Six Scouting Combine Questions That Will Impact Packers’ NFL Draft Board

INDIANAPOLIS – While the Super Bowl was a couple weeks ago, this week’s NFL Scouting Combine marked the real start of the offseason.

It’s one of the most important weeks on the league calendar. All the top prospects are there to be measured, weighed and go through medical checks. Most of them will go through testing and drills.

It’s not just the draft, though. General managers will meet with agents about veteran players, with conversations about potential roster cuts, renegotiations and extensions, along with gauging potential free-agent interest. Last week, one agent for a top free-agent linebacker said he had a dozen meetings set up to discuss his client.

That means a busy week for Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst. Here are six Scouting Combine questions that will impact the direction of the offseason.

Will Anyone Take a Pay Cut (Ahem, Rashan Gary)?

There “always” are contracts that the team wants to re-work, Gutekunst said on Tuesday. Those conversations will intensify during face-to-face talks at the Scouting Combine.

“Certainly, it started already and then this week, obviously, is a big week to gain information and have some of those conversations down here and get those started,” Gutekunst said. “Obviously, as soon as we get back, it’s a pretty quick turnaround before free agency starts, so you’d like to have as many of those conversations as you can and kind of know where you sit with your players along with what the market’s going to be.”

At the top of the list might be defensive end Rashan Gary, who failed to get a sack during the final 10 games and will have a base salary of $18.0 million in 2026. Could the Packers tell Gary they’d like to slash that to, say, $9 million, with the other $9 million available in incentives? The player, of course, doesn’t have to agree, but after a lackluster year and with no 10-sack seasons on the resume, would any team give him more?

No doubt Gary’s agent is meeting with teams to determine his potential market.

With the uncertain status of Gary and Kingsley Enagbare (free agent) and with Micah Parsons coming off a torn ACL, the depth chart could be problematic if the Packers end up releasing Gary – and that could impact what the team does in the draft.

Any Interest In Signing With Green Bay?

The so-called legal-tampering period for free agency begins on March 9. How on earth are teams able to hammer out contracts so quickly on the 9th? Because those talks begin at the Scouting Combine.

Baltimore Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum (64) reacts after a defensive penalty against the Green Bay Packers. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They might be informal, but it’s a starting point. For sake of example, do the Packers have a chance to sign Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum? Linderbaum’s agent probably will leave Indianapolis with a good idea what the market will be for his Pro Bowl client, and the Packers will know if they should bother sending a contract offer.

If the answer is no on Linderbaum, then center might be a higher priority on the draft board.

Any Interest In Re-Signing With Green Bay?

Before the start of free agency last year, the Packers re-signed linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and kicker Brandon McManus. No doubt, Gutekunst would like to get a deal or two done before free agency starts again.

One example might be Sean Rhyan, a quality starting guard who has shown he can be a competent center. Is he the long-term answer at center? Who knows, but having Rhyan locked up for 2026 would alleviate the pressure to sign or draft an immediate starter, freeing up those resources to address other areas.

“I thought Sean, obviously, pressed into that duty unexpectedly, I thought he got better each game,” Gutekunst said. “It was about Game 3 or 4 of starting at center, he was playing at a very high level. Less experience but more stout in there because he’s just a really physical, strong guy.”

Green Bay Packers lineman Sean Rhyan (75) blocks Chicago Bears defensive tackle Andrew Billings. | Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY Network v

Why Did You Transfer?

The days of Joe Superstar playing four years at one college before turning pro are over. In the NIL era, players can transfer every season.

The question decision-makers must determine is why. Did they transfer to face better competition? For more money? For a chance to play? And now that they have money from college, do they still have that burning desire?

“One thing that’s happened is these guys are much more transactional, much more educated about the business part of this game,” Gutekunst said, “and they’re used to, whenever their season is done, taking a step back and looking at what’s best for them and whether that’s currently where they’re at or whether they should move on to another opportunity – which is their choice. Once they get here, it’s not necessarily their choice anymore, you know?”

Which Defensive Tackles Measure Up?

Few things in sports are more irrelevant than the heights and weights of players listed on the university roster.

The Packers have a key need on the defensive line – and it might be even a bigger need if the Packers change defensive schemes. The Packers under Gutekunst have a type.

Since taking over as general manager in 2018, Gutekunst has drafted eight defensive linemen. The shortest was James Looney at 6-foot-2 3/8. This week’s measurements will go a long way toward weeding out the draft board, and then the testing and drill work will factor into the equation, as well.

Which Cornerbacks Measure Up?

The Packers have no interest in short cornerbacks. None. Dating to the start of the Ted Thompson era in 2005, the Packers haven’t drafted a cornerback shorter than Jaire Alexander, who was 5-foot-10 1/4.

So, a lot of those cornerbacks listed at their schools as 5-foot-10 or 5-foot-11 might want to hope for a last-minute growth spurt. The scale is important, too. Gutekunst hasn’t drafted one lighter than 184 pounds. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better when it comes to tackling, but it certainly helps.

“Certainly in the secondary, we’re going to need to add some competition,” Gutekunst said.

Whatever the position, the results from the Scouting Combine are a big deal. While Gutekunst has said he doesn’t use Relative Athletic Score, the team has some sort of height-weight-speed system that it typically sticks to in the draft.

Still, Gutekunst scoffed at the media narrative that will emerge this week of players rocketing up and down draft boards based on fast 40 or a bad vertical jump.

“The main thing is the medical and getting to meet these players,” he said. “The testing’s awesome because we have them all here and it’s nice to compare apples to apples, so to speak. But this is an information-gathering time for us.

“There are times that, whether it’s a face-to-face interview, whether it’s something they did physically, maybe it’s a medical thing that we had to clear up, that it does change the course of where we might see that player. But the headlines of a guy ran really fast and it shoots him off the board, most of the time, particularly with the GPS data and things that we have, that usually doesn’t happen like that.”

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