B
Green Bay Packers
The Packers let Ward fall and pounced. Final grade: B.
by emc2feld ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 11 steals
· 4 reaches
Somewhere a general manager is explaining how Cam Ward got past him. The Packers do not have to explain a thing at pick 183.
Every board in the league had Powell-Ryland lower, and that gap is the story. The dealing alone would carry a lesser class.
They left with edge rusher solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 23 they get a home-run threat at receiver, and a steal at that.
Abdul Carter in pick 55 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A minor itch, scratched.
No drama and no debate, Rod Moore went about where he belonged in pick No. 58. It adds depth where they could use a little.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Tory Horton in the Round 3 slot. It fills a real need, too.
Steal is underselling it; Howard Cross III at Round 3, Pick 24 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Taking Shilo Sanders in the 122nd overall pick is close to grand larceny; a safety that good had no business lasting this long. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
Fair-plus on Rylie Mills, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They paid sticker price for Jasheen Davis in the 127th pick, and that is fine. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Somehow Sonny Styles was still sitting there in slot 151, and they pounced on premier safety value. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Nick Emmanwori at pick 154 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
The board fumbled Dillon Gabriel all the way to the 155th overall pick, and they scooped it up. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
No edge and no loss on Domani Jackson in pick No. 159; it is a wash and a sensible one. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Cam Ward in the Round 6 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A conviction pick on Jo'Quavious Marks at Round 6, Pick 26 that the board grades a round light. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Gentry Williams slipping to the 188th pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They paid up for Oronde Gadsden II at No. 191 when waiting would have done the job. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They robbed the room for Armand Membou here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The roster fit checks out.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Antwaun Powell-Ryland. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Cody Simon at pick 223 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.