The decisions that will define the Packers’ make-or-break 2026 NFL Draft

For a team that's flown under the radar a bit this offseason — keeping your powder dry in free agency will typically do that — you could argue that no team has more riding on the 2026 NFL Draft than the Green Bay Packers.

The pressure to finally break through in the NFC has arguably never been higher after a heartbreaking loss to the rival Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round, and the NFC North will only get tougher with Kyler Murray now in Minnesota. And yet, for a team that everyone expects to make the playoffs ... man, there sure are some holes on this roster. Green Bay said goodbye to a slew of free agents this spring, from Rashan Gary to Romeo Doubs to Rasheed Walker to Quay Walker to Malik Willis, and Micah Parsons' return from an ACL tear only adds to the uncertainty.

There are still pieces in place here to make a real run — provided, of course, that GM Brian Gutekunst hits on this draft enough to reload the chamber, particularly on defense. But with a depleted chest of draft picks to work with, checking every box on draft weekend is easier said than done.

What the Packers need most out of the 2026 NFL Draft

Find a new starter at defensive tackle

Just taking a surface-level view of the depth chart, this is most glaringly obvious need. Javon Hargrave is in, but he comes with serious question marks at age 33 (and was never the stoutest point-of-attack run defender to begin with). Add in Colby Wooden's departure in free agency and Devonte Wyatt's injury concerns, and Green Bay needs a big body who can help man the middle and stabilize this run defense starting on day one.

Really though, if you wanted to extend this to the entire defensive line, I wouldn't argue too much. The Packers' free agency exodus this spring hit them particularly hard in the front seven, and replacements are sorely needed both on the edge and the interior.

Find a credible CB2

Perhaps this is too harsh to Carrington Valentine, who was largely fine last season and has already outplayed his draft position as a former seventh-round pick. But ultimately, he's a low-ceiling player who comes with serious physicality concerns, and while Gutekunst did dip into free agency to nab Benjamin St-Juste from the Chargers, that's more a depth signing than something that will stabilize the position.

After the defensive interior, CB2 is the starting spot most desperately in need of an upgrade if the Packers want to contend next season. They don't need a star there — which is good, because they don't have the draft capital to land one — but they do need to take at least one more meaningful swing to try and bump Valentine down the pecking order a rung.

Bolster the offensive line

Even after losing Rasheed Walker and Elgton Jenkins this offseason, you can still talk yourself into Green Bay having a pretty solid starting five with former first-round pick Jordan Morgan at left tackle and 2025 second-round pick Anthony Belton stepping in at guard. At the very least, you can see the succession plan that Gutekunst has in mind.

The problem is that neither Morgan nor Belton have looked like slam-dunk starters in their (admittedly limited) playing time to date. And while those two can replace the departed Walker and Jenkins, that raises the question of who will replace them as depth — and right now Green Bay doesn't have anything close to a convincing answer. Again, the Packers don't need a Week 1, plug-and-play prospect here, but finding someone with inside-outside versatility to plug holes as they arise would do wonders.

Build defensive depth

We touched on this a little bit earlier, but the Packers' defensive front seven got decimated in free agency, and the team has yet to adequately replace the depth that it lost. They don't need to do anything drastic, but with a bevy of Day 3 picks, they need to take some swings on EDGE, defensive end and linebacker prospects who can contribute on special teams right away while helping to raise the floor a bit in case of injury.

Micah Parsons looms large over Packers' draft strategy

In some ways, Gutekunst's job on draft weekend has been made pretty simple. Green Bay is down its first-round pick this year (and next year) as a result of the Parsons trade, which greatly inhibits the team's ability to get aggressive in moving up the board if a prospect they love starts falling. (Losing so much talent in free agency has the Packers positioned for as many as four compensatory picks in the 2027 draft, but because those picks haven't been conferred yet, they can't be used in trades — at least not until next year, when Gutekunst will have substantially more flexibility.)

• First round: None
• Second round: No. 52 overall
• Third round: No. 84 overall
• Fourth round: No. 120 overall
• Fifth round: Nos. 153 and 160 overall
• Sixth round: No. 201 overall
• Seventh round: Nos. 236 and 255 overall

Given how many needs Green Bay has to fill in order to compete at the top of the NFC next season, Gutekunst should be looking for quantity rather than quality. If he has the opportunity to pick up an extra mid-round pick by moving back a bit in the second or third rounds, he should absolutely do so, depending on how the board falls at each position.

Who are the Packers' ideal draft targets?

Defensive tackle

The good news here is that this is not a top-heavy defensive tackle class, and the guys projected to go in the early first or late second rounds, like Clemson's Peter Woods, are penetrators that don't fit what the Packers are looking for anyway. Green Bay should be able to wait until pick No. 50 (or even pick No. 82) to land a solid run presence, and Orange is the most intriguing of the bunch based on his production at Iowa State — where the Cyclones relied on him as a true nose tackle who had to two-gap consistently, and did so awfully well. He's not the most dynamic player due to his size (north of 320 pounds), but he has more pass-rush juice than you think, and he should be a rock-solid spine for the Packers' run defense.

And he's not the only player of that type that Green Bay could target. Again, there are plenty of run-stuffers around this area of the draft, from Georgia's Christen Miller to Florida State's Darrell Jackson Jr.

Cornerback

It's tough to figure out what sort of player the Packers are going to be targeting here; they had a real type under Jeff Hafley (who sacrificed size for zone instincts and inside-out versatility), but will that hold true with Jonathan Gannon in town? If it does, someone like Arizona State's Keith Abney II or Oregon's Jadon Canady would make a lot of sense — neither are particularly big, but both can play outside some in a pinch and are extremely smart players.

If Green Bay decides it wants better man-coverage chops in a new scheme, it could look to Brandon Cisse out of South Carolina or a bigger, more projectable frame like Washington's Tacario Davis (nearly 6-foot-4) or Texas A&M's Will Lee III (6-foot-2, 190 pounds). Again, in a perfect world, the Packers will have addressed this area with one of their first two picks, because you don't want to be trying to find starting-caliber players at pick 120 or later.

Offensive line

Offensive line, on the other hand, could well wait until that fourth-round pick, depending on how far someone like Iowa's Gennings Dunker or Northwestern's Caleb Tiernan (both of whom played tackle in college but might be better off kicking inside at the pro level) or a true guard like Duke's Brian Parker II falls. Another name to watch out for here is Boise State's Kage Casey: He also played tackle in college, and might try to stick there at the NFL level, but his physical limitations and his tenacity as a run blocker figure to profile best on the interior. It might require a third-round pick to land Casey, but he could return a ton of value as insurance at either line spot.

How Green Bay handles this draft will reveal what it thinks about its Super Bowl window

Despite their limitations in terms of draft capital, the Packers still have enough in the chamber to cover most of their bases with a bit of creativity (and, of course, some luck). But in some ways, this draft will be the ultimate test of Brian Gutekunst's process — because while Green Bay has several pressing needs to address in order to contend in 2026, they also have a GM who loves to keep one eye squarely on the future.

We've seen this play out time and again during Gutekunst's tenure, where he takes a toolsy, developmental player with more significant upside despite the fact that the prospect in question doesn't happen to play a position of immediate need. He might opt to do so again here, especially considering the fact that Josh Jacobs isn't getting any younger at running back and the team's depth chart at receiver looks substantially different with the departures of Romeo Doubs in free agency and Dontayvion Wicks via trade.

Given Gutekunst's historic dedication to taking the best player available, and to the strict physical requirements he's known to stick to in evaluating prospects, maybe throws caution to the wind and moves up a bit to get a defensive lineman or a corner who checks all of his boxes. Or maybe the board falls a certain way and he simply can't resist taking a skill-position prospect who fell further than expected. On paper at least, this should be a moment at which Green Bay is getting aggressive to try and maximize its chances of immediate contention. But that's never been Gutekunst's M.O., and it'll be fascinating to see how he weighs what's best for 2026 with what's best for the long haul.

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