Seven-Round All-Packers Mock Draft Includes Cornerbacks, Quarterback

The NFL offseason is here, and the Seattle Seahawks are the Super Bowl champions. Yes, the Seahawks, not the Green Bay Packers, who were bounced on wild-card weekend in historic fashion after blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to the Chicago Bears.

With the coaching staff mostly in place with the retention of Matt LaFleur and the addition of Jonathan Gannon to the defense, the Packers can turn their attention to the player-acquisition portion of the offseason in order to take the team from a seventh-seeded wild-card team to a Super Bowl champion.

The NFL Draft will be in Pittsburgh, and there are just 73 days until the event begins.

Or 74 if you’re following the Packers.

Here is more on that, and our thoughts on who the Packers could be looking at, with the help of the Pro Football Network simulator.

First Round: Traded

More on this later, but this pick was traded for defensive end Micah Parsons.

Second Round, Pick 52: Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego State

Apparently everyone except for Brian Gutekunst knows the Packers have issues at cornerback. At his media availability to put a bow on the 2025 season, Gutekunst pushed back on the notion that the Packers needed “wholesale changes” at cornerback

He even praised the efforts of Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon.

Whether the Packers need wholesale changes or not can theoretically be up for debate. What cannot be up for debate is the position could have significant turnover on the horizon.

The Packers love to look a year or two ahead when they enter the draft, and cornerback is a position in which they could see an empty cupboard when they look at 2027. Nixon and Valentine are going to play the 2026 season on expiring contracts. Nate Hobbs could be released this offseason following a disappointing debut season. If he’s retained in 2026, he could be a cap casualty in 2027, when his base salary soars to $9.05 million and is cap number eclipses $14.0 million.

Chris Johnson’s weight will be interesting to watch, as he’s only 185 pounds, which is lighter than the Packers typically prefer at the position.

With limited resources, however, the Packers cannot afford to be picky. Johnson could redshirt for a season, as the Packers typically like to do with their rookies, or he could step in should one of the starters ahead of him get injured or underperform.

Johnson was excellent in 2025, with Pro Football Focus charging him with 18 completions in 41 targets. With zero touchdowns and four interceptions, his passer rating against was a meager 16.1.

Third Round, Pick 84: Darrell Jackson Jr., DT, Florida State

If cornerback is the Packers’ biggest need going into 2026, defensive tackle is a close second. There’s an argument to be made that defensive tackle is an even bigger need both immediately and into the future.

Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks were Green Bay’s top three defensive tackles this past season. They’ll all play the 2026 season on expiring contracts. Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse were the two young players on the roster throughout the season. There’s some hope there that they could turn into more reliable contributors in 2026, but this position needs reinforcements.

Florida State Seminoles defensive lineman Darrell Jackson Jr. (6) prepares for the snap against Charleston Southern. | Melina Myers-Imagn Images

That’s where Darrell Jackson Jr. comes in. He was one of the more impressive players at the East-West Shrine game, and he is not a small man at 6-foot-5 and 328 pounds.

The Packers lost something on their defensive line when TJ Slaton walked out the door to Cincinnati after the 2024 season. The Packers used Wooden in his role, and he performed admirably before wearing down at the end of the season.

Jackson has some work to do as a pass rusher, but could be an immediate contributor in the run game.

Fourth Round, Pick 120: Tristian Leigh, OT, Clemson

More help in the trenches. The Packers’ offensive line was in shambles by the end of the season with right tackle Zach Tom missing the final four games and center Sean Rhyan leaving on the final series of their playoff loss to Chicago.

Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins and Rhyan could be playing elsewhere in 2026; Walker and Rhyan will be unrestricted free agents and Jenkins could be a cap-saving cut. Darian Kinnard, a backup tackle who earned significant playing time as a blocking tight end, will be a restricted free agent.

Regardless of who leaves and who returns, the Packers, like any other team, need more bodies on the offensive line.

Tristian Leigh is an interesting prospect at 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds. He’s a little lighter than second-round rookie Anthony Belton was a season ago but could have the movement skills the Packers have typically valued in their offensive linemen.

With Jordan Morgan set to move from the bench into the starting lineup at left tackle, Green Bay could use a swing tackle. Maybe that’s Leigh. In addition, the Packers like to cross train their linemen, and Leigh is likely a good enough athlete to be able to do that, as well.

Fifth Round, Pick 158: Derrick Moore, DE, Michigan

On the surface, defensive end is not a significant need like it was a season ago. Micah Parsons will be back whether that is in late September or early October. Any group that starts with Parsons is ahead of the curve. Lukas Van Ness had a strong finish to the season, as well.

Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore (8) forces Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne (15) to fumble. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Behind those two, Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver had solid games against the Vikings in extended action in Week 18. Those two make for solid group on the back end of the room.

There is some attrition that could take place, though. Rashan Gary, a Pro Bowler in 2024, is a cut candidate after a disappearance in the second half of the season. Kingsley Enagbare is going to be a free agent and may make more money on the open market than the Packers are willing to give.

A fifth-round pick on Derrick Moore could solve some of the issues in Green Bay. Moore was a productive player for the Wolverines, earning snaps in the rotation for the 2023 season before becoming a full-time starter in 2024 and 2025.

Moore finished his final season on campus with 10 sacks and two forced fumbles, and projects as a good rotational rusher with some potential to become a solid starter in the future.

Sixth Round, Pick 200: Cole Payton, QB, North Dakota State.

Cole Payton is a high-upside pick at the quarterback position to replace Malik Willis.

The physical talent that Payton has at 6-foot-3 and 233 pounds is intriguing. Plus, he is a solid athlete. The Packers need to find some competition behind Jordan Love, who has missed time in each of the last two seasons.

Willis is not coming back to save the day as he did a handful of times during his two seasons in Green Bay. The options under contract are Desmond Ridder and Kyle McCord. Ridder has experience as a starter as a former third-round pick by the Falcons. McCord, after a prolific season at Syracuse in 2024, was a rookie last year that has already bounced around the league.

There should be plenty of competition for the backup quarterback job. Even if the Packers add someone in free agency or via trade, someone like Payton could be a candidate for the role that Taylor Elgersma in 2024 played as a high-upside dart throw.

Seventh Round, Pick 236: Sam Roush, TE, Stanford

The first pick in the seventh round includes a pick at tight end, where the Packers have two top players set to enter the upcoming season on expiring contracts. Kraft is going to get re-signed. Luke Musgrave? He probably will be playing his final year in Green Bay.

Behind them, valuable role player John Fitzpatrick tore his Achilles late in the year, and his future appears uncertain, to say the least, as an unrestricted free agent. Josh Whyle had some nice moments a year ago but will be a restricted free agent.

Sam Roush has some intriguing size, and has been a rotational blocker and special teamer at minimum since getting to Stanford in 2022. He has some upside in the passing game, as well, as he caught 49 passes for 545 yards in 2025 and 119 passes during his final three seasons.

Roush wouldn’t replace Kraft or anything like that, but he could provide another quality player on the back of the roster.

Seventh Round, Pick 254: Dontae Balfour, CB, Texas Tech.

Texas Tech had one of the best defenses in the country, and cornerback Dontae Balfour was part of the group. In his one season at Tech, he had zero interceptions and five passes defensed. PFF charged him with 14-of-25 passing for 149 yards with one touchdown and an 86.9 passer rating.

In five seasons at North Carolina, Charlotte and Tech, he had three interceptions and 30 passes defensed.

This would mark the fourth consecutive season in which Gutekunst used a seventh-round pick on a cornerback.

Seventh Round, Pick 257: Dominic Zvada, K, Michigan

Brandon McManus is likely to be Green Bay’s kicker in 2026. If he’s not, Lucas Havrisik is on the practice squad.

Gutekunst has not shied away from drafting a kicker, as he did with Anders Carlson in 2023. He’s also not shied away from having more than two kickers on the roster. If we know anything about Gutekunst, he’ll try and get younger at a position whenever we can.

Zvada could be a bet on upside at kicker. Zvada was 21-of-22 on field goals (95.5 percent) in 2024, which included a 56-yarder, but just 17-of-25 (68.0 percent) in 2025.

With the modern-day kicker able to make field goals nearly from midfield, if a team does not have a kicker that can kick from long range, they are behind the curve.

When McManus recovered from his quad injury, he made 32 consecutive kicks to finish the regular season, but 30 of those 32 were from 40 yards or less. Perhaps the Packers would try to find a younger, stronger leg for competition at this point in the draft.

First Round: A Hero’s Welcome

Note: The Packers traded their first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 for Micah Parsons, so all of our mock drafts will conclude with a note about what Parsons provided in Year 1.

A heroes welcome for #1 Micah Parsons. pic.twitter.com/FbFfnfX9bj
— Jacob Westendorf (@JacobWestendorf) September 7, 2025

There may not have been a more anticipated season opener in Green Bay since 2018, when they opened their 100th season against the Chicago Bears.

This year’s version did not have nearly as much drama, but it had an introduction that will be remembered for years.

When the schedule came out, the Packers were given their first home opener since Matt LaFleur became the team’s coach in 2019. They were facing the Detroit Lions, the 2024 division champion, and a team the Packers wanted to make a statement against.

That alone was enough to give the game some juice, before Gutekunst added gasoline and napalm on top of the fire.

The gasoline and napalm, of course, was the trade for defensive end Micah Parsons.

Parsons was sent to Green Bay on Aug. 28. By that point, training camp had ended. There were no more open practices to the public.

Before the game, LaFleur made a decision to introduce the defense first to the raucous Lambeau Field crowd, and the final introduction, usually saved for a fan favorite or tenured player, was reserved for Parsons.

He was met with thunderous roars from the Lambeau faithful. The Lions and Packers did not know at the time, but the game might have ended there. The Packers turned in what was arguably their best performance of the season, punctuated by a Parsons sack of Jared Goff, which spearheaded a 27-13 season opening statement.

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