Packers Rookie Film Review: Jager Burton

Nov 8, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats offensive lineman Jager Burton (62) celebrates after a drive by running back Seth McGowan (3) during the third quarter against the Florida Gators at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

We’re continuing our deep dive into the Green Bay Packers’ 2026 draft. Previously, I have written about Dani Dennis-Sutton and RJ Maryland. Today, we’re taking a look at Jager Burton, a center out of the University of Kentucky.

As you might expect, his RAS is about what you’d expect from the Packers. For a center, he’s a bit undersized, but he’s an elite athlete with tremendous movement skills. While he played all 3 positions along the interior of the line, he settled in at Center for his Senior year and turned in his best season.

While he comes in a tick short, his 6’3” is still a perfectly fine size for a Center. He certainly looks the part of an interior lineman, earning him the nickname “Moose.” Aside from being the exact kind of nickname you want for an offensive lineman, it’s also the name of an early shoegaze band (they are actually the band that it’s said spawned the “shoegaze” label, but that’s neither here nor there).

Per Dane Brugler’s The Beast, Burton didn’t give up any sacks in the 2025 season. If you watched even a single game of the UK quarterbacks last year, you’d understand that feat is even more impressive than it sounds on its face.

So, what kind of player is Jager Burton? Let’s start with the weaknesses.

Weaknesses

Burton has a tendency to fire low off the line. While that can help him at times in terms of pad level, it can also get him into trouble, as he’ll drop his head and fire forward, putting him off-balance and dropping his eyes. He has good feet so there are examples of him recovering from this type of approach…

…there are more examples of him just missing the block, or not being able to recover.

Burton moves well, but he’s not the most confident blocker when he moves up to the second level. There are multiple examples of him missing blocks at the second-level. It’s not just one thing: it’s more of a “lining up a moving target in space” thing, as there are a variety of different misses. While these show up all over his tape, the worst game I saw of this was the Texas game, so I threw a bunch of those clips together.

Burton shows that he is an intelligent player with good feet, but he also has a habit of getting beat on stunts. It’s not all the time (we’ll see some good examples later), but it’s not just a play or two: there are enough instances for it to be a bit of a concern. Sometimes he doesn’t see it until late, and sometimes he just gets caught too far inside on the initial block.

Before we get to the good – and there is a lot of good – I’ll just show the single worst rep I saw in the 4 games I watched. He misses the initial block when the man crosses his face, then barely gets a hand on his man at the second level.

Strengths

We saw some bad examples of Burton picking up stunts, but there are also quite a few reps of him flawlessly picking up stunts. I love the second clip in the next video where he picks up the initial stunt, then sticks with his man long after the play should have been over.

I mentioned him firing low off the line in the weaknesses, but he can turn that into a positive as well. When he starts low with his eyes up, he can win the pad level battle and really drive his man off the ball.

When he can really latch and drive, you can see some of the power Burton is working with.

I mentioned his good feet earlier. While we looked at some of the weaknesses of Burton in space earlier, those feet are on display close to the line. I love this rep of him popping out of his stance and picking up the man a gap away (and locking him up).

You can also see his feet (and recognition) on display in the next clip, which may be one of my favorites. Texas is sending a blitzer at the snap. It’s timed up well, but Burton is able to pop out of his stance and immediately stone the blitzer at the line, driving him completely out of the play.

Just for the record, the blitzer is Anthony Hill Jr., a linebacker who was taken in the 2nd round. Per The Beast, one of Hill’s strengths is listed as “fires into gaps with quickness to avoid blocks or bounce off contact.” Burton makes sure he doesn’t do that here.

Burton doesn’t always play with the greatest strength, but he’s able to re-anchor better than I had originally thought he would. There are times he’ll get rocked on initial contact, but he’s able to reset his feet and get back in position to at least be a problem for the defender. He’s not going to win a lot of those reps, but he’s not getting completely blown back.

He also possesses a nice punch with his off-hand at the snap. It’s not something he does every time, but if there’s a defender head-up over him, it’s something he has in his toolkit. It’s a quick strike and he does a good job mixing up timing & location to keep his man off-balance and help him to control the rep.

In the weaknesses, I mentioned his subpar work at the second level. While there is more bad than good in that area of his game, there are still enough good second-level reps to at least mention them.

I’ve got more clips, but I think I’d better call it here. Well, we’ll do one more. While he doesn’t always play with some of the nasty I might like to see out of an interior lineman, he has some of those reps on his film. At the very least, he’s someone who you don’t ever really see giving up on a play. He’ll go to the whistle, even if he’s not always looking to drive you into the ground.

But sometimes he’s looking to drive you into the ground.

Takeaways

Where does that leave us with Burton?

Burton is a good athlete and a good mover who has a good feel for what is needed from him (and those around him) on any given play. His strength leaves something to be desired, but I think his functional strength is good enough to translate to the NFL (although I would like to see him improve on that).

My main word for Burton is “inconsistent”. He’s a good mover who can work well at the second level, but often doesn’t. He understands the play and can pick up stunts well, except sometimes he doesn’t. He gets good pad level with drive, except sometimes he just drops his eyes and whiffs. In pretty much all areas of his game there is a lot of good, but also a decent amount of bad.

Most of those things feel like things that could be cleaned up with some coaching and drills. Don’t drop your head off the line. Don’t be so eager to get to the second level that you overrun your assignment. As someone who watches a lot of UK football, I can tell you that the offensive side of the ball isn’t always the most buttoned-up unit, so perhaps all Burton needs is some slightly better coaching.

If there’s major cause for concern, most of it is on display in the Texas game. He is pretty clearly outmatched in that game. Even some of the reps where he is in good position, a larger DT is able to easily shed him as soon as the path of the RB is determined. Is that something that can get better at the next level?

There are more questions than I’d like with Burton, but it looks like the mind & willingness are there. If he can improve his strength and tighten up some of the finer points of his game, I could see him becoming a really nice piece on the interior of the Packers line.

Because of all of those things, he seems like a developmental piece for me right now. I don’t see him fighting for a starting spot in his rookie season, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we hear some nice things from him out of camp and throughout the year, and he’s positioned well to battle for a starting spot in year 2. I like him as a pick, but I don’t see an immediate impact.

Albums listened to: Phil Keaggy – Super Sessions; The Lemon Twigs – Look For Your Mind!; Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT; Radiohead – Kid A; The Sagehens – Valley Go Home; Lilo – Blood Ties; Moose – …xyz; Ratboys – Singin’ to an Empty Chair