March 27, 2026, 9:02 a.m. CT

The first reported pre-draft visit for the Green Bay Packers arrived on Thursday, with Georgia State receiver Ted Hurst expected to make a visit to Green Bay before the 2026 draft. Now is a good time for a reminder: Visits are valuable pieces of the draft puzzle for the Packers, and the 2025 draft helped reinforce this indisputable fact.

The data is one thing. But we have the words behind the action, too. Before the 2024 NFL draft, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst admitted the value of pre-draft visits to the process. More than anything, visits can help the Packers answer a specific question on a prospect they are interested in selecting during a given draft.

“Sometimes that’s a non-combine guy that we need to get medical information on. Sometimes that’s a Combine guy we have (questions about) — whether it’s a football question, an off-the-field situation or maybe it’s just getting to know him better,” Gutekunst said.

With questions answered during a visit, a prospect has a much better chance of landing with the Packers.

Take the 2025 draft, for example. The Packers held pre-draft visits for first-round pick Matthew Golden, second-round pick Anthony Belton, third-round pick Savion Williams and seventh-round picks John Williams and Micah Robinson. After the draft, the Packers eventually signed pre-draft visitors Dalton Cooper (who is still on the roster) and Taylor Elgersma. That’s five draft picks and seven total players who ended up in Green Bay after visiting before the draft. More could be added to the total as teams churn rosters.

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Dating back to Gutekunst’s first draft in 2018, the Packers have eventually acquired at least six pre-draft visitors from each draft class — not counting 2020 and 2021, when pre-draft visits were eliminated or limited. Counting the seven from 2025, the Packers are now averaging 7.5 pre-draft visitors acquired per class since Gutekunst took over.

Draft picks are the lifeblood of the roster-building process, and teams want to get it right. By hosting a player on a visit, the Packers can check another box or two in the scouting report and gain a more complete view of a player. And when selecting between dozens and dozens of players in the draft, having more confidence in the full report on a player can make all the difference.

Needless to say, keeping track of the pre-draft visitors to Green Bay over the next month will provide valuable clues for how Gutekunst will use his seven draft picks in the 2026 draft.

Packers Wire will be tracking all the pre-draft visits here.

“You only have 30, and that’s not very many. They’re very valuable to us,” Gutekunst said.