Packers Draft: Cornerbacks to keep an eye on in 2026

Every Green Bay Packers fan wants two new starters at cornerback in 2026. I want Sauce Gardner and Patrick Surtain to play outside for my team as well. But that won’t happen this year due to the team’s cap situation and the fact that she’s not a first-round pick (and will be in 2027 as well). The Packers also don’t really play rookies, as even first-round picks have only started an average of six games since the draft-and-develop mantra was reestablished in Green Bay more than two decades ago.

What I think is more likely to happen this draft cycle is the Packers looking forward to 2027, when the contracts of starters Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine expire and Nate Hobbs could be a potential cap casualty. I’d bet they come out of this draft with a starting cornerback (at least one they’ll let push for a job in 2027), but I doubt he’ll be a starter in 2026.

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So who could this cornerback (or cornerbacks) be? Well, let’s take a look at the current projections — including who the Packers shouldn’t even have access to, given their first-round draft pick will be 53rd overall in 2026 — and Green Bay’s historical tendencies to avoid drinking water through a fire hose. Ultimately, I settled on 9 of the top 20 cornerbacks in the class having a decent chance of being a Packer.

He is expected to be out of the picture

• #14Jermod McCoy, Tennessee

• #18 Avieon Terrell, Clemson

• #30 Brandon Cisse, South Carolina

• #31 Colton Hood, Tennessee

• #42 Chris Johnson, San Diego State

• #43 Keith Abney II, Arizona State

Currently, seven cornerbacks are expected to be drafted before the Packers take over in 2026, according to the consensus committee. Obviously, things could be different on draft day, but don’t assume these players will be available. The lowest ranked of those seven, Arizona State’s Keith Abney II, who is expected to be assigned 10 spots ahead of Green Bay’s second-round selection, is also notably small for the position (which means a lot to the Packers, historically). Abney is approximately 5’9″ and weighs 185 pounds, according to sources in the scouting world.

Slot cornerbacks

• #123 Treydan Stukes, Arizona

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The last thing the Packers need is to add another nickel defender to their secondary. They’ve already spent a second-round pick on Javon Bullard, signed Nate Hobbs to a $48 million deal last offseason, moved Keisean Nixon from spot to outside cornerback and have another spot option in Kitan Oladapo under contract for two more years.

Keionte Scott and Treydan Stukes have already transferred to the college level. Last season, Scott played 553 nickel snaps compared to just 5 at outside cornerback. Stukes played 321 nickel snaps compared to 5 outside cornerback snaps. I believe (I don’t know) that the team will specifically be in the market for outside cornerbacks, so you could go ahead and exclude those two as well.

Small cornerbacks

• #63 D’Angelo Ponds, Indiana

• #97 Chandler Rivers, Duke

Here we talk a little about the history of the Packers. Since the scouts reclaimed the general manager job in 2005, after it was held by head coach Mike Sherman from 2001 to 2004, Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst have not taken a cornerback smaller than Jaire Alexander (5’10.25″). The average height of cornerbacks drafted to Green Bay since 2005 is essentially 5’11.75″. According to RAS, that average is in the 71st percentile among cornerbacks.

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On top of that, the average weight of a drafted Packers cornerback is also 194.5 pounds over this span. This would be between the 73rd and 76th percentile.

Green Bay is pretty specific about the type of player they’re looking for at the position, as they generally tend to avoid smaller players. Ahmad Carroll was taken in the Sherman era, a move the front office otherwise wouldn’t have made due to his 5’9.5″ height, and has become something of a rallying cry in the building over the years (that’s a fact).

Unless things change a lot at the front office level, I would expect that Ponds (expected to be around 5’8.5″ and 173 pounds according to sources in the scouting world) and Rivers (5’9.5″ and 185 pounds) won’t even really be considered for Green Bay’s board (don’t be alarmist about this, the average NFL team board is really in the 120s players with various sub-panels for injury risks, character risks and off-die adjustments that were excluded in the process).

The real 2026 Packers cornerback sign

• #69 Julian Neal, Arkansas

• #74 Malik Muhammad, Texas

• #85 Davison Igbinosun, Ohio State

• #86 Will Lee III, Texas A&M

• #106 Tacario Davis, Washington

• #126 Daylen Everette, Georgia

• #128 Domani Jackson, Alabama

• #132 Masses of Hezekiah, California

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With guys expected to be drafted ahead of the Packers’ first pick, slot cornerbacks and smaller cornerbacks knocked off the board, here’s what’s left of the outside cornerback position among the top 150 expected prospects in the draft (after this range, it’s usually not really certain if players will even be draft picks or fall into undrafted free agency).

I will say that Masses, who is expected to weigh in the 185 pound range, may also be a little too small for the Packers, but I left him in because size isn’t an issue there. Green Bay has only weighed less than 190 pounds (196 pounds average otherwise) at the position over the past two decades: 2021, 178th overall pick, Shemar Jean-Charles (played 40 snaps for the Packers on defense) and 2025, 237th overall pick, Micah Robinson (did not make the 53-man roster).

Depending on Green Bay’s pick in the draft, if they take a cornerback in the second round, it will likely be Neal or Muhammad. In the third, Igbinosun, Lee, Moore and Davis are still expected to be on the board. In the fourth, Everette, Jackson and Masses should be available (but they should be within 12 picks of the Packers’ fourth-round pick, 120th overall, so an early run could also clear the board at this point).

If the Packers take a cornerback early, look for him to be one of these players in one of these ranges. Now it’s time for me to look at these players.