The Packers are electing to put one of their defensive players under contract for 2027.
Per Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com, Green Bay has exercised edge rusher Lukas Van Ness’ fifth-year option.
That puts Van Ness in line to make a projected $13.8 million guaranteed in 2027.
The No. 13 overall pick of the 2023 draft, Van Ness has appeared in 43 games with two starts in his career. He played nine games with two starts in 2025, missing much of the season due to a foot injury.
Van Ness finished 2025 with 1.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, and seven quarterback hits.
In all, Van Ness has recorded 8.5 sacks, 17 TFLs, and seven QB hits through his first three seasons.
The Cowboys added a receiver late in the draft over the weekend and now have added a veteran to the mix.
Dallas has signed receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, according to the transaction wire.
Valdes-Scantling, 31, split last season between the 49ers and Steelers. He appeared in five games each for San Francisco and Pittsburgh, catching four passes for 40 yards for the 49ers and 10 catches for 80 yards with a TD for the Steelers.
A fifth-round pick in 2018, Valdes-Scantling has caught 219 passes for 3,686 yards with 21 touchdowns in his career.
The Packers signed wide receiver Jayden Reed to a contract extension during the draft and the team may not be done giving new contracts to current members of the receiving corps.
Christian Watson signed a one-year extension with the team ahead of the 2025 season and General Manager Brian Gutekunst waved away any thoughts that the Reed deal was a sign that the team was planning to part ways with Watson.
“Absolutely with Christian,” Gutekunst said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “Amongst a bunch of other guys that we’re going to hope over the next few months to try to maybe do some of that with.”
The Packers traded Dontayvion Wicks to the Eagles and saw Romeo Doubs leave for the Patriots as a free agent, which thinned out a receiver group that may have had too many mouths to feed in 2025. They did not draft anyone, which leaves Reed, Watson, and 2025 first-rounder Matthew Golden as the clear top three heading into the 2026 season.
Should things come together on the contract front, that trio will be set for a multi-year run in those roles.
The Packers didn’t draft a quarterback in their six-player class. They are signing one they had in town on a top-30 predraft visit.
Green Bay has agreed to terms with Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones, an undrafted free agent, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Drones and Texas Tech’s Behren Morton were the only quarterbacks to take top-30 pre-draft visits with the Packers. The Patriots selected Morton in the seventh round.
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.
He joins a quarterbacks room with Jordan Love, Desmond Ridder and Kyle McCord.
Florida’s Trey Smack became the first kicker off the board in the e 2026 NFL draft.
The Packers made him a sixth-round pick, No. 216 overall.
Smack joins Brandon McManus and Lucas Havrisik on the roster. McManus made 24-of-30 field goals, with a long of 56, and he missed one extra point.
The Packers drafted Anders Carlson in the sixth round in 2023, but he missed 11 kicks in his rookie season and never played for them again after that.
Smack is a two-time Groza semifinalist and one of only three FBS kickers to make five field goals of 50-plus yards in 2025. He made a 57-yarder in the Shrine Bowl.
Smack made 82.8 percent of his kicks in college.
