{"id":837090,"date":"2026-03-27T15:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/837090\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:16:17","slug":"2025-draft-re-emphasized-importance-of-pre-draft-visits-for-packers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/837090\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 draft re-emphasized importance of pre-draft visits for Packers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March 27, 2026, 9:02 a.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The first reported pre-draft visit for the Green Bay Packers arrived on Thursday, with Georgia State receiver Ted Hurst <a href=\"http:\/\/packerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/packers\/2026\/03\/26\/packers-to-host-official-pre-draft-visit-with-georgia-state-wr-ted-hurst\/89333404007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">expected to make a visit to Green Bay<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The data is one thing. But we have the words behind the action, too. Before the 2024 NFL draft, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channel3000.com\/sports\/green-bay-packers\/how-brian-gutekunst-s-use-of-nfl-s-allotted-30-visits-to-lambeau-may-give\/article_83c8c65b-d622-4778-b253-2eb6173bd324.html\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">admitted the value<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cSometimes that\u2019s a non-combine guy that we need to get medical information on. Sometimes that\u2019s a Combine guy we have (questions about) &#8212; whether it\u2019s a football question, an off-the-field situation or maybe it\u2019s just getting to know him better,&#8221; Gutekunst said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With questions answered during a visit, a prospect has a much better chance of landing with the Packers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dating back to Gutekunst&#8217;s first draft in 2018, the Packers have eventually acquired at least six pre-draft visitors from each draft class &#8212; 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Packers Wire will be tracking all the pre-draft visits <a href=\"http:\/\/packerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/packers\/2026\/03\/27\/tracking-packers-30-visits-ahead-of-2026-nfl-draft\/89345431007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;You only have 30, and that\u2019s not very many. They\u2019re very valuable to us,&#8221; Gutekunst said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 27, 2026, 9:02 a.m. CT The first reported pre-draft visit for the Green Bay Packers arrived on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[95878,7,41,345,2514,2513,6,428,95980,95981,95882,97616,95896,95888,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-837090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-green-bay","11":"tag-green-bay-packers","12":"tag-greenbay","13":"tag-greenbaypackers","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-packers","16":"tag-sstssportsnflpackers","17":"tag-sstsnpackers","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagbrian-gutekunst","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagoverall-positive","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116301807958904615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}