Packers 2026 mock draft: Defense prioritized with no 1st-round pick
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- Green Bay Packers finished 9-7-1 in 2025, racing to a 9-3-1 start before a torn ACL for Micah Parsons and a partially torn patellar tendon for Zach Tom in Week 15 at Denver triggered a five-game losing streak to end the season.
- Packers' wild-card meltdown was a 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears after they blew a 21-3 lead — an 18-point blown cushion that stands as the largest in franchise history and the largest against Chicago.
- Green Bay holds eight 2026 draft picks but no first-rounder, starting at Round 2 (#52) and including Round 3 picks #84 and #92 (via the 49ers), plus four more selections through Round 7 (#255).
- GM Brian Gutekunst is projected to take San Diego State CB Chris Johnson — the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year with six career interceptions — at #52, then Florida State DL Darrell Jackson Jr. at #84 and Duke IOL Brian Parker II at #120.
- Kaleb Elarms-Orr (TCU), a first-team All-Big 12 linebacker with 130 tackles and 4.0 sacks in 2025, lands at #160 as depth after Quay Walker left for the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.
- Lorenzo Styles Jr. (Ohio State) ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine — the fastest by a defensive back since NFL Network began tracking the metric in 2003 — and is projected at #201 as a raw but toolsy special-teams prospect.
Why it matters: The Packers are in win-now mode after trading for Parsons but enter a critical draft without a first-round pick and without their defensive coordinator or top linebacker Quay Walker. Eight mid-to-late-round selections become the only avenue to shore up a defense that collapsed late in 2025, making Gutekunst's hit rate on developmental prospects like Johnson, Jackson Jr. and the record-setting Styles Jr. directly tied to whether Green Bay can finally break through after 12 playoff appearances without a Super Bowl since 2011.
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