RSS Mania

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images The Packers have spent a fair bit on free agents that might not have been on anybody’s wish list. College basketball great John Wooden once said “never mistake activity for achievement.” I don’t know what the Packers have achieved so far this offseason, but at least they’re doing something. Or trying to, at least. Even if their free agent moves so far this offseason don’t appear to hit obvious needs, there’s a logic to them. Signing Aaron Banks gives the Packers important depth on the offensive line — which turned out to be a huge problem in the playoffs. Signing Nate Hobbs gives the Packers another option at cornerback, even if he’s been only slightly healthier than Jaire Alexander. Bringing back Isaiah McDuffie gives the Packers some reliable linebacker depth and another special teams body. And re-signing Brandon McManus ensures the Packers’ solution at kicker sticks around for at least a couple of more seasons. But I think you can be forgiven if the Packers’ signings also leave you a bit cold. They seemed a lot more interested in maintaining last year’s baseline than making moves that would represent some kind of step forward for the roster, and last year’s baseline didn’t really land the Packers among the league’s elite. There’s still a lot of offseason to go, but Brian Gutekunst is hanging a lot on this year’s draft — that’s his last remaining avenue to add any kind of difference-making talent. Of course, it’s March. It’s hard to say what any team is going to be at this time of year, and a lot can change between now and September, anyway. The Packers could have traded for D.K. Metcalf, signed Davante Adams, and added the best edge rusher you can imagine in free agency, and if Jordan Love gets hit by a bus crossing Oneida Street during training camp, it would all be for nothing. There’s no telling what the Packers could be — good or bad — right now, even if things have been a little uninspiring so far. Packers rank top 10 in free agent spending so far | Packers Wire The Packers shelled out quite a bit for two guys that probably weren’t on anybody’s wish list, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be good moves. Packers Tumble Out of Top 10 in NFL Power Rankings After Week 1 of Free Agency | Sports Illustrated There isn’t much sillier than power rankings in March, but here we are nonetheless. What’s left for Packers in free agency after modest first week? | The Athletic ($) Anything out there yet for the Packers? How Joe Burrow forced the Bengals to break the bank on new contracts for Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins | CBS Sports I don’t know if what the Bengals are doing is a good idea, but I’m still fascinated by it. How to protect yourself from potential scams related to the 2025 NFL draft | Packers News With a quarter million people descending on Green Bay, there are bound to be some bad actors at work. 1955 NFL Draft: Oral history – End of around-the-clock, marathon drafts | Packers.com Official Packers historian Cliff Christl has been working through a series of oral histories about some old, old NFL Drafts, and I found this one particularly fascinating. Bulgarian football club Arda Kardzhali apologise after holding minute’s silence for former player who is still alive | Sky News Was that wrong?

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images Green Bay drafted a pass-rushing defensive tackle in the first round of our mock With the 23rd overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select…Derrick Harmon, defensive tackle out of Oregon. That’s who you voted for in the first round of our Mock Draft 1.0. At 6’5” and 313 pounds with a 4.95-second 40-yard dash speed, the defensive tackle certainly has the athleticism that the Packers look for in defensive linemen. At his size, he can play either nose tackle or three-technique, which should help Green Bay sort out its future on its defensive interior. It also helps that the former Duck led the nation in pressures from an interior lineman last year. With T.J. Slaton now a Cincinnati Bengal, there’s a question about whether or not Kenny Clark, who disappointed last season as a three-technique on running downs, will kick back inside to nose tackle in 2025. If Clark does move inside, does that mean that former first-round pick Devonte Wyatt, who has good pressure production but isn’t a full-time player for the Packers, will be the three-technique? A selection of Harmon would give Green Bay options at the position where they previously had very few. Let’s get into the second round of this choose-your-own-adventure mock draft, though. In our run-through of the Pro Football Focus Mock Draft Simulator, the following players at the Packers’ positions of need were selected between their first and second picks of the draft. We defined positions of need as defensive tackle, defensive end, wide receiver and cornerback. Considering that defensive tackle was already taken in the first round, we’ll pluck them off of the board for Day 2. Players Taken Between Packers’ 1st and 2nd Picks #19 on the consensus draft board: James Pearce Jr., DE, Tennessee #28: Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State #29: Luther Burden, WR, Missouri #36: Nic Scourton, DE, Texas A&M #37: Shavon Revel Jr., CB, East Carolina #39 Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky #42: Azareye’h Thomas, CB, Florida State #44: Landon Jackson, DE, Arkansas #48: Trey Amos, CB, Mississippi #54: Elic Ayomanor, WR, Stanford #58: T.J. Tuimoloau, DE, Ohio State #61: Princely Emanmielen, DE, Mississippi #65: Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State #74: Bradyn Swinson, DE, LSU The following players are the remaining players ranked on the consensus board’s top 100 at the Packers’ three remaining positions of need. Best Players (of Need) Available #42: Benjamin Morris, CB, Notre Dame #46: Jack Sawyer, DE, Ohio State #53: Tre Harris, WR, Mississippi #59: Darien Porter, CB, Iowa State #69: Jack Bech, WR, TCU #71: Jaylin Noel, WR, Iowa State #72: Jordan Burch, DE, Oregon #76: Isaiah Bond, WR, Texas #79: Jalen Royals, WR, Utah State #82: Kyle Kennard, DE, South Carolina #83: Josaiah Stewart, DE, Michigan #87: Xavier Restrepo, WR, Miami #88: Oluwafemi Oladejo, DE, UCLA #92: Savion Williams, WR, TCU #96: Tez Johnson, WR, Oregon #100: Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio State Vote who you would take in the Packers’ position with the 54th overall pick in the comment section. The post that gets the most “rec”s by the end of the day on Tuesday will be crowned the winner and we’ll move on to the final phase of our Mock Draft 1.0, the third round, on Wednesday morning.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images Brian Gutekunst took a big swing three years ago, but he’s still looking for a home run. Three years ago today, the Green Bay Packers traded Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders. It was as inevitable as it was disappointing. There’s an alternate universe not too different from our own where Adams was a key part of the transition from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, shepherding Love into a new phase of his career while putting the finishing touches on his quest to become the Packers’ all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Go look at the career leaderboards sometimes — Adams really was that close. But due to a rift that opened between Adams and the Packers prior to the 2021 season, that alternate future never became a reality. Instead, it was Adams and Aaron Jones joking about giving Russ Ball (and not Brian Gutekunst, curiously) a call to get a deal done during training camp, only for no deal to ever materialize, save for the one that made Adams a Raider. Today, Adams is on his third team post-Packers, having joined the Jets and now the Rams after leaving Green Bay, while the Packers struggle to replace him, either with an individual or in the aggregate. And to be fair, it may have been the right call to move on from Adams, but the real problem is that Gutekunst has yet to find a suitable solution at wide receiver after Adams left. And by that same token, Gutekunst really hasn’t replaced any of the Thompson-era stars yet — at least, not with the same success his predecessor did when taking over as the Packers’ general manager. You could largely define Gutekunst’s tenure as general manager as one of decline in Green Bay. Since he became the Packers’ GM, he’s spent most of a decade transitioning away from the Thompson-era stars that made the Packers great for most of the 2010s — while failing to replace them with comparable stars. Gutekunst’s tenure has been mostly defined by who the Packers have traded or cut — Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Aaron Jones, and David Bakhtiari, to name a few — rather than who he’s cultivated. And again, to be fair to Gutekunst, some of those moves were the right call. Rodgers’ time in Green Bay had run its course. Bakhtiari’s body was done. The Adams move was salvaging a broken relationship — albeit one that the Packers’ general manager had played a part in breaking. But Gutekunst is now heading into his eighth season on the job. By the same point, Thompson had drafted Aaron Rodgers, Nick Collins, Clay Matthews, B.J. Raji, every single one of the pass catchers from that iconic Sports Illustrated cover, T.J. Lang, Josh Sitton, and Bryan Bulaga. He had hired Mike McCarthy. He had won a Super Bowl. And he’d made plenty of tough calls of his own. In his first year and a half as general manager, Thompson moved on from Pro Bowl guards Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle, cut All-Pro safety Darren Sharper, and traded wide receiver Javon Walker. And he bounced back from all of those moves, too — the second-round pick he got for Walker is the easiest one-to-one example, since he immediately turned that pick into Greg Jennings. Thompson started his tenure at a much lower point than Gutekunst, so perhaps it was easier to hit early home runs. But the fact is, he did it — and he hit at a much higher rate in the same window than Gutekunst has. Gutekunst, as we all know, has had no problems making the hard calls. But he hasn’t had the same success as Thompson in the crucial follow-up to those tough decisions, and the Packers have struggled accordingly. He’s had his successes, but they’ve come with caveats, too. Jaire Alexander was a solid first pick, but injuries have destroyed his career and he looks like he’s on his way out of town. Elgton Jenkins has rejuvenated his career after his 2021 ACL injury, but the Packers have now shifted him to center, a position that perhaps least maximizes his best attributes. Rashan Gary has had bright moments, but he seems to have peaked as a solid number-two pass rusher. The Packers have been in the bottom half of the NFC North in two of the last three seasons and had obvious weaknesses coming into this offseason. So far, Gutekunst has yet to address any of them. The Packers’ pass rush still looks just as weak as it did at the end of last season, and it’s hard to imagine any pass rusher available where the Packers will be picking making a big enough impact to turn that unit around. Their wide receivers still look perilously thin — we’re an injury to one player away from a corps featuring Malik Heath in a prominent role. There’s a lot of offseason yet to go, and they could have another home-run draft — right now, it looks like they’ll need one. But the main reason they’ll need one is because their general manager’s bold plans have yet to yield comparably compelling solutions. The Packers are at a vulnerable point in their team development. Next year’s cap picture is murky, and many of the young players Gutekunst has put in place are already close to free agency or in need of an extension. This should be the point where the Packers are among the rising contenders in the NFC, if not the NFL. Instead, they’re facing an offseason of uncertainty, potentially one of their own making. The Packers didn’t just stumble into this position. They were led here. Now, three years after the trade that sent Davante Adams to the Raiders, the gap that remains between the Packers and the NFC’s elite remains one of their own making, and a symbol of their post-Rodgers decline.

Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images “Okay” is probably the best way to explain how national analysts feel about the Packers’ free agency effort Considering how little meat is left on the bone in free agency, let’s turn our attention to how national analysts believe the Green Bay Packers have done this offseason. Obviously, Packers-centric analysts are going to lean positive when talking about their team, but how do “objective” observers feel about Green Bay’s free agency haul? We’re going to split out the results into three sections: how analysts graded the club’s offseason as a whole, how they viewed the Aaron Banks signing and how they viewed the Nate Hobbs signing. Team Grades CBS Sports: B Pro Football Focus: C- Pro Football Network: C- Sporting News: B- USA Today: B- Yahoo! Sports: C- Yardbarker: B- I wanted to highlight standout grades for each of these sections, but everyone who graded the Packers’ free agency was roughly in the same ballpark. The biggest variance came from CBS Sports’ B grade (woof), which came with this justification: Green Bay gave Jordan Love some more protection by signing former 49ers left guard Aaron Banks to a four-year, $77 million contract. Dating back to 2023, Banks has surrendered just one sack in 897 pass-blocking snaps, so the Packers get a sturdy piece along the offensive line. He’s also a bulldozer in the run game. Meanwhile, Hobbs — Prisco’s No. 76th free agent overall — is a starting caliber defensive back to put in the Green Bay secondary who could play outside or in the slot. Aaron Banks, G (four years, $77 million) 33rd Team: C+ The Athletic: C+ ESPN: C- Over the Cap: F Pro Football Focus: Below Average SB Nation: C+ Walter Football: B Here’s what Over the Cap’s said about their F grade for the Banks signing: It is hard to picture what the Packers saw here to justify throwing out a contract worth $77M over four years. This is massive money coming in at number 2 in 1st year and 2nd year cash. His 12 month earnings are huge with the $9.5 million roster bonus coming in next year in March. If you want to make an argument that he is worth in the $12 million a year range I can buy that, but this is wild. The team will even bump his salary if he winds up a pro bowl level player when you think this number reflects that expectation. On top of that it moves the current guard to center, giving the team a $17M center to go along with a near $20M guard. The Packers line better be great this season. Nate Hobbs, CB (four years, $48 million) 33rd Team: C Over the Cap: C Pro Football Focus: Below Average SB Nation: B+ Walter Football: A+ Below is what Pro Football Focus had to say about the Hobbs signing, a player who they projected to sign a one-year, $4 million contract: The Packers will hope they can find the rookie version of Nate Hobbs, who in 2021 earned a 79.2 PFF coverage grade, the best of his career. 2024 was the worst year of his career, as he allowed a catch on 68.1% of passes into his coverage while posting a career-low 6.4% forced incompletion percentage. He was also limited healthwise by an ankle injury, missing six of the Raiders’ final eight games. We already asked APC how they felt about the Banks and Hobbs deals individually. Ultimately, the grades came out in the B to B- range. For an extra data point, please answer how you feel about the Packers’ collective free agency.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images No, Green Bay isn’t expecting the cornerback to suit up for them again ESPN beat reporter Rob Demovsky wrote an article on Monday that detailed the Green Bay Packers’ free-agent signing of Nate Hobbs, which included a note that the team is treating him as an outside cornerback to pair opposite of Keisean Nixon. Later on in the article, though, Demovsky touched on the latest in the Jaire Alexander saga: While Alexander remains on the roster, the Packers are still trying to trade him, according to team sources and a source close to the player. They could wait indefinitely but most likely would prefer to get something done before next month’s draft. One source said the team has not approached Alexander about taking a pay cut and that even if it did, he would not be willing to do so. Without a trading partner, the Packers would likely release him, but there is no urgency to do so because he has no guaranteed money left on his deal until the start of the regular season, when he’s due $17.5 million. Many expected Alexander to be cut outright as a cap casualty near the start of the new league year. Instead, the Packers are squatting on Alexander’s contract as an asset, which they have the right to do, but if you’re reading between the lines here the news isn’t great. If someone wanted to trade for Alexander at the cost of $17.5 million in cash for 2025, they probably would have already done so. The fact that Alexander isn’t willing to take any pay cut, even after being on the market for weeks, means that he’s simply done playing for the Packers. If he’s cut, he almost certainly would sign for less cash this season, especially considering how much cap space league-wide has already been depleted through the first wave or two of free agency. He just doesn’t want to be in Green Bay anymore. So…where do the Packers go from here? I guess their plan is that they hope a team gets desperate post-draft. Could a team planning on addressing the cornerback position misjudge the draft and end up having a hole at the position in May? Sure! Could a contending team lose a veteran early in the summer with a significant injury and need to make a trade? Sure! Green Bay’s sort of painted themselves into a corner where they’re simply hoping a suitor that is not interested in an Alexander trade right now ends up developing down the stretch. Such is life when you have the rights to a two-time All-Pro cornerback whose contract you don’t want to pay out and he refuses to take a pay cut for you. What will get really interesting is if Alexander shows up to the Packers’ voluntary workout program, which generally kicks off a couple of weeks before the draft. Alexander has $700,000 in offseason workout bonuses, so he might want to bank that money before entering a depleted summer market as a free agent.