Packer drafts by the numbers

GREEN BAY – “With the twenty-third pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select….”

The individual whose name gets called in that spot from the stage in Green Bay on April 24 will become the 1,287th player drafted in franchise history. The Green Bay Packers have chosen 1,286 players in the 89-year history of the NFL Draft, officially called the Annual Player Selection Meeting.

Top picks in Titletown no longer commonplace  

In recent decades, the Packers have become accustomed to drafting at or near the end of the first round each year, since order is based on a team’s success from the previous season. Losing seasons in 2017 and 2018 led to the 18th and 12th overall selections at the 2018 and 2019 drafts, which were used to take Jaire Alexander and Rashan Gary, respectively. Green Bay used the 13th overall spot two years ago to get LB Lukas Van Ness, with a pick acquired in the trade that sent QB Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets. 

Only twice have the Packers selected the number one overall pick in the draft, choosing Paul Hornung in 1957 and quarterback Randy Duncan in 1959 – the first selection made by new Head Coach/General Manager Vince Lombardi. 

Green Bay has also selected the second and third overall pick twice each.

In 1970, new Head Coach/General Manager Dan Devine had the No. 2 overall selection, choosing Mike McCoy, a defensive tackle from Notre Dame. 

Heading into the 1989 Draft, Tony Mandarich was being referred to as "the best offensive line prospect ever." The Packers bought in and took the Michigan State Spartan with the second overall pick, ahead of future Hall of Famers Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Deion Sanders. 

Center Art Hunter and LB Dan Currie were third overall selections in 1954 and 1958, respectively.

The Packers have had 46 top 10 picks in the Draft, including a pair of Hall of Fame wide receivers – James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe – drafted 6th and 7th overall in 1978 and 1988, respectively. 

That list also includes Green Bay’s all-time leading tackler, linebacker A.J. Hawk, selected 5th overall in 2006.

Packer picks enshrined in Canton  

Fourteen of Green Bay’s 27 Hall of Fame players were drafted by the Packers. 

Tony Canadeo, taken in the ninth round of the 1941 Draft (77th overall), was the first of Green Bay’s Hall of Fame picks to be inducted, elected in 1974.  

Fullback Jim Taylor followed Canadeo into the hall in 1976. Taylor was part of the 1958 Draft class, arguably the single greatest in franchise history. 

After Taylor in the second round (15th overall), the Packers selected Ray Nitschke in round three (36th overall). Nitschke was a member of the Hall of Fame class of 1978, his first year of eligibility. 

Following Nitschke was Jerry Kramer in the fourth round (39th overall). Kramer infamously waited 45 years for his Hall of Fame nod, which finally came in 2018. 

The year before Nitschke’s induction, two of Green Bay’s other inductees also became first-ballot Hall of Famers. Forrest Gregg and Bart Starr were members of the 1977 class. Two decades earlier, they were also members of the same draft class; worlds apart, however, in terms of the draft.

Gregg, selected in the second round (20th overall) in the 1956 NFL Draft, was the most decorated of Lombardi’s linemen. He was an anchor at right tackle and a starter on five NFL championship teams, including two Super Bowls. 

Starr, meanwhile, fell to the Packers in the 17th round (200th overall) and was the ninth of 19 quarterbacks drafted in 1956. He went on to become league MVP in 1966, the MVP of Super Bowls I and II and a four-time Pro Bowl selection. 

Herb Adderley, drafted 12th overall in 1961 by the Packers, was enshrined in Canton in 1980. Adderley was a five-time All-Pro selection by the Associated Press and a five-time Pro Bowler as well. He played in four of the first six Super Bowls, two with Green Bay and two with Dallas. 

Jim Ringo was a HOF inductee in 1981. Taken in the seventh round (80th overall) in 1953, Ringo was a ten-time Pro Bowl selection (seven with Green Bay) and a six-time All-Pro. 

Paul Hornung was the No. 1 overall Draft pick in 1957 and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. 

James Lofton became Green Bay’s ninth draft pick inducted into the Hall of Fame (2003), and the first with no direct ties to either Curly Lambeau or Vince Lombardi. Lofton was the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft. Over 16 NFL seasons (nine in Green Bay), Lofton hauled in passes for 14,004 yards, an NFL career record at the time. Lofton, now 68, also became the first player in NFL history to score a touchdown in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.    

Penn State linebacker Dave Robinson was a 2013 HOF inductee. He was drafted 14th overall in 1963 and was among 27 players selected by the Packers that year. Robinson had also been drafted by the San Diego Chargers of the AFL and the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), but eventually chose Green Bay.

Safety Bobby Dillon was one of 30 players drafted by Green Bay in 1952, when he was selected in round three (28th overall). Dillon was a 2020 Hall of Fame inductee a year after his death on Aug. 22, 2019, at age 89. Dillon still holds the Packers’ career record for interceptions, with 52. 

Another Packers safety, LeRoy Butler, was enshrined in Canton two years after Dillon, as a member of the 2022 HOF class. Butler was taken in the second round (48th overall), after Green Bay used back-to-back first-round picks on LB Tony Bennett and RB Darrell Thompson (18th, 19th overall). Butler became the first player in NFL history to record 20 sacks and 20 interceptions in a career. 

Green Bay’s newest Hall of Fame inductee is wide receiver Sterling Sharpe. Announced in early February as a member of the four-person Class of 2025, Sharpe was selected seventh overall by the Packers as part of the 1988 Draft. 

In just 112 games over seven seasons, Sharpe led the league in receptions three times, twice establishing new NFL records for the most catches in a single season. Sharpe’s 595 receptions still rank third all-time in team history. His rookie receptions record of 55 stood for 35 years, until Jayden Reed grabbed 64 passes in 2023. 

Sharpe will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, Aug. 2 in Canton, OH.

Packer drafts by position

Offensive linemen have, by far, been the most popular position when it comes to the Packers and the NFL Draft, with 412 “big uglies” taken over the years.

And even before the 2009 movie turned it into a household term, protecting the quarterback’s blind side has been the focus among the guys up front.

The Packers have selected 195 tackles. Thirteen times the Packers have made a tackle their top pick in the NFL Draft. 

In the early years of professional football, positions we know today as quarterback, halfback, tailback and fullback were generally labeled as backs, and Green Bay has chosen 178 of them in the Annual Player Selection Meeting.

Guards have been chosen 134 times by the Packers over the years, and they have been the team’s top choice seven times.  

The defense’s version of the blind-side protector is the shut-down corner, and the Packers have taken 126 defensive backs in Draft history. Six of those have specifically been labeled cornerbacks, while four were drafted as safeties.  

Linebacker registers as the fifth-most selected position by the Packers, with 115 drafted.  

Prior to tight ends and wide receivers getting those distinctions, they were known simply as ends, and Green Bay has drafted 104 of them.  

Wide receivers do come in next on the list, with 90 of them drafted by the Packers. Green Bay has selected a wide receiver in the first round of the Draft just five times. 

Seventy-seven players listed as running backs have been drafted by the Packers, seven in the first round.

Seventy-six centers have had their names called as Packer draft picks, including three first-rounders.

The Packers have chosen defensive ends 64 times in their draft history.

Perhaps the most sought-after Draft prize is the franchise quarterback. The Packers have spent 62 draft picks on quarterbacks over the years, nine in the first round. 

Sixty defensive tackles have been summoned to Green Bay via the draft, including seven first-rounders.  

Green Bay has taken a tight end 36 times, just twice in round one.

Thirty-three halfbacks have become Packer picks, including six in the first round. 

Fullbacks have been chosen 27 times, four in round one.

The Packers have also drafted thirteen punters, eleven kickers, eight flankers (like Boyd Dowler) and six nose tackles.