Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst sprung a bit of a surprise last year when he began the 2025 NFL Draft by selecting three straight offensive players for the first time since he took Jordan Love, A.J. Dillon and Josiah Deguara in Rounds 1-3 back in 2020.
Gutekunst admitted after the draft he did not expect to end up drafting two receivers in the first three rounds and indicated it was simply how the board fell.
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2025 was a reminder of how unpredictable the draft can be once it gets underway, but if things go to plan this year, it might be fair to expect a defense-heavy draft from the Packers, especially with their early picks.
Two positions which were expected to be a focus for Green Bay a year ago were defensive tackle and cornerback.
Due to being mostly boxed out of the higher-end prospects, the Packers ended up waiting until the sixth round to take Warren Brinson and add competition on the defensive interior, before adding Micah Robinson at corner in the seventh.
Since then, Green Bay has traded away Kenny Clark and Colby Wooden and signed Javon Hargrave at defensive tackle, and swapped out Nate Hobbs for Benjamin St-Juste at cornerback.
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Those two spots remain glaring long-term needs on the roster, and they could also benefit from another outside linebacker to help the pass rush, with Rashan Gary now a Dallas Cowboy and Micah Parsons reportedly set to miss the first three or four weeks of the season.
Flipping over to the offensive side of the ball, the Packers are in much better shape.
They are unlikely to take a backup quarterback early on given their scarce draft capital.
It is a poor running back class, and Green Bay already has Josh Jacobs and former third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd, who has been constantly sidelined with injuries as a pro but has immense talent. Those are two pretty substantial investments, so adding another at this stage seems unlikely.
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The Packers are stocked up at wide receiver with six solid options, including the two top-100 picks from last year. The depth long term is a bit more questionable, but as currently constructed it would make the roster math quite difficult if they took another one early.
Tight end needs another body as Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave enter the final years of their rookie deals, with only the former likely to stay past 2026. That feels like more of a Day 3 priority though.
There is certainly scope for the Packers to keep adding on the offensive line, especially after a lackluster season from the group in 2026, but they are already pretty heavily invested in the O-line as it is.
Jordan Morgan was a first-round pick, Anthony Belton was a second rounder, and those guys now need to become full-time players. Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom are all highly paid and likely to be on the team through 2027.
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Any rookie coming in is likely to be entrenched as a backup for a good while, although based on how the Packers operate, that may not stop them from drafting an O-lineman early. Maybe a center could still be in the cards with Rhyan’s extension less concrete than Banks’ or Tom’s.
For the most part though, Green Bay’s short-and-long-term needs are on defense, partially due to the fact Gutekunst went heavy on offense early in last year’s draft.
In order to restore some balance to the roster and improve the health of the defense in 2026 and beyond, flipping that script and investing resources on the defensive side of the ball – as the Packers did in free agency – seems like the best course of action in the upcoming draft.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Will Packers invest heavily on defense in 2026 Draft?