The Packers don’t have a first-round pick on Thursday night, but General Manager Brian Gutekunst gave a little hint about what direction they’ll be going on Friday and Saturday.
Cornerback was a big enough need late last season that Gutekunst claimed Trevon Diggs off of waivers from the Cowboys, but he was released in January after appearing in two games for the team. They signed Benjamin St-Juste last month to go with Keisan Nixon and Carrington Valentine, but Gutekunst said this week that the team needs to add more bodies to the mix as they head toward training camp.
“Some of our young guys, I’m interested to see with our new coaching staff how they adapt to what we’re going to ask them to do,” Gutekunst said, via the team’s website. “But we do need to add some numbers there.”
The Packers’ highest current pick is No. 52 and they have seven other picks that can be used to address corner and other areas before the draft is over.
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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
If you think a story about a cabinet secretary cutting the penis off of a dead raccoon is the craziest thing you’ll hear all day, think again.
Actually, it’s hard to top the raccoon penis thing.
In any event, Daniel Kaplan recently reported for the Guardian on the case of Luther Davis. He’s a former member of the Alabama football team. More recently, he allegedly scammed lenders out of nearly $20 million, in part by impersonating a trio of NFL players: Michael Penix Jr., Xavier McKinney, and David Njoku.
Per the report, Davis plans to plead guilty later this month on charges based on allegations that he “obtained at least thirteen fraudulent loans totaling more than $19,845,000.” Of the amount, $11.6 million was obtained by pretending to be Penix, McKinney, and Njoku.
Davis allegedly worked with CJ Evins to secure the loans. Evins also plans to plead guilty.
As Kaplan explains it, the scheme began with the registration in Georgia of fake companies with names closely related to the players’ names or initials. Then, bank accounts and fraudulent email accounts were opened. Next, Davis and Evins secured fake identification documents for the players. At that point, they contacted loan brokers, providing fabricated documents.
Then came the kicker — Davis would attend the loan closings disguised as the player. The effort included makeup, wigs, and (when Davis was impersonating Penix) a durag.
The only connection by the players to the scam is that they had their identities stolen.
The fake loan obtained in McKinney’s name became the subject of civil litigation between the lender and the broker. A trial is set for July 2026.
The Ravens traded cornerback Jaire Alexander to the Eagles on Nov. 1, and he stepped away from football on Nov. 12 without playing a game for his new team. The Eagles retain his rights, so if he ever decides to return, it will be with Philadelphia unless the team releases him or trades him.
Alexander, 29, posted about his mental health struggles on social media on Wednesday and made it sound as if his football career is over.
“As much as I loved Baltimore, I didn’t love the position I was in,” Alexander wrote. “I had a bunch of internal battles with myself. I didn’t have that confidence in my abilities I once did. At corner, you need ultimate confidence in your abilities, and I felt it slipping away. It was at this moment I contemplated if I was making the right decision for my career. What helped me get through these times was not only God & my family, but I had some really cool teammates who made it fun to be there. I felt as if I let the organization down. My family and friends would drive up to see me, and I wasn’t even playing in the games. I never questioned God, but why me? All this while having a smile on my face. Football is a true gladiator sport, and once the confidence has gone, it’s time to hang it up. Thank you Flock Nation for embracing me. Thank you EDC for believing in me & thank you for the unlimited therapy sessions I had to encounter to help me with my time there. I am so grateful for the experience.”
Alexander made two Pro Bowls in eight seasons. He played seven seasons in Green Bay before the Packers released him last summer, and he appeared in two games with the Ravens last season.
The Eagles’ move to trade for receiver Dontayvion Wicks has only added to the speculation that the club is gearing up to move on from A.J. Brown, despite General Manager Howie Roseman’s insistence to the contrary.
Either way, Philadelphia has built up more depth in its receivers room with Wicks, who is a player the team has wanted to add.
“You see his skill set,” Roseman said on Tuesday, via Dave Spadaro of the team’s website. “He is a physical, explosive player at the top of routes.
“He can play inside or out, so he is a guy we had our eye on.”
Plus, the Eagles have members of their offensive staff who know him well, as new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion and run game coordinator/tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey were both with Wicks in Green Bay. Mahaffey was the Packers’ receivers coach for the last two seasons.
“You see that Green Bay has had tremendous depth at the receiver position, he played well in our game [four catches for 38 yards on eight targets] and we had advanced scouted him and had looked at him through the years and, obviously, a really productive guy,” Roseman said. “But we’re also in a situation where you feel like you have inside knowledge about what the player is like to live with. Obviously, Ryan had been with him as his position coach, Sean had been with him on the offensive staff. You take away the risk of bringing in someone you don’t know when you have people who know him and who have worked with him.”
“He’s able to separate at the top of the route, and I think his toughness really shows up on tape,” head coach Nick Sirianni added. “Again, when you can create that type of separation, we obviously get really excited about that, really excited to add him to that room.”
In his 46 career games for the Packers, Wicks caught 108 passes for 1,328 yards with 11 touchdowns. In 2025, he had 30 receptions for 332 yards with two TDs.
Wide receiver Chris Brazzell is wrapping up the pre-draft visit window with a busy week.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Brazzell is set to visit with the Packers, Commanders and 49ers ahead of next week’s draft. Brazzell also spent time with the Panthers, Colts and Cardinals last week.
Brazzell spent two years at Tulane before wrapping up his time in college with two seasons at Tennessee. He had 74 catches over his first three seasons and then posted 62 catches for 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns with the Volunteers last season.
That production has put him in play as an early-round pick and he’ll find out just where he’ll be starting his NFL career in a little over a week.
