When the Green Bay Packers traded up from the 84th to the 77th pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, fans were poised for an exciting moment, hoping that the team would find a game-breaking prospect with their accelerated third-round pick. Instead of a fan favorite like Domonique Orange, however, the team selected Missouri defensive tackle Chris McClellan instead, a player who was not widely projected to Green Bay leading up to the draft.
However, the Packers appreciate versatility in their linemen on both sides of the football, and that’s a quality that McClellan certainly possesses. There’s some pass-rush juice there, and his long arms (34”) and big hands (11”) should help him keep offensive linemen off him on the interior of the line.
Orange went a few picks later to the Minnesota Vikings, a selection that will surely link he and McClellan’s careers forever in the minds of Packers fans. Still, let’s take a look at some of the reactions to the McClellan selection, as there are some individuals who are big fans of the selection.
Green Bay clearly wanted McClellan badly. Brian Gutekunst said after the draft that the team had him on their board and under consideration with the 52nd pick, when they took cornerback Brandon Cisse, and they were happy to land him later after the trade up. To illustrate just how badly they were trying to move up for him, Milt Hendrickson explains:
Meanwhile, McClellan is ready to get in and do the work wherever the Packers want him to play. They evidently see him as being capable of playing in a few different spots, and he’s happy to line up at any spot on the line.
Justin Melo is a veteran draft analyst for Sports Illustrated, and he interviewed McClellan earlier in the draft process. Take a quick look at how he breaks down his own game here:
Meanwhile, Brennan Rupp of Packers Wire thinks McClellan is an excellent fit:
McClellan was also a favorite in the locker room and among the media around the Missouri program. Here’s a good illustration of that:
As for Acme Packing Company’s own contributors, at least one is a big fan of this pick. Hopefully Dusty Evely will give us a film breakdown at some point in the near future after this comment:
Meanwhile, our Tyler Brooke also looked at McClellan’s game earlier this offseason and liked what he saw. Here’s a quick cutup of some of his highlights:
All told, McClellan can play in a number of different positions, especially if the Packers are set up in a nickel base for much of the time. That’s the type of defense that Missouri used, and in that scheme, he should be comfortable as a nose or a 3-technique. The pick also means that Green Bay should have the flexibility to draft another defensive tackle on day three of the draft if they should want to, and they won’t be limited to any specific type of tackle — they can just focus on finding a quality player, regardless of what role they might play on the line.
