We’re already looking ahead to the 2026 NFL Draft here at PackersRoundtable, but it’s also never a bad practice to “self-scout” previous drafts.

One would hope that Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst does that regularly. Just like the players he drafts have to find their weaknesses and work on turning them into strengths, Gutekunst has to do the same as a talent evaluator.

He’s made some strong moves in past drafts.

Trading up to select Jordan Love in the first round with Aaron Rodgers still in his prime and under contract was likely the biggest one. It was a massive risk, but like the risk Ted Thompson took before him, it worked out for the Packers.

Other notable recent draft picks that have been successful include Edgerrin Cooper, Javon Bullard, Jayden Reed, Quay Walker, Devonte Wyatt and Christian Watson.

Gutekunst has also made a habit of finding great players later on in the draft. That includes picking up Evans Williams in the fourth round in 2024, Tucker Kraft in the third round in 2023, and Rasheed Walker in the seventh round in 2022.

So yes, Gutekunst has had some big hits.

Unfortunately, he’s also had some massive misses.

Lukas Van Ness was a questionable first-round pick, and now, as we perhaps near the tail end of his career with the Packers, so was Rashan Gary. Eric Stokes was a dissapointment. The back-to-back combination of AJ Dillon to Josiah Degura in 2020 was brutal. Drafting punter JK Scott with a fifth-round pick in 2018 also blew up in Gutekunst’s face.

It is starting to seem like Gutekunst’s 2025 NFL Draft class could end up being the bottom of the barrel for him and the Packers, though.

NFL.com recently ranked all 32 of the rookie draft classes from this past season, and the Packers finished dead last.

Here’s what Gennaro Filice had to say about his rankings, which were not at all kind to the Packers, who he gave a C- grade to for their 2025 draft class.

“With the 2025 draft taking place in Green Bay, the Packers finally scratched a 23-year itch, spending a first-round pick on a wide receiver for the first time since they took Javon Walker back in 2002. Outgoing team president Mark Murphy announced the selection in the shadow of Lambeau Field, working Packer backers into a frenzy by appropriately milking the moment, and Matthew Golden immediately appeared on stage to soak it all up. It was a special scene. In hindsight, that feels like the highlight of the wideout’s first year with the Pack. OK, Golden did finish the season on a high note, catching four passes for 84 yards and his first NFL touchdown in Green Bay’s Wild Card Weekend loss at Chicago. But he was mostly lost in the shuffle of the Packers’ crowded receiver room, especially in the second half of the season, with veterans returning from injury and Golden experiencing some health issues of his own. In Weeks 8 through 18, the rookie caught a grand total of 11 passes for 112 yards. Green Bay’s second-round pick, Anthony Belton, actually provided more of an impact — starting at right guard from Thanksgiving on — but his performance was far from pristine.”

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To be fair to Golden, it was not his fault that Gutekunst brought him into a wide receiver room full of experienced players who needed the football. He also flashed enough potential as a rookie that it’s wise to put him firmly in the “wait and see” category as a prospect.

If he doesn’t break out in year two, though, the dreaded “bust” word will start following him around like a bad cold.

Guard Anthony Belton also flashed enough potential as a road-grader that there’s good reason to believe he can be a starting guard in Green Bay moving forward.

Still, using your first round pick on a wideout who had just one good game as a rookie and an interior offensive lineman who is not bad but also not great isn’t exactly the best look if you’re Gutekunst.

The next few picks on his draft board get even trickier to evaluate, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Wideout Savion Williams (Round 3) caught 10 passes for 78 yards and one touchdown. He was billed as a “gadget” guy that Matt LaFleur could have fun with, but he barely got into the action.

Edge rushers Barryn Sorrell (Round 4) and Collin Oliver (Round 5), and defensive tackle Warren Brinson (Round 6) have the potential to become something. They also have the potential to become nothing.

Sorrell, at least, finished the season with 1.5 sacks while the Packers were trying anything they could to replace the production they lost when Micah Parsons tore his ACL. Brinson finished the season with six tackles and half a sack and also flashed something during that late-season stretch.

Oliver played in just one game, but he flashed some serious pass-rush potential.

Gutekunst’s two seventh-round picks were absolutely wasted selections.

Cornerback Micah Robinson was signed off the practice squad by the Tennessee Titans, and guard John Williams spent all of 2025 on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.

So out of eight players, the Packers got one starter in the second round and a first-round wideout who is really going to have to work hard in year two to shed the “bust label”.

The players in rounds three through six are all firm “maybes”, as in maybe they can become something for the Packers, or maybe they’ll end up washing out of the league by 2027.

It was a rough evaluation by NFL.com, but sadly, Filice wasn’t wrong in his takedown of the Packers’ 2025 draft class.