These Receivers Might Not Be on Packers’ NFL Draft Board

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers need a receiver. After last year’s young group failed to take the next step and Christian Watson suffered a torn ACL, the expectation is they’ll take one in the first few rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.

In Dane Brugler’s The Beast for The Athletic, 33 receivers have draftable grades. The Packers history, however, shows not all of those players will be on their draft board. Brian Gutekunst has drafted 10 receivers. Before that, his predecessor selected 18. That’s 28 receivers over 20 years, providing a large sample size.

The 40

The 40-yard dash is the signature event of the Scouting Combine. While you don’t have to be rocket fast to play receiver at a high level in the NFL, speed is practically a prerequisite.

The historic Combine average in the 40 is 4.499. Of Gutekunst’s picks, six were faster: Christian Watson (4.36), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (4.37), Jayden Reed (4.45), Romeo Doubs (4.47 an individual pro day, according to Gutekunst), Samori Toure and Equanimeous St. Brown (4.48), though only Watson and MVS were considerably faster. Four were slower: Donvayvion Wicks (4.62 but 4.58 at pro day), J’Mon Moore (4.60 at the Combine but 4.49 at pro day), Grant DuBose (4.57) and Amari Rodgers (4.52).

Who was slower? Wicks’ time leaves quite a bit of breathing room. Miami’s Xavier Restrepo, an undersized slot, ran a plodding 4.85. Illinois’ Pat Bryant has excellent size and hands but ran his 40 in 4.61.

Height

At 5-foot-10 1/4, 2011 second-round pick Randall Cobb was the outlier. He was almost a full inch shorter than any other receiver drafted by Thompson. And then Gutekunst broke the mold in 2021 with Amari Rodgers, who was 5-foot-9 1/2. He was short but he wasn’t small; he also wasn’t any good.

With Reed (5-10 7/8) manning the slot and Mecole Hardman (5-10 1/4) added in free agency, the Packers presumably won’t be looking at any small receivers this year. Right? Well, they hosted Texas’ Isaiah Bond (5-10 5/8, 195 pounds) on a predraft visit, so who knows.

Virginia Tech’s Jaylin Lane (5-9 3/4), Oregon’s Tez Johnson (5-9 7/8 and 154 pounds), Restrepo (5-9 5/8) and the Colorado duo of Jimmy Horn (5-8 1/8) and LaJohntay Wester (5-9 7/8) shouldn’t be booking travel to Green Bay.

Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel (5-10 1/4), Washington State’s Kyle Williams (5-10 5/8) and Bond also are on the small side, but Bond has big-time speed (even if his 4.39 in the 40 at the Combine didn’t quite show it).

Weight

At 187 pounds, Jayden Reed is the lightest receiver selected during the Gutekunst-Thompson eras. Texas’ Bond is 185. Making that a potential cutoff, Oregon’s Tez Johnson (154), Georgia’s Arian Smith (6-foot 3/8, 179), UNLV’s Ricky White (6-1 1/8, 181), Maryland’s Tai Felton (6-1 1/8, 183) and Colorado’s Horn (174) and Wester (163) might not be on the board.

Hands

Of Gutekunst’s 10 picks, seven had hands of at least 9 1/2 inches, with the smallest belonging to Reed (9 1/8). Including Thompson’s drafts, Davante Adams (and others) had the smallest hands at 9 inches.

That’s got to mean something. Missouri’s Luther Burden, who could go in the first round, has 8 1/2-inch hands. Bond (8 1/2), Washington’s State’s Kyle Williams (8 3/4), San Jose State’s Nick Nash (8 7/8), Pitt’s Konata Mumpfield (8 1/2), Horn (8 3/4) and Wester (8 5/8) fall below 9 inches, as well.

Interestingly, what does hand size mean for TCU’s Jack Bech (9 inches), Colorado State’s Tory Horton and Iowa State’s Jayden Higgins (9 1/4 inches), a trio of Day 2 options? In 2024, Higgins caught 87 passes with two drops and Bech caught 62 passes with one drop, and Horton caught 121 passes with four drops the past two seasons. So, they’ll stay on the list at the end of the story while Chimere Dike (9 1/4 hands) did not because of his history of drops at Florida and Wisconsin.

Of note, of Gutekunst’s picks, Wicks, Watson, Doubs and Valdes-Scantling had hands of 10-plus inches. Arizona’s Tet McMillan (10) could be the first receiver off the board, Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor (10) and TCU’s Savion Williams (10 1/4) could go in the third round, and Arkansas’ Isaac TeSlaa (10) and Tennessee’s Bru McCoy (10) are third-day options.

Vertical Jump

This is a drill that feels like it should matter but it does not. The Combine average is 35.5 inches. Only three of Gutekunst’s picks beat that mark.

Relative Athletic Score

Relative Athletic Score takes all of a player’s measurables and testing results and places them on one 0-to-10 spectrum. It’s a great tool for making more of an apples-to-apples comparison between a short receiver like Amari Rodgers and a tall receiver like Equanimeous St. Brown.

The RAS for Gutekunst’s picks: Watson (9.96), St. Brown (9.85), Valdes-Scantling (9.26), Wicks (9.17), DuBose (8.79), Moore (8.43), Reed (6.74), Toure (6.14), Rodgers (5.35) and Doubs (none). The low numbers for Reed and Rodgers are mostly due to being undersized.

Here are the receivers with a RAS of less than 6: Texas’ Isaiah Bond, 4.23; UNLV’s Ricky White, 3.37; Central Florida’s Kobe Hudson, 3.94; Louisville’s Ja’Corey Brooks, 4.15.

And the scores for the receivers who will go/could go in the first three rounds:

Round 1: Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, DNP; Texas’ Matthew Golden, DNP; Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, 9.72; Missouri’s Luther Burden, DNP.

Day 2: Iowa State’s Jayden Higgins, 9.63; Utah State’s Jalen Royals, 9.01; Mississippi’s Tre Harris, 9.23; TCU’s Jack Bech, 9.51; Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor, 9.71; Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel, 9.75; Texas’ Isaiah Bond, 4.23; Colorado State’s Tory Horton, 9.83; TCU’s Savion Williams, DNP; Washington State’s Kyle Williams, 6.35.

Who Are the Best Fits?

Having thinned the group, here are the best fits for the Packers purely from a measurables perspective.

Round 1

Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan: 6-4 1/8, 213; 4.53 40, 10 hands, No RAS.

Texas’ Matthew Golden: 5-11, 191; 4.29 40, 9 3/8 hands, No RAS.

Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka: 6-0 7/9, 201; 4.48 40, 9 5/8 hands, 9.72 RAS.

Day 2

Players listed in order of Relative Athletic Score.

Colorado State’s Tory Horton: 6-2 1/2, 196. 4.41 40, 9 hands, 9.83 RAS.

Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor: 6-1 3/4, 206. 4.44 40, 10 hands, 9.71 RAS.

Iowa State’s Jayden Higgins: 6-4 1/4, 214. 4.47 40, 9 1/8 hands, 9.63 RAS.

TCU’s Jack Bech: 6-1 1/4, 214. DNP 40, 9 hands, 9.51 RAS.

Mississippi’s Tre Harris: 6-2 3/8, 205. 4.54 40, 9 5/8 hands, 9.23 RAS.

Utah State’s Jalen Royals: 6-0 1/8, 205. 4.42 50, 9 1/2 hands, 9.01 RAS.

TCU’s Savion Williams: 6-3 7/8, 222. 4.48 40, 10 1/4 hands, No RAS.

Day 3

Arkansas’ Isaac TeSlaa: 6-3 5/8, 214. 4.43 40, 10 hands, 9.93 RAS.

Nebraska’s Isaiah Neyor: 6-4 1/4, 218. 4.40 40, 9 7/8 hands, 9.90 RAS.

Miami’s Sam Brown: 6-2 3/8, 200. 4.44 40, 9 1/2 hands, 9.90 RAS.

Tennessee’s Dont’e Thornton: 6-4 5/8, 205. 4.30 40, 9 5/8 hands, 9.85 RAS.

Florida’s Elijhah Badger: 6-1 3/8, 200. 4.43 40, 9 1/2 hands, 9.32 RAS.

Auburn’s KeAndre Lambert: 6-0 3/4, 190. 4.37 40, 9 1/8 hands, 9.03 RAS.

Mississippi’s Jordan Watkins: 5-11 1/4, 196. 4.37 40, 9 1/2 hands, 8.79 RAS.

Virginia Tech’s Da’Quan Felton: 6-4 5/8, 214. 4.54 40, 9 1/2 hands, 8.30 RAS.

Maryland’s Kaden Prather: 6-3 1/2, 204. 4.46 40, 9 3/8 hands, 7.68 RAS.

Tennessee: Bru McCoy: 6-2 1/2, 209. DNP 40, 10 hands, No RAS.