Packers Go on Defensive in NFL.com’s Five-Round Mock Draft

In this story:
The Green Bay Packers have a new defensive coordinator, and he could use some new toys.
That reality was acknowledged in Chad Reuter’s new five-round mock draft at NFL.com.
With Green Bay’s first pick, which is at No. 52 of the second round, the choice was Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes.
NFL.com lists Stukes as a safety. Most of his snaps at Arizona came in the slot. He’s got the size, speed and ball skills to play perimeter cornerback. Cornerback is the position in the secondary where the Packers could use an upgrade, and Reuter thinks Stukes would be up to the task.
“He played a lot of outside corner at the start of his career and I think has the athleticism to handle it,” he said via a DM on X.
Stukes spent six seasons at Arizona, earning considerable time in four. He finished with seven interceptions and 29 additional pass breakups. During a superb sixth-year senior season, Stukes had four interceptions, six additional breakups and one sack.
PFF charged Stukes with a 66.9 passer rating in 2023, when he allowed just 8.4 yards per catch, and a 34.3 passer rating in 2025, when he allowed 9.3 yards per catch. In between, he missed most of 2024 with a torn ACL.
“I’m going to bring an infectious amount of energy and effort to the locker room,” Stukes told On SI’s Justin Melo. “I want to help the team win some football games. That’s the end goal at the end of the day. Whoever picks me is getting a guy who wants to help the team achieve its goals.”
Stukes, who measured 6-foot-1 and ran his 40 in 4.33 seconds at the Scouting Combine, arrived at Arizona as a walk-on.
“I came in pretty much knowing nothing,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “I was just athleting in high school like a lot of guys were, but I would say that I'm proud of the way that I've grown in the mental aspect of the game, being a complete defensive back. It's not just out there run and hit. You've got to know what's going on around you, what your scheme is about, and what you're trying to accomplish every time you're out there.”
If the Packers wanted a pure cornerback, Texas’ Malik Muhammad went to the 49ers at No. 58 and South Carolina’s Brandin Cisse went to the Browns at No. 70.
Auburn edge rusher Keyron Crawford was the pick in the third round, where he’d immediately upgrade the depth depleted by the losses of Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare and with Micah Parsons coming off a torn ACL.
After two seasons at Arkansas State and a quiet debut at Auburn in 2024, Crawford had five sacks and 9.5 tackles for losses in 2025. He is a true three-down player. Having played only one year of high school football, his best days should be ahead.
“He’s twitchy and rushes with ideal energy as a hungry quarterback-hunter,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote as part of an extended scouting report. “However, he might benefit from dialing back his constant acceleration and becoming more intentional with his rush. Crawford has special teams and situational rush value now, but his best football is still to come.”
In the fourth round, Reuter hit the big need for a big guy at nose tackle with Mississippi’s Zxavian Harris
We took a similar approach in our new seven-round mock. Rather than going cornerback, pass rusher, nose tackle, we went pass rusher in the second round, cornerback in the third round and Harris in the fourth round.
In the fifth round, the choice was Memphis offensive Travis Burke. At 6-foot-8 3/4, he’d be one of the tallest players in Packers history.
Travis Burke is a OT prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 9.03 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 157 out of 1606 OT from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/76vn01op8Z pic.twitter.com/zszdweAAJ9
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) March 29, 2026
“I was 5-9” as a high school freshman, Burke told On3. “And then my senior year is when I was like 6-6, 6-7, and I just kept growing over the years.”
Burke opened his career with two seasons at Gardner-Webb. He followed that with two seasons at Florida International, where he played left tackle. He closed his career at Memphis, where he started at right tackle. PFF charged him with three sacks and 13 total pressures.
“The Four Most Powerful Words Are, I Believe In You.” - Bill Walsh
— Coach David Diehl (@davediehl66) March 1, 2026
🔹Chris Adams 🔹 Travis Burke 🔹#NFLCombine2026 @NFL @NFLDraft #OLPride #ACDT pic.twitter.com/PAOj0FyFs6
He was coached at Memphis by former NFL offensive lineman David Diehl.
“Burke is a tall tackle with plus drive-blocking talent for his body type,” Zierlein wrote as part of a long scouting report. “There are areas of concern that might not be coachable, but Burke’s length and demeanor work in his favor.”
-6269900502a1e0ca581b6c34076450d4.jpg)
Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.