The Packers lost their backup quarterback, Malik Willis, to the Dolphins in free agency.
They have Desmond Ridder and Kyle McCord on the depth chart behind Jordan Love. The Packers, though, could come out of this weekend with another quarterback.
Bill Huber of SI.com reports that Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones and Texas Tech’s Behren Morton were the only quarterbacks to take top-30 pre-draft visits with the Packers. Both are projected as undrafted free agents.
Drones spent his first two seasons at Baylor before transferring to Virginia Tech. In three years with the Hokies he completed 58.3 percent of his passes for 5,566 yards and 44 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,798 yards and 20 touchdowns, giving him 7,364 total yards and 64 total touchdowns.
Morton played all five seasons at Texas Tech, starting 45 games. He completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 8,989 yards with 71 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. Morton ran for only 188 yards but seven touchdowns on 45 carries.
The Packers traded receiver Dontayvion Wicks to the Eagles earlier this month, receiving a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick in exchange for the receiver.
In his pre-draft press conference on Tuesday, Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst framed the deal as one that should work out well for Wicks and Green Bay for different reasons. With several talented players at receiver on the Packers’ roster, Wicks may have had trouble breaking through that group for a definite future with the franchise.
“It’s always tough to move off of a player that you feel is as good as Dontayvion was for us,” Gutekunst said. “I think he’s got a really bright career ahead of him. The situation we were kind of in with the amount of players we had in that room, what we’re probably going to do in the future, him being in the last year of his contract, it just made a little bit of sense. This year, coming out of the ’22 draft class, I think we were lucky enough to have retained a bunch of those guys. But a bunch of those guys signed elsewhere this year, too — we’re probably going to get compensatory picks for those players. I don’t know for sure if we’re going to be able to do that moving forward next year and the year after.
“So, the ability to get two picks for a player that we weren’t sure exactly how he was going to fit into our future plans, it just made a lot of sense. And I think it was good for us, and I think it’s going to be good for Dontayvion, too, I think he’ll see his opportunities increase there as well.”
Without Wicks, the Packers currently have Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden, Savion Williams, Skyy Moore, Jakobie Keeney-James, Isaiah Neyor, and Will Sheppard on their roster at wideout.
Additionally, Gutekunst noted that the picks the team received for Wicks should help with flexibility for this week’s draft.
“Every G.M. wants as many as you can [have], not only because of the players you can select, but the ability to move,” Gutekunst said. “You never like giving them up, but if there’s a player in front of you that you know you’re going to acquire, it makes it a little bit easier. So, yeah, I think we sit with eight right now. We’re looking at 11-plus for next year. So, whether it’s in this year’s draft, next year’s, the ability to move around to acquire the types of players we want to acquire, you have to have those picks to do that.”
Wicks caught 30 passes for 332 yards with two touchdowns for the Packers in 2025. In his 46 career games since being selected in the fifth- round of the 2023 draft, Wicks has caught 108 passes for 1,328 yards with 11 TDs.
The Packers open their offseason program on Monday and wide receiver Bo Melton is on track to attend.
Melton was tendered as an exclusive rights free agent early in the offseason and Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Melton has signed that tender. Melton was not able to negotiate with other clubs once that tender was in place, so his return to Green Bay was expected.
Melton was a 2022 Seahawks seventh-round pick, but he made his regular season debut with the Packers in 2023 and has played in 38 games over the last three seasons.
Melton had four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown last season. He has 28 career catches in the regular season and three catches for 42 yards and a touchdown in the postseason.
The Packers cleared some space on their 90-man roster ahead of next week’s draft.
They announced that they have waived tight end McCallan Castles, cornerback Tyron Herring, and linebacker Jamon Johnson.
Johnson was the only member of the trio to appear in regular season games for the team last year. He had 10 tackles in two appearances that included his only NFL start.
Castles and Herring were both on the practice squad. Castles has also spent time with the Eagles, Chargers, and Rams while Herring was also on the Patriots’ practice squad last season.
The Packers have eight picks in this year’s draft and they’ll also be adding more undrafted rookies to the roster after the seventh round comes to an end.
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
