There isn’t much interest in what the Green Bay Packers will do this offseason at the moment outside of their own fans and the ones who cover the team. Watch or listen to national shows or podcasts and they will barely talk about what Green Bay intends to do.
After all, in fairness, the Packers are usually quiet in free agency—even though they signed safety Xavier McKinney and running back Josh Jacobs last offseason.
Well, that may be about the change. According to ESPN reporter Rob Demovsky, who covers the Packers, agents at the Combine talked to Packers’ leaders and think the team will be active adding players two to three weeks from now.
On ESPN Milwaukee, Demovsky said one agent told him that “your team is going to be a player in free agency this year.”
There are three priority positions for general manager Brian Gutekunst, although it might not be possible to add all three in the same offseason.
“This is based on this agent having players that are gonna be free agents,” Demovsky added. “This agent was left with the impression that the Packers are gonna be in the cornerback, defensive line, and receiver market.”
Rob Demovsky specifically mentioned New York Jets cornerback DJ Reed, who is 28 and will be a free agent in March. The Leap’s Peter Bukowski has also reported about a potential Packers interest in him.
According to Spotrac, DJ Reed is projected to receive a four-year, $56.8 million deal ($14.7 million per season). The defensive end market also has intriguing options, like Chase Young and Josh Sweat.
The receiver options are less enticing, though, and that’s probably the reason why the Packers are considering a trade to acquire DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks.
After the season, Gutekunst had mentioned his intentions to be more active.
“You always have some disappointments in the year,” Gutekunst expressed. “I think, for me, the thing that’s been on my mind as we’ve concluded this season is we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency. These opportunities don’t come (often). The life of a player in the National Football League is not very long. We’ve got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and yeah, I think it’s time that we start competing for championships, right?”
If the Packers can add a cornerback, an edge rusher, and a wide receiver, plus whatever they do in the draft, there will be plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the team’s future. And, well, it will be hard for external observers to talk about it.
