First, the good news for the Green Bay Packers in NFL free agency: They won’t have to break the bank to keep any of their players.
Now, the bad news as they try to improve a roster that went 11-6 in the regular season but was swept by the Eagles, Lions and Vikings: It’s a “really bad group overall” one executive told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer about this year’s free-agent class.
In retrospect, this comment from general manager Brian Gutekunst said as much: “Every year there’s not going to be a Josh Jacobs or a Xavier McKinney out there to go get.”
Here is the latest on the Packers in free agency. The negotiating window will open at 11 a.m. (Central) on Monday, and players can officially sign with the start of the league-year at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Re-Signed
K Brandon McManus: After 24 games of the shakiest kicking in the NFL in 2023 and the start of 2024, the Packers signed McManus before the Week 7 game against the Texans. McManus kicked the winning field goal in that game and a week later at Jacksonville. He wound up 20-of-21 on field goals, his 95.2 percent accuracy ranking second in the NFL and second in Packers history. Contract: Three years, $15.3 million.
LB Isaiah McDuffie: A sixth-round pick in 2021, McDuffie started all 17 games in 2024 and was second on the team with 94 tackles. He added three tackles for losses, one forced fumble and three passes defensed. He had one-half sack during the regular season and another one-half sack in the playoffs. He’ll join Quay Walker and 2024 draft picks Edgerrin Cooper and Ty’Ron Hopper on the 2025 depth chart. Contract: Two years, $8.0 million.
Unsigned
C Josh Myers: A second-round pick in 2021, Myers started all 17 games in 2022 and 2023 and 16 games in 2024. It was a mixed bag. He’s as tough as nails, passionate about the game and the Packers, and knows what he’s doing. None of those things show up in the analytics, though. Myers consistently ranked toward the bottom of PFF’s grading. During an injury-plagued 2024 season, Myers ranked 30th out of 32 centers with 500-plus snaps. The center the Packers could have selected in 2021, Creed Humphrey, was the top-graded center and a first-team All-Pro for the Chiefs. Myers did cut his sack count from five to one.
CB Eric Stokes: A first-round pick in 2021, Stokes looked like a potential star during a superb rookie season in which he finished fourth in the NFL with a 51.0 percent completion rate allowed. However, his rocky start to the 2022 season went from bad to worse when he suffered a season-ending foot injury at Detroit. For players who rely on speed, a Lisfranc injury can be devastating. And it was to Stokes. After a series of hamstring injuries cost him most of the 2023 season, Stokes in 2024 played almost every snap in three of the first four games but just five in Week 18 and one in the playoffs. His last pass breakup? Christmas 2021 against the Browns.
LB Eric Wilson: In 2023, the Packers signed Wilson off the Saints’ practice squad and gained a hugely important role player. Wilson led the Packers with 11 tackles on special teams in 2023. Re-signed to a one-year contract in 2024, he played in 17 games (12 starts) and was seventh with 63 tackles on defense and third with nine tackles on special teams. He stuffed the stat sheet with two sacks, seven tackles for losses, one forced fumble, one interception and four passes defensed. Against Minnesota in Week 17, he played 95 snaps.
DT TJ Slaton: A fifth-round pick in 2021, Slaton started 17 games each of the last two seasons. He was a fulcrum of one of the best run defenses in the NFL in 2024. The run defense was 0.50 yards better when he was on the field during the regular season and 0.75 better in the playoff loss to Saquon Barkley and the Eagles. He made 30 tackles, with the average limiting the gain to 1.9 yards.
OT Andre Dillard: The Packers always have a veteran tackle on the roster. In 2024, it was Dillard, the 22nd pick of the 2019 draft who started 19 games with the Eagles (2019 through 2022) and Titans (2023). Dillard had a decent training camp and, since nobody else was better, he made the team. Because the starting tackles, Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom, started every game, Dillard barely played – 13 snaps at the end of a couple blowout wins. He was inactive for the playoff game.
CB Corey Ballentine: The Packers might not have made the playoffs in 2023 without Ballentine, who went from not playing a single snap on defense for a couple calendar years to starting six games and playing almost 500 snaps. The Packers re-signed him to a one-year deal in free agency in 2024. He barely played on defense but was a key cog on special teams.
CB Robert Rochell: A fourth-round pick by the Rams in 2021 – he owns a Super Bowl ring – Rochell played in 20 games for the Packers the past two seasons, with 233 snaps on special teams and one snap on defense.
RB AJ Dillon: Dillon missed the end of the 2023 season due to a stinger and all of 2024 after suffering another stinger during training camp. He wants to play again and kept himself in tip-top shape.
“I obviously love this team and I just love everything about playing the game of football,” he said at the end of the season. “But that’s football, that’s life, and I think you can learn something from everything. You can learn something from a loss. You can learn something from spending the year on IR. And, with that, what I learned is just cherishing those opportunities, not taking the game for granted and how much a blessing it is to even go out there and talk about going into Year 6.”
TE Tyler Davis: Davis played in all 17 games with one start for the Packers in 2022 but missed 2023 with a torn ACL and 2024 with a shoulder injury.
“I worked really hard to get back (in 2023) and I’ve worked really hard to get back this year, too,” Davis said at the end of the season. “It’s not like it’s a foreign process to me. I’m putting everything into this rehab, like I did the last one. Made the best of the worst. Everything’s moving in the right direction.”