B-
Green Bay Packers
No fireworks, just a tidy B- for the Packers.
by emc2feld ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
There is reaching, and then there is Keaten Wade at pick No. 255. The Packers jumped the board by 116 and dared it to prove them wrong. Call it a sensible B-, earned the boring way.
The Golday value carries more weight than any single miss elsewhere. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped quarterback, which is a strange place to end up. Edge rusher is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.
Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
A straight-up fair deal on Gennings Dunker at No. 52, value and slot in agreement. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Jake Golday at pick No. 92 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Keylan Rutledge at Round 4, Pick 12 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the offensive lineman. It fills a real need, too.
Mike Washington Jr. at pick 120 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Patrick Payton this early at the Round 5 slot. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Nice patience on Ephesians Prysock, who had no business lasting to the 201st pick. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A market-rate tight end, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Josh Cuevas. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Desmond Reid at the Round 7 slot is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Keaten Wade at pick No. 255 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.