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Let's take one last look at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, though not necessarily evaluating who did well in the drafting of actual players.
We present the vibes-only winners and losers:
We don't need to belabor the point, but Green Bay showed it could pull off a massive event (bringing in more attendees than Green Bay has residents) with smooth sailing.
Packers outgoing president Mark Murphy gets to close his tenure as Packers leader with a mic drop, having courted the event over the past decade and pushing to make it a reality.
He got a moment in the spotlight when he announced the first Packers draft pick — the first receiver selected in the first round since 2002 — and he adds a significant bullet point to his Packers Hall of Fame biography.
[IMG alt="Former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Lee Evans points to Bills fans after announcing the team’s selection with the 41st overall pick during the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/8c781a35b11d033f294801162569048d[/IMG]
To the NFL's credit, the league hasn't shied away from hosting the draft outside of truly major markets, with showcases in Nashville (2019), Cleveland (2021), Kansas City (2023), Detroit (2024) and now Green Bay.
It'll be Pittsburgh next year, and we know now the smallest professional-sports city in the country can turn the feat. Which means so can Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis (which already hosts the combine every year), Jacksonville, Minneapolis or Washington, D.C., which submitted a bid to host the 2027 draft, along with Denver.
Now, can we just convince the National Basketball Association to host its all-star game in Milwaukee?
[IMG alt="Former Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon announces the team’s selection with the 86th overall pick during the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/198c58401bdca0abe43fed7c06cd0c7e[/IMG]
Friday was dedicated almost exclusively to the University of Wisconsin, with alumni from the state's lone Division I football program announcing names for a litany of franchises.
That included current players Alec Ingold (a native of Green Bay who once went undrafted himself) and Jonathan Taylor, plus recently retired Ryan Ramczyk, Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, running back legends Melvin Gordon, Montee Ball, James White and more.
Not only that, but a pair of former Wisconsin Badgers heard their names called in the draft, too.
Waukesha North alumnus and four-year Badgers receiver Chimere Dike, who spent his final year in Florida, became the first pick of Day 3 atop the fourth round (103rd overall to the Titans).
Former UW quarterback Graham Mertz (197th overall to Houston), who spent two years in Florida after his time with the Badgers, also heard his name called despite an injury-shortened final season in college.
And they were both selected before any current Badgers, which brings us to …
[IMG alt="Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown during spring football practice Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/fa463c268dcfcbbbed73114a4a8e031b[/IMG]
It's no knock on the two Badgers who were selected; offensive lineman Jack Nelson (218th to Falcons) and safety Hunter Wohler (232nd to Colts) both feel like threats to become seventh-round steals. And nobody who follows UW football needs to see the NFL draft to realize things have gone south over the past couple years.
But it's one more data point and mini-indictment to see two players who left the program taken over the only two draft picks from the current team.
UW hasn't waited this long in the draft to see a player taken since 1990. The Badgers haven't produced a first-rounder since 2017 and have only produced three second-rounders (two in 2023) in the interim.
UW's long bowl streak was just snapped, so this aligns with the narrative that the program hasn't produced the same volume of talent.
We obviously understand what it means to explore every angle of a good story, even multiple times. The saga of Shedeur Sanders merited that level of attention early in the draft, when the presumed top-10 pick out of Colorado slid out of the first round … and then out of the second … then out of the third.
By Day 3, when the Browns finally made Sanders the 144th selection of the draft, you could sense the exhaustion among fans and onlookers. There is such a thing as a line of "too much" to cross, even if Sanders' fall made Aaron Rodgers' famous plummet in 2005 look more like waiting an extra couple minutes at a stoplight.
ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, the face of the draft's transformation into a major event, made the story line his passion project, insisting after the Browns finally took Sanders with the No. 141 pick that the NFL doesn't know how to evaluate quarterbacks. And, in fairness to Kiper, he's possibly not completely wrong. More than one quarterback has fallen in the draft and turned into a star.
But at some point, the Sanders emphasis passed from curiosity into annoyance, leaving those watching the draft wondering if the analysts could simply focus on any of the other 256 picks in the 2025 draft.
Kiper still has cachet and probably will until he retires, but unless Sanders proves Kiper 100% correct, Kiper isn't going to win many points for his draft performance.
[IMG alt="WWE wrestler and Chicago Bears fan Seth Rollins taunts the crowd before announcing the team’s selection with the 56th overall pick during the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/d4f9055bc01124f80421d216d12ba559[/IMG]
The Bears endured a cascade of boos from the crowd throughout the weekend, which obviously makes sense, given the largely partisan Packers crowd. Give Chicago credit for leaning into it, allowing WWE personality Seth Rollins to play up the vibes with his unbothered taunts to the Packers faithful before announcing a Day 2 selection.
Clay Matthews kicked off the proceedings with a supposedly presidential-inspired "Bears still suck!" message, and it was immediately clear that one of the agendas of the weekend was to make the Bears the enemy.
Of course, the Bears will happily endure it if they come away with weapons to help young quarterback Caleb Williams, like tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Luther Burden III might wind up being.
Kurt Tocci, a content creator who announced a pick for the Denver Broncos, ribbed the Packers fans on hand for the outcome of Super Bowl XXXII, when the Broncos upset the Packers. It feels like we may have passed the statute of limitations on using that as a true open wound. It's been, uh, 27 years. None of the drafted players were born.
Marius Dell, the Detroit Lions' international fan of the year, also took a sarcastic jab at "Packers owners." Yeah, we've heard that one before. We yawn.
Also, what's with Lions fans walking around with giant foam Super Bowl rings on their heads? They must be from the future, because the Lions haven't even been to a Super Bowl in this timeline.
The Pittsburgh Steelers did not draft a quarterback early, meaning their current quarterbacks are Mason Rudolph, sixth-round selection Will Howard and Skylar Thompson. Ex-Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, heavily linked to the Steelers as a free agent but taking his sweet time deciding what he wants to do, looks an awful lot like "Plan A" for Pittsburgh in that scenario.
To think, the Packers could have paired T.J. Watt with Rodgers and done so with far less effort back in 2017.
One broadcast even hinted that the Steelers would be unwise to take a quarterback early, such as Sanders, and scare off Rodgers from signing.
[IMG alt="The second day of the NFL Draft presented by Bud Light at the Draft Theater Friday, April 25, 2025, outside of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/c6a5d0fadc03b61a8e49f2f792d5b17a[/IMG]
It wasn't abundantly clear that the Draft Experience venue would reach capacity quickly enough that fans would get turned away, but hordes of potential draft attendees were stranded at the gate April 24 when the grounds were closed a half-hour before the start of Day 1 draft proceedings.
Though fans were able to enter Lambeau Field and watch the draft on video screens in and around the stadium, they weren't able to reach the area where they could hear the picks announced.
Hopefully the majority of those fans were able to come back for Day 2 or Day 3, when there were no such restrictions, and hopefully they didn't travel too far, only to get left out.
Possibly the best moment of the weekend came when edge rusher Barryn Sorrell — to everyone's surprise — emerged from the green room to the stage on Day 3, having been selected by the Packers in the fourth round.
An amazing story, Sorrell decided to attend the draft himself, spending Thursday in a hotel room and then showing up for Day 2 and Day 3 once the majority of invited prospects had flown out to visit their new teams.
It paid off handsomely when the host Packers made him the pick, allowing Sorrell to bask in the moment with fans on the stage, then in a deeply emotional press conference a few hundred yards away inside Lambeau Field.
If nothing else, he won over the fanbase immediately. If he turns into a draft steal, he's going to be a legend.
With only 15 top-tier prospects invited, it was far from a guarantee that the Packers' selection in any round would be in the house, but first-round pick (and Sorrell's teammate at Texas) Matthew Golden seized the moment when he came to the stage and took the mic to engage with the massive Thursday crowd. Sorrell's appearance was a perfect bonus.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, here are vibes-only winners, losers
Continue reading...
We present the vibes-only winners and losers:
Winner: Mark Murphy and the city of Green Bay, obviously
You must be registered for see images
We don't need to belabor the point, but Green Bay showed it could pull off a massive event (bringing in more attendees than Green Bay has residents) with smooth sailing.
Packers outgoing president Mark Murphy gets to close his tenure as Packers leader with a mic drop, having courted the event over the past decade and pushing to make it a reality.
He got a moment in the spotlight when he announced the first Packers draft pick — the first receiver selected in the first round since 2002 — and he adds a significant bullet point to his Packers Hall of Fame biography.
Winner: Other small markets in the NFL
[IMG alt="Former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Lee Evans points to Bills fans after announcing the team’s selection with the 41st overall pick during the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/8c781a35b11d033f294801162569048d[/IMG]
To the NFL's credit, the league hasn't shied away from hosting the draft outside of truly major markets, with showcases in Nashville (2019), Cleveland (2021), Kansas City (2023), Detroit (2024) and now Green Bay.
It'll be Pittsburgh next year, and we know now the smallest professional-sports city in the country can turn the feat. Which means so can Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis (which already hosts the combine every year), Jacksonville, Minneapolis or Washington, D.C., which submitted a bid to host the 2027 draft, along with Denver.
Now, can we just convince the National Basketball Association to host its all-star game in Milwaukee?
Winner: Former Wisconsin Badgers
[IMG alt="Former Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon announces the team’s selection with the 86th overall pick during the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/198c58401bdca0abe43fed7c06cd0c7e[/IMG]
Friday was dedicated almost exclusively to the University of Wisconsin, with alumni from the state's lone Division I football program announcing names for a litany of franchises.
That included current players Alec Ingold (a native of Green Bay who once went undrafted himself) and Jonathan Taylor, plus recently retired Ryan Ramczyk, Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, running back legends Melvin Gordon, Montee Ball, James White and more.
Not only that, but a pair of former Wisconsin Badgers heard their names called in the draft, too.
Waukesha North alumnus and four-year Badgers receiver Chimere Dike, who spent his final year in Florida, became the first pick of Day 3 atop the fourth round (103rd overall to the Titans).
Former UW quarterback Graham Mertz (197th overall to Houston), who spent two years in Florida after his time with the Badgers, also heard his name called despite an injury-shortened final season in college.
And they were both selected before any current Badgers, which brings us to …
[IMG alt="Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown during spring football practice Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/fa463c268dcfcbbbed73114a4a8e031b[/IMG]
Loser: The current Wisconsin football program
It's no knock on the two Badgers who were selected; offensive lineman Jack Nelson (218th to Falcons) and safety Hunter Wohler (232nd to Colts) both feel like threats to become seventh-round steals. And nobody who follows UW football needs to see the NFL draft to realize things have gone south over the past couple years.
But it's one more data point and mini-indictment to see two players who left the program taken over the only two draft picks from the current team.
UW hasn't waited this long in the draft to see a player taken since 1990. The Badgers haven't produced a first-rounder since 2017 and have only produced three second-rounders (two in 2023) in the interim.
UW's long bowl streak was just snapped, so this aligns with the narrative that the program hasn't produced the same volume of talent.
Loser: Mel Kiper, but not because he was wrong
You must be registered for see images attach
We obviously understand what it means to explore every angle of a good story, even multiple times. The saga of Shedeur Sanders merited that level of attention early in the draft, when the presumed top-10 pick out of Colorado slid out of the first round … and then out of the second … then out of the third.
By Day 3, when the Browns finally made Sanders the 144th selection of the draft, you could sense the exhaustion among fans and onlookers. There is such a thing as a line of "too much" to cross, even if Sanders' fall made Aaron Rodgers' famous plummet in 2005 look more like waiting an extra couple minutes at a stoplight.
ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, the face of the draft's transformation into a major event, made the story line his passion project, insisting after the Browns finally took Sanders with the No. 141 pick that the NFL doesn't know how to evaluate quarterbacks. And, in fairness to Kiper, he's possibly not completely wrong. More than one quarterback has fallen in the draft and turned into a star.
But at some point, the Sanders emphasis passed from curiosity into annoyance, leaving those watching the draft wondering if the analysts could simply focus on any of the other 256 picks in the 2025 draft.
Kiper still has cachet and probably will until he retires, but unless Sanders proves Kiper 100% correct, Kiper isn't going to win many points for his draft performance.
Loser: The Chicago Bears (kinda)
[IMG alt="WWE wrestler and Chicago Bears fan Seth Rollins taunts the crowd before announcing the team’s selection with the 56th overall pick during the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The draft runs through April 26.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/d4f9055bc01124f80421d216d12ba559[/IMG]
The Bears endured a cascade of boos from the crowd throughout the weekend, which obviously makes sense, given the largely partisan Packers crowd. Give Chicago credit for leaning into it, allowing WWE personality Seth Rollins to play up the vibes with his unbothered taunts to the Packers faithful before announcing a Day 2 selection.
Clay Matthews kicked off the proceedings with a supposedly presidential-inspired "Bears still suck!" message, and it was immediately clear that one of the agendas of the weekend was to make the Bears the enemy.
Of course, the Bears will happily endure it if they come away with weapons to help young quarterback Caleb Williams, like tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Luther Burden III might wind up being.
Loser: Taunts from other teams
You must be registered for see images
Kurt Tocci, a content creator who announced a pick for the Denver Broncos, ribbed the Packers fans on hand for the outcome of Super Bowl XXXII, when the Broncos upset the Packers. It feels like we may have passed the statute of limitations on using that as a true open wound. It's been, uh, 27 years. None of the drafted players were born.
Marius Dell, the Detroit Lions' international fan of the year, also took a sarcastic jab at "Packers owners." Yeah, we've heard that one before. We yawn.
Also, what's with Lions fans walking around with giant foam Super Bowl rings on their heads? They must be from the future, because the Lions haven't even been to a Super Bowl in this timeline.
Winner: Aaron Rodgers (sigh)
You must be registered for see images
The Pittsburgh Steelers did not draft a quarterback early, meaning their current quarterbacks are Mason Rudolph, sixth-round selection Will Howard and Skylar Thompson. Ex-Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, heavily linked to the Steelers as a free agent but taking his sweet time deciding what he wants to do, looks an awful lot like "Plan A" for Pittsburgh in that scenario.
To think, the Packers could have paired T.J. Watt with Rodgers and done so with far less effort back in 2017.
One broadcast even hinted that the Steelers would be unwise to take a quarterback early, such as Sanders, and scare off Rodgers from signing.
Loser: Late-ish arrivals on Day 1
[IMG alt="The second day of the NFL Draft presented by Bud Light at the Draft Theater Friday, April 25, 2025, outside of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin"]https://media.zenfs.com/en/milwauke...es_362/c6a5d0fadc03b61a8e49f2f792d5b17a[/IMG]
It wasn't abundantly clear that the Draft Experience venue would reach capacity quickly enough that fans would get turned away, but hordes of potential draft attendees were stranded at the gate April 24 when the grounds were closed a half-hour before the start of Day 1 draft proceedings.
Though fans were able to enter Lambeau Field and watch the draft on video screens in and around the stadium, they weren't able to reach the area where they could hear the picks announced.
Hopefully the majority of those fans were able to come back for Day 2 or Day 3, when there were no such restrictions, and hopefully they didn't travel too far, only to get left out.
Winner: Barryn Sorrell and the Texas two-step
You must be registered for see images attach
Possibly the best moment of the weekend came when edge rusher Barryn Sorrell — to everyone's surprise — emerged from the green room to the stage on Day 3, having been selected by the Packers in the fourth round.
An amazing story, Sorrell decided to attend the draft himself, spending Thursday in a hotel room and then showing up for Day 2 and Day 3 once the majority of invited prospects had flown out to visit their new teams.
It paid off handsomely when the host Packers made him the pick, allowing Sorrell to bask in the moment with fans on the stage, then in a deeply emotional press conference a few hundred yards away inside Lambeau Field.
If nothing else, he won over the fanbase immediately. If he turns into a draft steal, he's going to be a legend.
With only 15 top-tier prospects invited, it was far from a guarantee that the Packers' selection in any round would be in the house, but first-round pick (and Sorrell's teammate at Texas) Matthew Golden seized the moment when he came to the stage and took the mic to engage with the massive Thursday crowd. Sorrell's appearance was a perfect bonus.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, here are vibes-only winners, losers
Continue reading...
