Packers now have a clear date to revisit free agency and continue adding veteran help to strengthen the roster
Green Bay has made calculated moves.
The first wave of free agency is gone, and the Green Bay Packers slowly keep preparing themselves for a very important NFL Draft — one in which they won’t have a first-round pick. After so many roster decisions over the past few weeks, let’s discuss some of the main topics around the team in our mailbag.
After the first week of free agency, there will be a small signing here and there, but I don’t expect big moves anymore. That will happen right after the draft — the Tuesday following the draft, unrestricted free agents become street free agents and don’t count toward the compensatory pick formula anymore. So for several teams that have prioritized comp picks, that’s a significant demarcation.
For the Packers in particular, let’s say they want to sign DJ Reader. It makes more sense to wait until after the draft to sign him and preserve a sixth-round pick, or even higher depending on his contract. Green Bay had a very calculated offseason signing only one qualifying free agent for the comp pick formula because they had five free agents leaving the roster — each team can only receive four compensatory picks, so the Packers had this margin. Other than Benjamin St-Juste, the Packers signed Javon Hargrave (who doesn’t count because he had been released by the Minnesota Vikings) and Skyy Moore, who’s too inexpensive to qualify.
That’s a difficult decision because Stowers’ tape is truly impressive as a receiver, especially for a player who’s been a tight end for so little time. As a premise, though, I don’t think it makes sense to invest so much in another tight end knowing that Tucker Kraft will be around for a long time. Sure, you can use 12 personnel and Matt LaFleur has shown he likes it, but it’s not the most efficient personnel and the Luke Musgrave experience made it clear that a tight end has to block at least at an average level to be considered a good fit for LaFleur’s offense. Stowers wasn’t necessarily a bad blocking tight end in college, but it’s harder to foresee him playing well in that area in the NFL, at least early in his career.
Philosophically, Brian Gutekunst won’t change the type of player he will look for just because of a coordinator change. Because Jonathan Gannon runs a versatile scheme and because the differences between 4-3 and 3-4 fronts these days are limited, I’d expect the Packers to target the same type of player they’ve gotten for years. Sure, getting a run-stuffer helps sometimes, the Green Bay has taken more chances on guys who can disrupt the offensive line and penetrate to generate pressure from the interior. It’s not a coincidence that the top 3 interior defensive lineman on the roster are Devonte Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, and Karl Brooks.
It’s very possible that the Packers take a running back — maybe even on Day 2. As always, it depends on who’s available on the board at each spot. Next offseason is an inflection point for Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson walked in free agency, and MarShawn Lloyd is a total uncertainty due to his health. That leaves Jacobs (maybe) and Chris Brooks in the RB room. It’s clear that, after failing to get production from Lloyd, the Packers would happily add another talented young piece to the mix.
We talked about this here, but the answer is not much. The only difference is that the compensatory pick will come from losing Kingsley Enagbare to the New York Jets, and not Walker to the Carolina Panthers. But they will still likely get a sixth-rounder.
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