The Green Bay Packers are willing to explore free agent opportunities to reinforce the defense. And on Tuesday, general manager Brian Gutekunst received a couple of interesting pieces of news regarding who will or won't be available in free agency starting next week.

The biggest impact is in the safety market, but there is also news on the off-ball linebacker front.

Tag or no tag

There are positive and negative pieces of news for the safety market here. The worse is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers applied the franchise tag on Antoine Winfield, which essentially takes him out of the market.

The New England Patriots applied the transition tag on Kyle Dugger. That means the team has the option to match any potential offer the safety receives, but if they decide not to match it, there's no compensation. In 2018, the Packers gave cornerback Kyle Fuller an offer sheet after the Chicago Bears had transition-tagged him, but the Bears matched the offer.

The best piece of news for the market is that the New York Giants decided not to tag Xavier McKinney, who's going to hit the market without limitations.

According to A to Z Sports' top 105 free agent list, McKinney is the 30th best free agent of the class, and he's expected to receive a three-year, $34.95 million contract — $11.65 million per year, with a potential $6.5 million cap hit in year one.

McKinney is coming off his best season in the NFL. He finished it off with an 87.8 PFF grade, including a 91.2 coverage grade and a 89.1 tackling grade.

Seahawks house-cleaning

The Seattle Seahawks are adjusting to a new reality without Pete Carroll and with Mike Macdonald. That means the defensive structure will be different, and two former starting safeties got released on Tuesday, Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs.

Adams is the bigger name as a former first-round pick and a player acquired by the Seahawks in a major trade involving multiple first-rounders. He's coming off the worst year of his NFL career, a 54.9 PFF grade, and he never repeated for the Seahawks the success he had had with the New York Jets to start his career. He plays the role of a strong safety and is 28 years old.

The free safety option is Quandre Diggs, who's older at 31 years old. He also had a down year in 2023, with a 55.1 PFF grade — which might indicate the Seahawks weren't extracting the most out of their defensive players.

Linebacker with connections

The other option that entered the market is off-ball linebacker Jerome Baker, who got released by the Miami Dolphins. He finished last season with a 66.6 PFF grade, which included an above average 74.4 coverage grade.

That signing would make for the Packers on multiple levels. First, as he was released, he wouldn't count towards Green Bay's compensatory pick formula. Second, his position coach in Miami was Anthony Campanile, who's now the Packers linebackers coach and run game coordinator. And third, his ability to be a cover linebacker is imperative for the system Jeff Hafley intends to run.

Teams can start talking with unrestricted free agents' representations next Monday, two days ahead of the new league year. However, players who got released are considered street free agents and can sign at any point.

The Green Bay Packers will have multiple chances to upgrade their roster before the draft, and the pool of players just got a little more interesting right before free agency opens.

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