, four or five years from now on these players.”

As always, the target for Gutekunst when he finally is on the clock will be the ever-popular best player available. Even with a team that’s built to win now and with less draft capital at his disposal than usual, he said he will not force a need-based pick.

“I’m always trying to do my very, very best to take the best player available,” he said. “I very much believe, as we build our board, that subconsciously our needs are factored. I think we tried to do as much as we can prior to the draft to feel like we could go play a game tomorrow, if we had to, and feel really good about our chances. So, that’s the way I feel right now.

“So, certainly at times where you have players rated equally, sometimes positional need may factor in, but I try to fight against that as much as possible.”

Gutekunst has only eight picks in this year’s draft. There is no first-round pick, but the team will have picks in the second through seventh rounds, plus an extra pick in the fifth following the Dontayvion Wicks trade and a compensatory pick toward the end of the seventh.

Gutekunst’s first pick is scheduled to be at No. 52. He’ll be on the clock for the first time more than 24 hours after the draft officially kicked off.

“It’s always hard watching good players come off the board, particularly ones, obviously, we get to know these guys very well, and when you see them get selected, it’s tough no matter where you’re picking,” he said.

“If we end up waiting 51 picks before we pick, that’ll be a long time and, hopefully, I have the patience and the discipline to do that. But not unlike any other draft, we’ll have some players that we’ll talk about moving up to go get. I’m sure there’ll be some scenarios to move back, as well. But it’s always hard to watch these players we’ve studied so thoroughly over the last few months to come off and not help the Green Bay Packers right now.”

While the Packers have only eight picks for this week’s draft. They’re scheduled to have 11 for next year, including compensatory picks for losing Malik Willis, Romeo Doubs, Quay Walker and Kingsley Enagbare, plus additional picks in the fourth and sixth rounds for trading Rashan Gary and Wicks, respectively.

So, while Gutekunst said he’d like to end up with more than eight picks, he’s got the ammunition to move up for a player, as well.

“That’s the reason every GM in the league wants as many as you can, not only because of the players you can select but the ability to move,” he said. “You never like giving them up, but if there’s a player in front of you that you know you’re going to acquire, it makes it a little bit easier.”

Not having a first-round pick and having to wait until the second half of the second round will test Gutekunst’s patience. Green Bay has reached the playoffs three consecutive seasons but has considerable needs on the offensive and defensive lines, receiver and cornerback, among other positions.

He won’t have a first-round pick to fill a void. But he’s got Parsons, which is no small consolation.

“The player we got for that pick,” Gutekunst said, “I’m good with.”

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