Green Bay Packers: 5 Burning Questions about the Offeason Ahead

As we begin to dive deeper into the Green Bay Packers’ offseason, these are five burning questions about what lies ahead for them.

Before every regular season game in 2019 for the Green Bay Packers, I would come out with my burning questions about their upcoming opponent and the matchup at hand. And even though there sadly won’t be any games played in the near future, I thought we could keep these questions rolling as we take a look ahead to the offseason.

Green Bay took a huge step forward from 2018 to 2019 but as we all saw in the NFC Championship game, there is still a little ways to go. So hopefully this will be another busy offseason for GM Brian Gutekunst and Company.

However, before we get to free agency and the draft, with the offseason still very new, these are my five burning questions about what lies ahead for the Green Bay Packers.

When will they extend Kenny Clark?

This upcoming 2020 season will be the final year of Kenny Clark’s rookie deal before he hits free agency roughly a year from now. But for the Green Bay Packers, they’d be very wise to get this deal done sooner rather than later.

Clark has emerged as one of the top interior defensive linemen in the league and we all know what an integral part he plays in this defense, both as a pass-rusher and a run-stopper. He’s constantly makes plays in the backfield and he takes on double-teams that help free-up his teammates.

The good news is that in Gutekunst’s latest press conference, he mentioned that getting this extension done was at the top of the to-do list this offseason. Let’s just hope it’s taken care of before OTAs and Training Camp begins. There’s no need for any sort of holdout to take place.

Will Crosby and Bulaga be back?

Green Bay has over 20 of their own free agents to tend to this offseason, but of their unrestricted free agents, Bryan Bulaga and Mason Crosby are the two that I put into the ‘must re-sign’ category.

Bulaga has had his fair share of run-ins with injuries over his career but when he’s on the field he’s been one of the best right tackles in the game. Not to mention that he’s coming off of an excellent 2019 season and also started all 16 games while playing in over 83 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps.

Then we have Crosby who put together an underrated bounce-back season. It only takes a brief look around the NFL to notice that finding a reliable kicker isn’t easy, and the Green Bay Packers have one. So bring him back.

My guess is that Gutekunst and the Packers would love to have both players back, but on the open market with money and contract years being thrown around, I’ll be curious to see if these two, in particular, are back in the green and gold in 2020.

Will they make some noise in free agency again?

After years of little free agent action, in Gutekunst’s second season as GM we saw him make four splash signings in 2019. While I don’t expect four high-profile players to be brought in this Spring, one or even two shouldn’t be ruled out.

I mentioned above that the Packers still have work to do if they want to be true Super Bowl contenders and addressing the wide receiver, inside linebacker, and interior defensive line positions via free agency should be on the table for them. And frankly, I hope that’s what we see for one or two of those aforementioned positions.

Which positions will be addressed early in the draft?

Now, part of this answer is dependent on what needs are taken care of in free agency but the Green Bay Packers have a number of positions that they could address within the first three rounds.

For one, this is one of the best receiver classes that we’ve seen in years, so I’d expect at least one taken in the first three rounds. On the flip side, it’s not a very deep inside linebacker class, so if Kenneth Murray or Patrick Queen become available, both are viable options as well.

This also isn’t a bad draft to take a tight end, Kenny Clark needs help on the interior defensive line, and even taking a tackle to groom as an eventual starter makes a lot of sense. As you can see, there are a number of directions Green Bay could go, but one thing I know is that they’ll need a draft pick or two to hit like they did with Darnell Savage and Elgton Jenkins.

Will they draft a QB early?

This is a big question that I’m sure is on the minds of many. Over the last few seasons while there have still been plenty of throws from Aaron Rodgers that make you say ‘wow’ – there have also been a number that make you scratch your head and overall his play has been quite average. So with Rodgers on the back-nine of his career, will they draft a quarterback early on?

My two cents is that they will not go into this draft with the goal of drafting a quarterback in rounds one or two. But if a particular prospect falls to them – much like Rodgers did when they had Brett Favre – he could be difficult to pass up.

However with that said, in Gutey’s final press conference, it didn’t sound like addressing the quarterback position was high up on the to-do list. And even if they do, given the structure of Rodgers’ contract, he isn’t going anywhere for at least three more seasons because the dead cap hit would be devastating.