The future of the Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver room is becoming a bit of a brain teaser. They don’t really have room to add anyone, but they also could use some young depth because they only have Matthew Golden and Savion Williams under contract in 2027. If they add a young receiver in the draft, Bryce Lance out of North Dakota State makes a lot of sense.

We may be getting a bit of insight on how Green Bay plans to solve the wide receiver riddle. Christian Watson presumably isn’t going anywhere. The Packers likely sign him to an extension somewhere around the Jameson Williams and Alec Pierce deals. We also got word that Green Bay would like to extend Jayden Reed, and teams have been calling Green Bay about Dontayvion Wicks, assuming that they’ll move a receiver.

Good read from @TomSilverstein today. Interesting note on Brooks. Did wonder if he was in their plans. No doubt needs to have a better season than he had last year.https://t.co/ysG60jgEZG pic.twitter.com/x8Hs0a8Mov

— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) March 30, 2026

That plan makes a lot of sense. The Packers aren’t going to give Reed a blank check, and they aren’t going to trade Wicks for whatever they can get. However, if both deals get done, it leaves Green Bay with a room that makes a lot more sense now and in the future. Watson is the X, Reed is the slot, Golden is a Z, and Williams is the gadget/special teamer/backup outside receiver, while Skyy Moore is the returner and backup slot. 

With five players locked into roles, not counting Bo Melton because he’s positionless, that leaves a sixth spot for Green Bay to bring in a cheap, young, developmental receiver in the draft.

Therefore, with Romeo Doubs gone and Wicks also potentially out the door, drafting an outside receiver as a replacement makes the most sense. Lance is exactly that, and boy, is he a Packers-type outside receiver. 

At 6’2”, 204 lbs with a 9.94 Relative Athletic Score, Lance checks every box physically and athletically for Green Bay. He ran a 4.34 40, had a 1.49 10-yard split, a 41.5” vertical, and an 11.01’ broad jump. All in the 90th-plus percentile. The explosive numbers jump off the page. The three cone (4.15s) and short shuttle (7.0s) don’t jump off the page, but they’re both more than good enough. 

Trey Lance’s brother WR Bryce Lance runs a 4.34u

2026 NFL Combine on @nflnetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/xyl4IHd0QY

— NFL (@NFL) February 28, 2026

Along with the size and athleticism, he also checked the production box once he got on the field. In his first three seasons, he wasn’t very productive. However, over the last two seasons starting for North Dakota State, he’s had 126 catches for 2,132 yards, averaging nearly 17 yards per catch, with an average of over 21 yards per catch in 2025. He was an elite explosive playmaker in college. 

If you don’t know or haven’t figured it out already, the Marshall, MN native has some NFL bloodlines. His brother, Trey Lance, is the former third-overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers and played at North Dakota State. Trey’s career hasn’t gone how he’d hoped. However, the San Francisco 49ers traded up to take him third-overall, and he was always an NFL athlete.

If all of that isn’t enough to convince you of his fit in Green Bay, new Packers wide receiver coach Noah Pauley was the wide receiver coach at North Dakota State before his time with Iowa State and his short-lived time in Happy Valley. 

He coached Christian Watson from 2019 to 2022, and Bryce Lance’s first two years at NDSU overlapped with both of them. Bryce Lance was a redshirt his first year and a mostly limited special teams player his second. However, the two of them will still have additional insight into his personality, how he works, and what he is like in the locker room.

So, what would he give the Packers offense on the field?

Strengths

Bryce Lance is similar to Watson in many ways. We’ve talked about his explosiveness and his size. His ability to get over the top and run away from people with the ball in his hands at his size is his most obvious NFL trait. One thing that he has over Watson is his hands. He’s a much more natural ball catcher than Watson ever has been. 

He’s great at high-pointing it and coming down strong in contested situations, and he’s also great at tracking the deep shots. Bryce Lance had a 66.7% contested-catch rate and a 3.8% drop rate. The strong hands make him a great weapon in the red zone, as evidenced by his 25 receiving TDs over the last two seasons. He had 27 total TDs on 136 touches, which is a TD every five touches. 

I guess I’m just a booster for NDSU atm

Bryce Lance has some damn good film momentspic.twitter.com/8SbDmcTAgF

— Derek Brown (@DBro_FFB) March 2, 2026

He’s also shone the brightest in the biggest games, including six catches for 125 yards and three TDs against South Dakota State in the 2024 FCS Championship semis, and then putting up nine catches for 107 yards and a TD a game later in the Championship against Montana. Lastly, and this is a must if you’re going to be a Packers WR, he blocks his ass off on the edge. It’s also a must if you’re going to be an NDSU wide receiver, so he’ll come prepared for that role.

Weaknesses 

Bryce Lance has many of the stereotypical concerns that come with great athletes playing in the FBS or non-power four conferences, and, in his case, they are valid. Much of the time, he was able to out-athlete the corners he faced. He’s bigger, faster, and stronger than nearly every cornerback he lined up across from. 

However, that may have stunted some of his growth in refining things like his releases and route running. Bryce Lance needs a good coach to help him maximize his potential as a true wide receiver rather than just an athlete. Who better than the guy who coached him in college?

On top of that, the overall consensus on his athleticism was that his combine results were a surprise. He was clearly a better athlete than FBS players, but the true 99th percentile athleticism that he displayed at the combine didn’t always show up on tape. Lastly, he’s a fifth-year senior, so he is on the older end at 23 years old and will turn 24 before the season starts.
Currently 86th on the consensus big board, Bryce Lance’s athletic potential makes him the perfect developmental receiver for Green Bay to take a shot on and not need to force him into the lineup immediately. And what better place to develop than on the team that employs your former college teammate and position coach? It’s the best of both worlds.