Incoming rookies have veteran players in their corner

Wes Hodkiewicz

GREEN BAY The Packers' six-player draft class is set to join the rest of the team this week, as Green Bay's offseason program rolls on.

Here are six things to know about the draft picks:

The Packers' rookie second-round pick was deciding between Nos. 2 and 13 and ultimately went with the former due in part to the Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back.

Woodson, who played seven seasons for the Packers, donned No. 2 during his legendary run at the University of Michigan in the late '90s. A film junkie, Cisse studiedWoodsons game closely throughout his football career.

"Elite ball skills, obviously freakishly athletic, can do everything," said Cisse, whose father Cedric is also a big Woodson fan. "Just his mentality. He changed his game. He's always one of my favorites to watch."

The Packers' defensive lineman grew up idolizing the three-time Pro Bowl running back, who also hails from Tulsa, Okla. Their high schools Owasso (McClellan) and McLain (Jacobs) are a little more than 10 miles apart.

Jacobs' success served as a source of inspiration for McClellan. So, you can only imagine the rookie's excitement when he received a congratulatory text from Jacobs after the Packers picked him in the third round.

"He was the first player to reach out and text me and just congratulate me," McClellan said. "He's always somebody to look up to with him being from Tulsa and me being from Tulsa, so being on the same team with him now is just crazy."

Jacobs provided McClellan some words of encouragement while reminding the 22-year-old that this is only the beginning.

"It's time to get to work and come in and use this blessing to my advantage," McClellan said. "Because not a lot of people are fortunate enough to make it out of the area that we come from. He was just saying like, don't take it for granted and come out here and work like every day your last."

It did not take long for the Packers' All-Pro pass rusher to reach out to his fellow Penn State Nittany Lion after Green Bay drafted Dennis-Sutton in the fourth round.

The two pass rushers met a few years ago when Parsons came back to State College, Pa., and have stayed in contact. Parsons made sure to give the rookie a few pointers after the draft.

"Just be ready to work. It's the biggest thing he said," Dennis-Sutton said. "Don't worry about anything outside of working, man. So, I'm here for the team, whatever the team needs me to do, and I'm ready to work."

Dennis-Sutton is the latest in a series of Penn State pass rushers to move onto the NFL after two of his former teammates, Chop Robinson (Miami) and Abdul Carter (New York Giants), were drafted in the first round in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The 6-foot-5, 256-pound edge rusher is excited to learn whatever he can from Parsons and add to the defensive front.

"Once I got the call from Green Bay, Wis., I knew I was going to be coming here and I was super-excited, obviously," said Dennis-Sutton after taking a minute to introduce himself to the entire Green Bay media corps before his post-practice media scrum at rookie minicamp.

"There's a tradition of defensive players. Obviously, Micah's here. Just the lineage of defensive players here, I was super-excited."

The 6-foot-4, 312-pound offensive lineman was diving into Green Bay's film well before the Packers drafted him in the fifth round (No. 153 overall).

During Burton's senior year at Kentucky, Wildcats O-line coach Eric Wolford occasionally included cutups of the Packers' front as the team installed plays.

That experience further fueled Burton's excitement to get going in Green Bay, which the 23-year-old Lexington, Ky., native says already feels like home.

"Our O-line coach would use (the Packers) as teach tape for some of the plays we were putting in," Burton said. "I'm just excited to get around them here in two weeks and be a sponge and absorb as much knowledge as I can and add it to my game. Super grateful to be in a room with experience and great leaders."

In addition to Alabama alumsXavier McKinneyand Jacobs currently starring in Green Bay, former Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix helped mentor Jackson in Tuscaloosa.

Clinton-Dix, who played his first pro five seasons for Green Bay, has been the director of player development for the Crimson Tide since 2023.

"He was always talking about how fun it is here and I see why," said Jackson, who credits Clinton-Dix for helping him manage expectations and adversity during his two seasons at Alabama.

Jackson also had a fan in Packers cornerbacks coach Daniel Bullocks, who took an early liking to the 23-year-old cornerback. The two had several conversations during the pre-draft process, with Bullocks even telling Jackson to be on the lookout for Green Bay.

True enough, the Packers selected the 6-foot, 194-pound cornerback in the sixth round (201st overall). He's the first Alabama defender Green Bay has drafted sinceClinton-Dix in 2014.

"Very excited to coach him," said Bullocks of Jackson. "He's got a lot of experience playing the corner position, playing at Alabama, playing at USC. He can play off, he can play press, he can tackle. He's got the play style we're looking for at the corner position."

Smack didn't start playing football until high school. His original plan was to play lacrosse in college before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcibly redirecting his attention to kicking.

"They locked up all the lacrosse goals in Maryland," Smack said. "I was like, 'Well, they can't take down the field goal posts.' So, I started kicking, started doing my thing, and somehow, I went to a camp nine months down the line and got ranked 13th in the nation."

As fate would have it, Smack happened to have a lacrosse teammate, Joe Stover, whose dad, Matt, was a two-time Super Bowl champion who kicked two decades in the NFL.

A natural but also very raw, Smack met with Stover, who praised his pro leg but also imparted onto him a difficult truth just because the kick went through the uprights doesn't mean it was "good."

"He humbled me a lot, no doubt," Smack said. "I'm like, 'Yeah I made it.' He's like, 'That was not good.' And I was like, 'Thanks, I appreciate it.' So yeah, humbling."

Stover's guidance helped propel Smack to the University of Florida, where he made more than 80% of his field goals during each his three years in Gainesville. Smack holds the school record with 10 made field goals from 50-plus yards.