PFF Selects ‘Ideal’ Top Three NFL Draft Picks for Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers in 2024 finished sixth in points allowed and fifth in total defense, their best marks since winning the Super Bowl in 2010.

Still, there is work to be done for Jeff Hafley’s unit, which was what Pro Football Focus did in picking “the ideal haul in the first three rounds” of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Cornerback is arguably “the most pressing need,” Bradley Locker said, and it’s hard to argue. Jaire Alexander could be traded (or released) and Eric Stokes, Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell are headed to free agency.

So, the Packers selected East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel, a first-round talent who is coming off a torn ACL. Because Revel was injured at practice after the third game of the season, he is on pace to be ready for the start of training camp.

“He just cleared me for the summer and for camp in August to fully be running straight line and decelerating and cutting,” Revel said at the Scouting Combine “So, I should be good. I'm on track right now.”

Revel would bring a new look to the secondary. While Carrington Valentine is 5-foot-11 5/8 and Keisean Nixon is 5-foot-10 1/4, Revel measured 6-foot-1 7/8 with 32 5/8-inch arms at the Combine.

According to PFF, Revel allowed a catch rate of 44.2 percent with one interception and a passer rating of 61.2 during a breakout 2023. In 2024, he allowed a catch rate of only 38.1 percent with two interceptions and a passer rating of 48.8 before the injury.

“It's just something that was kind of built in me,” he said at the Combine of how he uses his length. “I always believed in myself. I always trusted in my abilities that I had and that I carried also throughout my life. Just being confident and just, it's a lot of tall, it's a lot of short. I don't care if you're short or tall. If you're a dog, you're a dog. I mean, I just used it. I guess it was a tool God gave me.”

The Day 2 picks addressed the defensive line with LSU edge Bradyn Swinson in the second round and Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker in the third round.

Swinson played three years at Oregon before transferring to LSU for his final two seasons. He was terrific in 2024 with 8.5 sacks, 13 tackles for losses and two forced fumbles.

The sacks only tell part of the story. PFF credited him with a pass-rush win rate of 22.1 percent. Among edge defenders in the draft class, he ranked fifth among Power 4 Conference prospects in pass-rush win rate and was tied for third with 60 pressures.

“When you think of LSU,” Swinson told the school’s athletics site. “You think of edge rushers. You think of guys like Arden Key and BJ Ojulari and just the different guys that have come through here. The overall tone of defense and the ability to build a brand here, LSU is just really the place to be.”

Swinson did not go through most of the Scouting Combine workouts; he measured 6-foot-3 5/8 and 255 pounds and put up strong times in the 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill.

With starting defensive tackle TJ Slaton headed to free agency, the Packers replaced him with Walker. Slaton is a big man; Walker is even bigger at 6-foot-7 3/8 and 331 pounds. He skipped most of the Combine testing but did not impress in the jumps.

Walker had a tremendous 2023 season with 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for losses but fell back to 1.5 sacks and five TFLs in 2024. Still, his pass-rush win rate of 10.3 percent was strong.

“My favorite defensive lineman ever is Calais Campbell,” he told The Draft Network recently. “I love his game, I love watching his tape. We're around the same size, maybe I'm a little bigger than him. He's shown that you can be 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7 and still play the game at a high level.

“He's shown that he can use both his hands and his feet to defeat blocks. I do the same thing. It doesn't have to just be brute force all the time.”

The depth of the defensive line class would allow general manager Brian Gutekunst to be patient.

“The numbers are high,” he said at the Combine. “I think that it’s an interesting year overall. I think the COVID and the NIL and everything has kind of caught up to where the numbers, particularly in that third day of the draft, are as high as I’ve seen them. I just think there’s a lot of guys that came back for their fifth and sixth years – a lot of 24-, 25-year-old players in this draft.”

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Some pretty easy dots to connect between the #Packers and DK Metcalf. Doesn't mean any are being connected now, though. ⬇️https://t.co/r7Ofjsmocb
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) February 28, 2025