The Green Bay Packers' general manager Brian Gutekunst believes he secured quality players in the 2026 draft. The team has struggled recently, with a record of 38-33-1 over the last four seasons.
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Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst believes he found quality players with his six draft picks this week.
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The Green Bay Packers have been mired in mediocrity in recent seasons, going 38-33-1 in the last four years. The Packers have been the NFC’s No. 7 seed for three straight years and have just one playoff win since reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2020.
Can the Packers take a jump in 2026?
If they do, it’s unlikely to come via their most recent draft class.
The Packers appear to have checked several boxes with their 2026 draft class, highlighted by two corners and two defensive linemen. But Green Bay also had just six picks, tied for the fewest in franchise history.
So if the Packers take a step forward next season, it will likely happen because of the players that were already on the roster.
“When you're looking at the draft, I mean, most seasons are determined by the guys that are coming back, not necessarily the guys you’re getting in the draft,” Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “These guys are just starting their NFL journey, and there's so much in front of them, and I feel really good about all of them, and I think they’re going to have, you know, a chance to have an opportunity to be very good players in this league.
“But you don't win the Super Bowl during the draft. But certainly I felt like over this, the course of the three days that we did some did some good things to help our football team and help the group that's coming back. But it remains to be seen how these guys' NFL careers will go.”
With the 2026 draft in the books, here’s a look at the ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ from the Packers’ their latest draft class.
CORNERING THE MARKET: Green Bay’s greatest need this draft was at cornerback and the Packers used two of their six pick on that position.
Green Bay, which didn’t have a first round pick, took South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse in Round 2. The Packers then selected Alabama’s in the sixth round.
The Packers' general manager Brian Gutekunst focused on securing quality players with six draft picks in 2026.
The Packers have a record of 38-33-1 over the last four years, finishing as the NFC's No. 7 seed for three consecutive seasons.
Since reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2020, the Packers have only one playoff win and have struggled with consistency.
With the new draft picks, there is hope that the Packers can take a significant step forward in the 2026 season.
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Cisse is 5-11 ½, 189 pounds and won’t turn 21 until July. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds at his pro day and will have a chance to start from Day One.
Cisse spent two years as a reserve at North Carolina State, then transferred to South Carolina for his final season.
Cisse finished his three-year career with just two interceptions, 10 passes defensed and 65 tackles. He posted a vertical jump of 41 inches and a broad jump of 10 feet, 11 inches.
“A lot to like about Brandon Cisse,” Packers national scout Mike Owen said of Cisse. “Smart, tough, physical corner. Got good foot quickness, can run, so there’s a lot to like about him, and he’s wired right. That’s the biggest thing at the end of the day.”
Green Bay returns underwhelming starters Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine, and signed Benjamin St-Juste in free agency. That should give Cisse a chance to win a starting job if he shines in training camp.
“I look forward to showcasing and excited to see where it goes and just excited to show everybody I can make those kind of plays,” Cisse said. “So just taking full advantage of every opportunity.”
Jackson spent two years at USC, then played his final two years at Alabama.
Jackson, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds, had a solid junior season in which he started every game and finished with two interceptions, seven pass breakups and 52 total tackles. But he struggled in 2025 and was benched midway through the season.
“I mean, I got benched,” Jackson said. “But it's about, you know, perseverance and finding yourself again and just doing everything that coach asks you to do to win for the team.”
Still, adding a pair of corners to the roster left Gutekunst feeling much better about that positional group.
“I think we talked earlier before this thing got going about how we’d like to add to our corner room,” Gutekunst said. “We were able to do that. I’m very excited about the kind of athletes we put into that room.”
GETTING NOSEY: Green Bay desperately needed a nose tackle to plug into Jonathan Gannon’s 3-4 scheme and might have found one with Missouri’s Chris McClellan.
McClellan had six sacks, eight tackles for loss, six quarterback hurries and 48 tackles during a breakout 2025 campaign with Missouri. In his first three college seasons — two at Florida and one with the Tigers — McClellan had 4.5 sacks, 9.0 tackles for loss and 85 tackles.
“Really excited to get him obviously,” said Milt Hendrickson, the Packers’ director of football operations. “He was a guy that really I think checked a lot of boxes since the middle of the season through the all-star process. Just a guy that the more you watch the more he grew on us and that's ultimately we made the decision to go get him.
“Big man, good length, he's got a really good tag. He can do a lot of things. I think there's a lot of versatility he's going to be able to bring our defense. So at the end of the day it was a pretty easy decision.”
MICAH, MICAH, MICAH: The history books won’t include the name Micah Parsons with Green Bay’s 2026 draft class. But don’t forget that Parsons — one of the top pass rushers in football — is on the roster thanks to Green Bay giving up its 2026 and 2027 first round draft picks.
A year ago, Parsons had 12.5 sacks in Green Bay’s first 13 games before tearing his left ACL in Week 15 at Denver. That made Parsons the first player in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in each of his first five NFL seasons.
Parsons led the NFL with 60 pressures heading into Week 15, 2025, which was 10 more than any player in football. That was also the most pressures by a player through 13 games since 2018.
Green Bay was 9-3-1 at the time Parsons was injured and challenging for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. After Parsons was hurt, the Packers imploded and went 0-5 down the stretch.
“Looking back and doing what we did, I certainly don't think there's any players that were in this draft that can compete with that one,” Gutekunst said of Parsons.
FOURTH ROUND MAGIC?: Gutekunst has shined in the fourth round, taking players like right tackle Zach Tom, safety Evan Williams, wideout Romeo Doubs and defensive tackle Colby Wooden. Gutekunst may have unearthed another fourth round gem with Penn State defensive end Dani Dennis-Scott.
Dennis-Sutton is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds and was a highly productive, three-year starter for the traditionally powerful Nittany Lions. Dennis-Sutton finished sixth in Penn State history with 23.5 sacks and tied for fifth in school history with seven forced fumbles.
Gutekunst tried trading back into the third round on Friday for Dennis-Sutton, but couldn't find a dance partner. So when Dennis-Sutton was still on the board in the fourth round on Saturday, the Packers were ecstatic.
“For as productive as he was as a player in college, and his ability and he still has upside to go with it, yes, we were absolutely surprised,” Packers Director of Player Personnel John Wojciechowski said of Dennis-Sutton’s production with and without Carter.
Dennis-Sutton had 8.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss as a junior playing opposite of standout Abdul Carter, who went No. 3 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. With Carter playing for the New York Giants last season, Dennis-Sutton recorded 8.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
Dennis-Sutton then blew up at the NFL Combine, when he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.60 seconds and his marks in the broad jump (10-11) and 3-cone drill (6.90) were the best among all edge rushers.
“His production is really, really good,” Gutekunst said. “His size, his speed, and I just think he’s got so much in front of him as far as his best football goes. He’s an elite athlete for a guy that’s almost 6-6 and played at around 265.
“His ability to come off the edge and rush the passer, affect the passer, he can bull rush, he can win with speed, his length affects the passer, he can set edges. So, I think he’s got a lot to offer and a lot of really good football in front of him.”
QUARTERBACK WANTED? Malik Willis gave Green Bay arguably the top backup in football the last two seasons, before signing with Miami in free agency.
Right now, the top candidate to back up starter Jordan Love is Desmond Ridder (16 career TDs, 14 interceptions, 82.6 passer rating). Kyle McCord, who spent last season on Philadelphia’s practice squad and has never thrown an NFL pass, is also on the roster.
If the Packers had more picks, they would have undoubtedly loved to add another quarterback. That didn't happen, though.
“I think we all know how we felt about Malik and his ability to go out there and give us a chance to go win games, and he did exactly that,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “So I think it’s a work in progress.”
RUNNING BACK DEPTH: Green Bay’s running back room could use some depth.
Josh Jacobs remains a solid starter, but he is 28, has 1,840 career carries and was banged up the second half of 2025.
Chris Brooks is a third down back best used in pass protection. Marshawn Lloyd has played in just one game and a total of 10 snaps in two seasons.
Green Bay needed some new blood, but didn't have the draft capital to do so.
“I feel very good about that group,” Gutekunst said. “We'll see as it goes. If we feel we need to add to it, we will. But right now, I don't really think we need to.”
TIGHT END ROOM NEEDS HELP: Tucker Kraft will almost certainly receive a long-term extension before he can hit free agency in March, 2027. After that, though, there are questions with this group.
Luke Musgrave has one year left on his rookie contract and is unlikely to be resigned. Josh Whyle and Drake Dabney are role players, at best.
There’s also no guarantee Kraft — who is recovering from a torn ACL — will be ready for Week 1. If that’s the case, Green Bay’s tight end group will rank among the NFL’s worst.
“If there was one thing coming out of this draft, it would have been nice to add a Y-tight end kind of body,” Gutekunst said. “We weren’t really able to accomplish that. There's not a ton of those guys coming out of college. There's, there's not a lot of places that use them. But we certainly have guys in that room that can do some of that, but that'll be something we'll probably continue to look at.”
FEWER SWINGS: Gutekunst often talks about getting as many “swings at the plate” as possible in every draft.
This year, Gutekunst wound up with just six selections — tied for the fewest in team history. The Packers also had just six picks in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
“I would have loved to have more (picks),” Gutekunst said. “But the board didn't line up like that would have been a good thing for us.”
Green Bay began the weekend with eight picks, but traded up twice and wound up with just six selections.
Gutekunst traded picks No. 84 and 160 to Tampa Bay for pick No. 77 and took nose tackle Chris McClellan of Missouri. Gutekunst then traded both of his seventh rounders for the final pick in the sixth round and took kicker Trey Smack of Florida.
Perhaps quality will prove be better than quantity. But Gutekunst deviated from his norm and wound up with fewer “swings” than ever before.
Now, he just has to cross his fingers and hope he connected on most of them.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com