The Green Bay Packers made six draft picks during the 2026 draft and signed 10 undrafted free agents after the draft, adding an influx of young talent to Brian Gutekunst’s roster. With rookie minicamp underway, Matt LaFleur and his staff are just now starting the process of figuring out which of the rookies could help him win meaningful football games this fall.
So, which rookie addition will make the biggest impact on the Packers in 2026?
The staff made our predictions:
Zach Kruse: CB Brandon Cisse
I went back and forth on this, seeing an obvious path to impact for rookie kicker Trey Smack, and a real possibility of Chris McClellan getting on the field early and often in the interior defensive line rotation. But I’ll go with the most talented player in the class in Cisse, who is landing in a shaky cornerback room. The Packers bring back several veterans, so nothing will be given easily to the rookie, but the guess here is it will be difficult to keep Cisse’s incredible movement skills off the field for long — especially considering how inconsistent Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine played down the stretch in 2025. The prediction: Cisse sits and learns early while navigating the ups and downs of being a young player in the NFL, but he becomes a bigger and bigger part of the coverage plan and ends up playing important snaps at an important position for a team with big aspirations in 2026. Getting real impact from Cisse might be a necessary ingredient if the Packers want to make a deep playoff run.
Brandon Carwile: DL Chris McClellan
Colby Wooden served as Green Bay’s primary nose tackle last season and was included in the trade for Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin. The Packers signed Javon Hargrave, but the veteran defensive tackle is known more for his impact as a pass rusher. For these reasons, I think there’s a clear path for McClellan to be a short-yardage/early-down nose tackle. He’s got great size (6-3, 313 pounds) and enough functional play strength to help plug the middle as a run defender.
Mark Oldacres: CB Brandon Cisse
This is the easy answer, but the cornerback competition looks to be wide open at training camp this summer, with Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Benjamin St-Juste all battling with Cisse for playing time. The rookie has better draft pedigree than all of the vets, and providing he wins a job and gets on the field early, he should be a Year 1 starter who will have a significant impact on Jonathan Gannon’s defense, even if there are sure to be some bumps in the road along the way.
Brennen Rupp: K Trey Smack
This is assuming Smack beats out the competition to win the starting kicker job. After trading up to acquire him, my guess is that Smack will have to be Blair Walsh in the 2015 Wild Card game bad in order for him to not make the roster, and I don’t see that happening. The Florida kicker has a powerful leg and set the program record with 10 fields goals over 50-plus yards. Chris McClellan and Dani Dennis-Sutton will make an impact playing in a rotation and Brandon Cisse could earn a starting role, but Smack could have the most meaningful impact out of any rookie on the team. The Packers have been looking for their next Mason Crosby, who they also selected in the sixth round. They may have found him.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Which Packers rookie will have the most impact in 2026?
Reporting by Zach Kruse, Brandon Carwile, Mark Oldacres and Brennen Rupp, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
