ESPN’s Mel Kiper recently broke down the top edge rushers in the 2025 draft class, which featured none other than Penn State’s Abdul Carter at the top of his list. The Green Bay Packers won’t be in a position to draft Carter, the second overall player on the consensus draft board, next month — but defensive end does remain a major need for the squad.
So who might be available when the Packers are on the clock with the 23rd pick? Let’s take a look at Kiper’s rankings.
Mel Kiper's edge rusher rankings
Abdul Carter, Penn State (#2 overall on the consensus draft board)
Jalon Walker, Georgia (#12)
Mykel Williams, Georgia (#15)
Jihaad Campbell, Alabama (#18)
Mike Green, Marshall (#17)
Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M (#13)
Nic Scourton, Texas A&M (#35)
Oluwafemi Oladejo, UCLA (#88)
Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College (#32)
James Pearce Jr., Tennessee (#20)
The top six players on this list are expected to be drafted before Green Bay is up for their first choice. This is the tough lesson: Just because an edge class is good doesn’t mean that players will slip. Like quarterback, edge rushers fly off of the board on draft day.
With that being said, the Packers did just bring in Shemar Stewart, a super athlete, for a pre-draft visit on Wednesday. They may believe they have a better shot at taking Stewart at #23, or are willing to move up for him in the first round, once the dust settles on the pre-draft process.
Really, edge rusher #7 and on are the players who will probably be available once Green Bay is on the clock. This includes UCLA’s Oluwafemi Oladejo, who is Kiper’s one non-chalk pick in his rankings. At the moment, most rankings have the Cal transfer coming off of the board around the mid-third round. Meanwhile, Kiper has Oladejo over two projected first-round picks in Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku and Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. If there’s anything notable to take out of these rankings, it’s that Oladejo is one of “Kiper’s guys.”