Tonight signals the beginning of the 2020 NFL Draft. From April 23-25, players will be selected, lives will change, and destinies will be set into motion. Years from now, pundits and armchair general managers alike will be talking about major busts, late-round steals, and teams who missed out on an all-time gridiron great by taking Player X instead of Player Y (the Bears taking Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes is a recent example of this that comes to mind). Even though this year’s draft will be conducted remotely, it’s still an exciting NFL tradition that goes all the way back to the 1936 season.
Over the 85 seasons the NFL Draft has existed, the Green Bay Packers have done it all. The team has wasted early picks on players who never found their true professional potential. They’ve seen low-risk picks in the mid- and late rounds turn into stars. They’ve drafted players who were buried on the bench in Green Bay, but who became quality contributors elsewhere. And, of course, they’ve drafted hundreds upon hundreds of players you’ve never heard of (and for good reason).
Currently, the NFL Draft has only seven rounds (a change that was made in 1993). However, there were years with 12 rounds, 20 rounds, and as many as 32 rounds. Yes, most of those 32-round ordeals didn’t produce many premier players in the late-going, but there were a few diamonds in the rough. As we wait to see who Green Bay takes tonight and over the course of the weekend, we figured we’d comb through team records to find the Packers’ best all-time selections in each and every round of the NFL Draft. Let the debate begin!
Round 32 — Ralph Earhart (Honorable Mention: Ken Roskie)
Round 31 — Gayland Mills (Honorable Mention: Russ Deal)
Round 30 — Clarence McGeary (Honorable Mention: Al Barry)
Round 29 — Howie Dare
Round 28 — Herm Hering
Round 27 — Timmy Brown
Round 26 — Jim Jennings
Round 25 — Nate Borden (Honorable Mention: Nolan Luhn)
Round 24 — Joe Hergert
Round 23 — John Symank
Round 22 — Howie Brown
Round 21 — Dave Smith
Round 20 — Bill Curry (Honorable Mention: Brad Ecklund)
Round 19 — Bill Butler
Round 18 — Jim Gillette
Round 17 — Bart Starr (Honorable Mention: Len St. John)
Round 16 — Dick Afflis
Round 15 — Bobby Jack Floyd
Round 14 — Ernie Green
Round 13 — Elijah Pitts
Round 12 — Larry McCarren (Honorable Mention: Daryle Lamonica, Mike Bass)
Round 11 — Mark Cannon (Honorable Mention: Marv Fleming, Bucky Scribner)
Round 10 — Don Majkowski (Honorable Mention: Kevin Hunt)
Round 9 — Tony Canadeo (Honorable Mention: Ty Detmer)
Round 8 — Ken Stills (Honorable Mention: David Whitehust)
Round 7 — Jim Ringo (Honorable Mention: Donald Driver, Mark Tauscher)
Round 6 — Mason Crosby (Honorable Mention: Doug Evans, Marco Rivera)
Round 5 — Mark Brunell (Honorable Mention: Aaron Jones, Bob Skoronski)
Round 4 — Jerry Kramer (Honorable Mention: Lionel Aldridge, David Bakhtiari)
Round 3 — Ray Nitschke (Honorable Mention: William Henderson, Antonio Freeman)
Round 2 — Jim Taylor (Honorable Mention: Forrest Gregg, LeRoy Butler)
Round 1 — Aaron Rodgers (Honorable Mention: Paul Hornung, James Lofton, Herb Adderley)