The Green Bay Packers are keeping three young, ascending pieces of the roster. Before the new league year started, the team made the predictable decision to apply exclusive-rights free agent tenders on running back Emanuel Wilson, punter Daniel Whelan, and offensive tackle Caleb Jones.

That type of designation is made for players with two or fewer accrued NFL seasons. It's a minimum deal, and they can't negotiate with other teams. That means the three players will be back with the Packers in 2024.

Promising pieces

Running back Emanuel Wilson led the league in preseason rushing yards and finished the regular season as a running back three, behind Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon — with Dillon missing the last three games because of injury, Wilson was a de facto RB2 in the playoffs. It's a worthwhile developmental player. With the Aaron Jones release, Wilson might have a bigger role even considering that the Packers signed Josh Jacobs in free agency.

Daniel Whelan was a decent punter throughout the season — an average starter. And this is a good return from a player so inexpensive. Whelan is good enough to keep the job under a low price tag, and at the moment he is the only punter on the 90-man roster.

Caleb Jones is a developmental tackle, and Brian Gutekunst decided to protect him on the 53-man roster during the season, even though he was inactive for most of the year and had just one special teams snap all season. With David Bakhtiari released and Yosh Nijman as a free agent, Jones has the opportunity to have a bigger role as well.

Restricted no more

If the Packers decided to keep the exclusive-rights free agents around, the approach with the restricted free agents was different. The team did not tender running back Patrick Taylor and cornerback Robert Rochell. With that, they entered the new league year as unrestricted free agents — and if they sign elsewhere, they do not count for the compensatory pick formula.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Taylor and Rochell won’t be back with the Packers in 2024. However, RFA tenders are much more expensive than ERFA tenders.

Even the rights of first refusal, which don’t secure any compensation for the team in the case of another team signing the player to an offer sheet, is $2.985 million. The second-round tender is $4.89 million, and the first-round tender is $6.822 million.

Potentially, the Packers could get both players back for much less than that, which explains their decision.

Restricted free agents are players with three accrued seasons in the NFL.

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