Kenneth Grant, Derrick Harmon and Walter Nolen were popular picks to Green Bay this week
Now that it’s actually April, let’s get a set of eyes on fresh mock drafts and who these draft analysts believe the Green Bay Packers will be selecting with their first-round pick. This time, we took a look at 16 different mocks, including our three-round community mock that we’ve been running Monday through Wednesdays.
Here’s who the Packers have been awarded in recent exercises:
Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan
Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon
Walter Nolen, DT, Mississippi
Of the three players who were selected multiple times by the Packers in recent mocks, three of them were defensive tackles. This is a pivot from earlier in the offseason, when the belief was that Green Bay would be a near-lock at taking a defensive end in the first round. Now, it’s uncertain whether a first-round caliber end will actually fall to them.
That’s where the strength of the defensive tackle bails out the Packers at the 23rd pick. Kenneth Grant of Michigan could come in and play nose tackle immediately, which would keep Kenny Clark in a run-down three-technique role this season, the same role he played in 2024. The selection of either Derrick Harmon or Walter Nolen, who are more pass-rushers than run-stoppers, would likely mean that Clark would move back to nose tackle, though.
Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas
Jahdae Barron is more defensive back than cornerback, as many project that he’ll play in the slot at the next level. Truthfully, he can probably play outside cornerback, slot cornerback or safety in the NFL. Is that what the Packers need, though, with Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs, two projected outside cornerbacks with slot backgrounds, already on the roster? Barron is a healthy cornerback, which has a huge value in this class in particular, but he doesn’t really fit Green Bay’s current roster.
Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State
Grey Zabel, OL, North Dakota State
Offensively, the only players selected in this crop of mock drafts were a single receiver, Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, and a single offensive lineman, Grey Zabel of North Dakota State. Egbuka was a college slot receiver, but he was in a similar position to Justin Jefferson, where he was playing opposite of top-five pick outside receivers in Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jeremiah Smith. Athletically, nothing is limiting him to the slot at the next level. Zabel, meanwhile, was NDSU’s left tackle and projects best as a guard or center in the NFL. At the moment, the only real open position on the Packers’ line is right guard, where former first-round pick Jordan Morgan and Sean Rhyan are expected to compete for the starting job.
Mykel Williams, DE, Georgia
Shemar Stewart, DE, Texas A&M
Nic Scourton, DE, Texas A&M
Here’s your cluster of defensive ends. The Packers have brought in both Mykel Williams and Shemar Stewart for pre-draft visits. Both are highly athletic players who excelled as run defenders but are unpolished as pass rushers, which is going to be a reoccurring theme with first-round defensive ends as long as college football is in its RPO era. Nic Scourton was a player who had top-10 hype coming into the year following his final season at Purdue, but he disappointed and looked like he put on bad weight after transferring to Texas A&M.
Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky
Shavon Revel Jr., CB, East Carolina
And then there were the cornerbacks. Unlike Jahdae Barron, these players are all true outside cornerbacks, which would allow one of Keisean Nixon or Nate Hobbs to slide back into the slot for the Packers.
As far as clean evaluations go, though, all have non-football questions marks, which is one reason Barron is being pushed up the board. Will Johnson dealt with a turf toe injury that sidelined him for the end of the Michigan season last year and now is dealing with a hamstring that led to him skipping testing at his pro day. Shavon Revel Jr., meanwhile, tore his ACL in a practice for ECU, ending his senior season after about a month.
Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston has recently been accused of rape by a former Kentucky student, though the story has largely not been covered by the draft media.
Between all the uncertainty here, not including the fact that Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison had surgery to his hip to fix his labrum that caused him to miss the second half of the Fighting Irish’s championship runner up season, there’s a reason why you’re seeing Barron shoot up boards as we inch closer to draft day.