NEWSLETTER
After stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, suburban Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Detroit (in 2024), the next destination for the NFL Draft is a place familiar to Bears fans.
The 2025 NFL Draft is heading to Green Bay, home of the Packers:
The NFL Draft went from this small(er) thing I’d watch as a kid with my childhood bestie at his football-obsessed dad’s house on a Saturday and Sunday into a proper Event. Now, the NFL Draft is a party that fans from near and far travel to so they can witness their favorite team announce which players they’re selecting. It’s remarkable that this is a thing. But here we are. And with great timing, too.
By the time the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft begins, Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s extension will have run its course. And with that timeline syncing up, Green Bay could be using a first-round pick on a QB. However, if that happens to be the case, I sure as heck hope it isn’t with the first overall pick.
NFL script-writers would drool at the idea of the Packers drafting their next great quarterback with the first overall pick in a draft hosted at (or in the shadow of) Lambeau Field. Just think of the ratings. That television cash grab would be too much to pass up. Personally, I don’t want Green Bay anywhere near the top QB prospects. Frankly, I’d rather see the Packers mired in mediocrity. Not good enough to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to bottom out for a top prospect. Let that fan base experience life in football purgatory and see how they like it. But I digress.
Sometimes, the NFL’s attempts to shake things up aren’t all that great. But there is no denying that the league turning the NFL Draft into an event has been an absolute treat. And while Green Bay isn’t a destination for many, I consider it to be a favorite Chicago suburb of mine. With its food haunts and craft brewing scene, my Green Bay visits have often given off the types of vibes you’d expect from hanging out in Naperville — but if Naperville had an 80,000-seat stadium and professional football team.
