News of the Green Bay Packers hosting college prospects on pre-draft visits, or "top 30" visits, as they are known, ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, is steadily filtering in.
The reason behind each visit can vary depending on the player. In the days of Ted Thompson, the Packers generally used them to recruit players who they were interested in as potential undrafted free agents, but since Brian Gutekunst took over as GM, the team has hosted plenty of high-profile prospects as well.
Some visits will be used to get medical information not attained at the NFL scouting combine, others to delve into a player's character and answer any questions they have in that regard. Others serve the purpose of throwing other NFL teams off the scent of which players Green Bay might be interested in.
But how many of these visits actually end up becoming Packers? In the Gutekunst era, visits have been a decent indicator of legitimate interest in a prospect.
From his first draft in 2018 up to 2024 , there were 190 confirmed reports of players visiting the Packers pre-draft. Twenty one of those were subsequently drafted by Green Bay, an average of three per season, although the number in a given year can vary wildly.
In 2021, the Packers did not draft a single player they had in on a visit, although it is worth noting there were only 41 reported visits between 2020 and 2021, i.e. the COVID-19 seasons, where visits were generally held virtually, out of the 60 the team could have conducted.
There is therefore a chance they did actually have one of their 2021 draft picks in for a visit, but it was not reported.
Just one year later in 2022, Green Bay drafted six players who were part of their pre-draft visit schedule. They were Devonte Wyatt, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Rasheed Walker, Samori Toure and Tariq Carpenter.
The other Packers draft picks who were in for a '30' visit:
- Oren Burks
- Kendall Donnerson
- J'Mon Moore
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Ka'dar Hollman
- Jace Sternberger
- Jordan Love
- Josiah Deguara
- Dontayvion Wicks
- Sean Clifford
- Karl Brooks
- Lew Nichols III
- Edgerrin Cooper
- Ty'Ron Hopper
- Kitan Oladapo
Seven undrafted players signed with the Packers after having a visit with the team:
- Tim Boyle
- Curtis Bolton
- Randy Ramsey
- Jahmir Johnson
- Kadeem Telfort
- Camren McDonald
- Donovan Jennings
An additional eight players went on to join Green Bay later, after originally being drafted by, or signing for, another team:
- Gerhard De Beer
- Andrew Beck
- Damarea Crockett
- Andre Dillard
- John Lovett
- John Wirtel
- John FitzPatrick
- Ben Sims
In total, 36 of the 190 pre-draft visits ended up playing for the Packers at some point, which is just under 19%. That means in an average year, five to six players who visit with the team eventually end up on the roster.
How about first round picks? Green Bay has hosted 26 players on visits who were then taken in the first round, but only drafted two of them: Jordan Love and Devonte Wyatt. Just 7.69% of the first-rounders the Packers had in for a visit ended up being drafted by them.
It makes sense it is a lower percentage, as there are only so many players worthy of going in the first round, and 32 potential teams to draft them. Once the first round is over, it is easier to target and attain specific players, as there is a bigger pool of potential options to pick from.
Seven of Green Bay's ...
