Packers Clips
The Packers kicked off their rookie minicamp by signing most of their draft picks.
They announced that they have signed five of their six selections. Third-round defensive tackle Chris McClellan, fourth-round edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton, fifth-round offensive lineman Jager Burton, sixth-round cornerback Domani Jackson, and sixth-round kicker Trey Smack. All five players agreed to four-year deals with the team.
Second-round cornerback Brandon Cisse is the only unsigned member of the Green Bay draft class.
The Packers also signed 10 undrafted free agents. They are Iowa State guard Dylan Barrett, Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones, Illinois guard Josh Gesky, UCF edge rusher Nyjalik Kelly, Nevada safety Murvin Kenion, SMU tight end RJ Maryland, UCF running back Jaden Nixon, Louisville linebacker TJ Quinn, Florida wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, and Auburn guard Dillon Wade.
Wide receiver Chase Claypool is trying to get back into the NFL.
The Packers’ roster for this weekend’s rookie minicamp shows that Claypool is taking part in the session as a tryout player.
Claypool landed on injured reserve with the Bills during training camp in 2024 and did not play at all last year. His last game action came in nine games with the Dolphins in 2023.
Claypool was a 2020 Steelers second-round pick and had 121 catches for 1,733 yards and 11 touchdowns his first two seasons. He was traded to the Bears for a second-round pick in 2022 and failed to produce at the same level before falling out of favor entirely ahead of a trade to Miami the next season.
Eight other tryout players are taking part in the Packers camp, including rookie running back Isaiah Jacobs. He is the younger brother of Packers running back Josh Jacobs.
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.
The Packers used their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft last year, in the trade for Micah Parsons. In the second round, the Packers finally made a pick.
With the 52nd overall pick, the Packers selected South Carolina cornerback Brandon Cisse.
Cisse has good speed and showed off impressive leaping ability at the Scouting Combine, and the Packers think he’s going to be able to match up with NFL wide receivers.
Green Bay will have high hopes that Parsons and Cisse are two big pieces of their defense for years to come.
The Packers and wide receiver Jayden Reed have agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $50.25 million in new money, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The deal includes $20 million guaranteed.
Reed, who turns 26 next week, was entering the final year of his rookie deal. He was scheduled to make a $1.729 million base salary with a $2.285 million salary cap hit.
The Packers made Reed a second-round pick in 2023, the same draft that they made Dontayvion Wicks a fifth-round choice. In 2022, the team drafted Christian Watson in the second round and Romeo Doubs in the fourth, and last year, the Packers took Matthew Golden in the first round and Savion Williams in the third.
The Packers are now building around Reed, Watson, Golden and Williams, as Doubs and Wicks departed this offseason.
Reed played only seven games last season, breaking his collarbone in Week 2, and he made 19 catches for 207 yards and a touchdown.
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.
