Top NFL Scout Evaluates Packers’ Draft Picks, Including ‘Gumby,’ Free Agents

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, of course, likes his 2026 NFL Draft class.

“I think we helped the Packers,” he said after the last of his six selections. “I’m excited to get these guys in here and see them in green and gold.”

For another viewpoint, we turned to one of another team’s top personnel executives to get his thoughts on Green Bay’s draft picks.

Second Round: Cornerback Brandon Cisse

Overall thoughts:

“A good player. Not perfect. He’s competitive. I think he’s better suited for a zone team. He kind of had some struggles this year at the catch point and in man coverage, in general. But the traits are in there – the man-coverage traits – but he’s kind of just solid. Not super-fast, but not slow. Not big, but not small. Just like an all-around Swiss Army, inside-outside guy who will be a solid pro. I don’t think he’s going to be a lockdown No. 1.”

If he’s a zone corner, will he be a good fit in Jonathan Gannon’s scheme?

“He’s like a traditional version of (Vic) Fangio. He’s not Fangio, but it’s like that with a lot of zone, a lot of simulated coverage. I don’t think he’s a perfect fit but he’s a good player. I’m sure he’ll find his way. J.G.’s defense is probably built for bigger corners because they have to tackle so much because he plays a lot of quarters, so you’re a part of run support. Because you play so much zone, you have to be able to come up and get people on the ground. I’ll be interested to see how that marries.”

Third Round: Defensive Tackle Chris McClellan

Overall thoughts:

“I’m not going to lie to you, that was probably the most surprising. We just didn’t know much about him. We didn’t talk much about him. Maybe we’re messed up. Like, we didn’t really like him. We didn’t really spend that much time on him. During the draft, I’m like, ‘Who is this dude?’ Usually, you remember guys during the draft, even if it’s a player you didn’t like, but I do not remember this dude at all.

“We did not like him very much, but I can see why Green Bay liked him. He tested much better than we thought. Everything’s average.”

After the draft, Gutekunst said of trading up for McClellan, “The way that our board was falling we knew that the big guys, there wasn’t going to be a lot of them left. So, we made the decision to move up to get him. That was probably the only time that I felt like, ‘OK, if we don’t do this, we just might not be able to add to the interior or add to an area that we wanted to.”

“It’s the same thing that happened with the tight ends. Most of these tight ends are not second-round tight ends, but people were like, ‘I want a blocking tight end, so I’m going to draft one before other people draft one,’ and it creates this snowball. I don’t know if that’s how you want to make decisions.”

Fourth Round: Edge Dani Dennis-Sutton

Overall thoughts:

“He had a wonky senior year. If he came out last year, he might have went in late 2, but kind of had a wonky senior season. But he’s long, super-competitive. He honestly tested way better than he moved around during his senior year and at the Senior Bowl. So, I think it gave people who were on the fence on him some confidence that there’s more tools in his body.

“Because when you watch him play, he’s a little bit like Gumby. Like an athletic Gumby. Just a little bit all over the place. Tall, loose, high motor. Really tough. Kind of unrefined as a rusher. Like, it’s a little bit more effort right now but he’s got all the traits to be one. I bet what they’re saying is, ‘This dude’s Danielle Hunter,’ you know what I mean? He’s not as long as Danielle, but same height, size, speed, big wingspan. He’s a big dude. They’re just saying he hasn’t really put it together.

“They had the coaching turnover last year, so you can kind of chalk up the season to whatever, but he still had eight-and-a-half sacks. It was very boom or bust. Like he either got a sack or he just got nowhere near the quarterback. He didn’t really consistently generate as much pressure [as previous years]. He had a really good junior year and it’s like, ‘All right, this dude’s a dude,’ and then – he ended up putting up numbers last year but a lot of it was like padding the stats. He had six-and-a-half sacks in his last five games.”

Fifth Round: Center Jager Burton

Overall thoughts:

“He fits. He was a Day 3 guy for us. Really good tester. Not super-long but big, can move. Pass protection’s OK. He fits their system pretty good. Where they took him makes sense. He could end up being a functional starting center. Long-term, he’s not going to be a high-end guy but you could play with him, for sure.”

Sixth Round: Cornerback Domani Jackson

Overall thoughts:

“For a sixth-round pick, he’s fine. He had some up-and-down moments at Bama. I don’t think he tested super-great. He was 4.41 but his other stuff wasn’t great. He didn’t do shuttles, he didn’t jump great. Honestly, I could see them moving him to safety because he’s more of a linear tough guy. I didn’t think the coverage stuff was great, but it’s like a Gutey pick – fast, tall, looks good, probably hasn’t put it all together. He’s more of a press guy but that’s not really J.G.’s defense.”

As a scout, how do you factor that he lost his starting job for five games?

“Yeah, I think the kid who took his spot, it’s not like he was better, but it was more like they were trying to send a message to this kid. He was kind of just cruising and thought that his stuff didn’t stink. So, it was one of those where they were trying to send a message and the other kid was playing OK, so they kind of just let it ride out. He’s an OK character guy. He was a transfer from USC but it wasn’t a great transition from SC to Bama, which can be a little bit of a shock because he’s from Cali.”

Sixth Round: Kicker Trey Smack

Overall thoughts:

“We had him as a guy who has a chance to be a starting kicker. I guess they keep chasing kickers. He’s got enough in his body to potentially be a real kicker. I’m not mad at that one.”

As a scout, does it matter if he hasn’t kicked in cold weather?

“They’ve all had to play in cold weather at some point, so it’s not like the end of the world. Unless there’s some conversation around he doesn’t like kicking in the cold or he behaves differently in the cold when you do your school visit. Outside of that, it’s just kicking.

“I’m always checking to see, do they have diversity in their kick style to handle those different conditions. … Can you hit a draw? Can you hit a fade? Can you kick it high? Can you drive it? All those things, if they can do that, you can play in any kind of weather so long as you’re not mentally soft. I feel like (Mason) Crosby did a good job of that.”

Undrafted: Quarterback Kyron Drones

Overall thoughts: “Probably one of, if not the, best athletes at the position in this class. I think if he changed positions, you could argue the same thing. He’s big, he’s strong, strong arm. All the video game parts of an athlete, he has it. He just doesn’t have really good accuracy and he doesn’t make good decisions, so that’s two of the most important things you can have for a quarterback. But he is very talented. He is very talented.”

Undrafted: Receiver J. Michael Sturdivant

Overall thoughts: “He is very athletic. He’s really smooth, catches the ball really well. He’s not super-physical but he’s very efficient. A lot of physical talent. It just hasn’t come together. One, he’s not a competitive person, so in contested situations, he’s not great, and he doesn’t really do much with the ball in his hands. But he’s long, he can run, has great body control for a taller guy.”

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