The Six Packers Undrafted Rookies Who Will Really Matter During OTAs

Organized team activities will begin for the Green Bay Packers next week. They will mark the unofficial start to the 2026 football season.

Practices are held in shorts and helmets. They are competitive, but it would be a stretch to call it real football. Nonetheless, it will be the first opportunity for this year’s rookie class to show what they’re about.

Focusing on the expensive undrafted class, here are the six most important rookies.

QB Kyron Drones

The Packers like the dual-threat skill-set of former Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Standing in a clean pocket with no fear of being clobbered makes offseason football a bit unrealistic for a quarterback, but the process of going through reads, playing with fundamentals and throwing with accuracy is universal.

Statistically, Kyron Drones was one of the more inaccurate passers in college football last season. He also faced more pressure and dealt with more dropped passes than most quarterbacks, too. At three-win Virginia Tech, Drones had to play a lot of survival-mode football, which led to some flawed fundamentals and bad habits.

He will start the offseason as the No. 4 quarterback behind Jordan Love, Tyrod Taylor and Kyle McCord. He will be coached well by Green Bay’s staff. Can what he’s taught in drills become muscle memory to take into 11-on-11 periods so he can close the gap on McCord, a sixth-round pick last year who joined the Packers in January?

Given how well Malik Willis played in two seasons for the Packers, and given the roughly similar skill-sets between Willis and Drones, how quickly Drones improves will determine whether he’ll have a season-long spot with the team.

RB Jaden Nixon

Emanuel Wilson finished with just more than 1,000 total yards in 2024 and just less than 1,000 total yards in 2025. Wilson signed with the Seahawks in free agency and Jaden Nixon was the only addition to the backfield.

Nixon is an explosive threat and a potential change-of-pace player in the backfield. In 2025 at Central Florida, he averaged 7.8 yards per carry and had four touchdown runs of 50-plus yards. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

“I see a hole and I’m gone. Like, once I hit it, I can get loose quick,” he told Packers On SI.

Behind Josh Jacobs and Chris Brooks, the rest of the running back depth chart is wide open. Nixon will have to show he can handle the physicality of the NFL game, but his speed and elusiveness should translate to spring football. He’ll have to open some eyes during OTAs.

WR J. Michael Sturdivant

Florida wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant (9) hauls in a pass last season. | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If OTA football translates to “real” football at any position, it’s receiver and cornerback. If a receiver can get separation, get behind secondaries and catch the football in May, he should be able to do those things in August.

The Packers parted ways with Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks this offseason. The only veteran addition at receiver was Skyy Moore, who was signed mostly because of his success returning kicks for the 49ers last season. No receivers were drafted, making Sturdivant arguably the biggest addition at the position.

Sturdivant is 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds with 4.40 speed. From a pure physical skill-set, he’s got what it takes to not just make the team but contribute. There is a spot available on the roster with the team a man down compared to last year.

“They didn’t draft a receiver,” he told Packers On SI. “They got a great receiver room, they have a great quarterback, a great head coach that calls great plays. And it’s got a lot of stability, and that’s something that I never really had in my college career.”

TE RJ Maryland

The Packers went into the draft looking for a big, physical tight end. Instead, they signed RJ Maryland.

Maryland – the son of longtime NFL standout Russell Maryland, who finished his career with the Packers – in four seasons at SMU caught 113 passes for 1,495 yards and 19 touchdowns. At 6-foot-3 5/8 and 236 pounds with 4.51 speed in the 40, Maryland is more overgrown receiver than traditional tight end. He caught 14-of-26 targets thrown 20-plus yards downfield during his career.

We’ll have to wait until August to determine whether R.J. Maryland is capable of doing the dirty work necessary to play tight end, but the shorts-and-helmets practices should show whether he has the pass-catching skill to make it in the NFL as a matchup weapon.

OL Dillon Wade

The Packers signed versatile Auburn offensive lineman Dillon Wade after the draft. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

During his two seasons at Auburn, Dillon Wade played 1,115 snaps at left tackle, 997 snaps at left guard and 116 snaps at right tackle. He focused on left guard as a senior and worked at center in the lead-up to the draft.

Almost nothing, obviously, can be gleaned about an offensive lineman this time of year. He won’t face a bull-rushing defensive tackle until training camp. His ability to function at multiple positions, though, will determine whether he’s got a chance to make it in the NFL.

“You’re going to get an offensive lineman who makes the team better,” he told Justin Melo off NFL Draft on SI. “I’m going to help make us better in that offensive line room. I play football with the right mentality. I want to help motivate my teammates.”

Edge Nyjalik Kelly

For an edge rusher, the shorts-and-helmets practices of the spring might be a better fit for second-year player Collin Oliver, a player who wins with explosiveness, than for Nyjalik Kelly, a power player.

Kelly was not an elite pass rusher in college. After two seasons at Miami, Kelly had 8.5 sacks during his two seasons at Central Florida. It’s perhaps worth noting that he dropped into coverage 42 times as a senior and, according to Pro Football Focus, allowed just 12 receiving yards.

If Kelly – the most expensive undrafted free agent in franchise history – can show some of that versatility, he could have a home in Jonathan Gannon’s defense.

“Our edge guys (can) be able to affect the passer from a rush standpoint, be able to set a firm edge and a little bit of drop when we need them to,” Gannon said recently. “Stance, that can be predicated on the guy and by call, honestly. I do like standing our guys up at times because it gives them some vision, but it’ll be kind of player dependent.”

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