B
Green Bay Packers
A masterclass at the trade table lands the Packers a B.
by emc2feld ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 5 steals
· 4 reaches
There is reaching, and then there is Clayton Smith at pick 257. The Packers jumped the board by 155 and dared it to prove them wrong. Good, not great, and the B says as much.
They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast. The Gyllenborg steal is the beam this whole class leans on. They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
The T.J. Watt pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns.
Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
Anthony Hill Jr. at the 52nd pick is money in the bank, a linebacker taken below his worth. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Christen Miller at the Round 3 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
No edge and no loss on Justin Joly in slot 120; it is a wash and a sensible one. The roster fit checks out.
Demond Claiborne in pick 160 is fair value, right on his grade. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Ephesians Prysock is a better player than pick No. 201 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A tidy bit of business in the 236th overall pick, where TJ Hall graded well above the range. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Trey Zuhn III. It fills a real need, too.
They went early on Alan Herron in the 240th pick, and the value did not follow. A need, and now a little less of one.
By-the-book stuff, Desmond Reid at No. 241 squarely in line with his ranking. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Trebor Pena at slot 245 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Aidan Hubbard at pick No. 246 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
John Michael Gyllenborg in the Round 7 slot is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Barion Brown at the 256th overall pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A real head-scratcher, Clayton Smith in Round 7, Pick 41 is miles ahead of his ranking. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.