Green Bay Packers: The Current State of the Roster

Although the Green Bay Packers haven’t made many moves in free agency, let’s take a look at the state of the roster and how these changes affect them moving forward.

The NFL’s free agency period is more than a week old at this point, and for the Green Bay Packers, compared to many teams they’ve been fairly quiet. With their four big free agent signings from last offseason coupled with a number of key players being free agents after the 2020 season, as GM Brian Gutekunst told us a few weeks ago, they just aren’t going to be as active this time around.

However, that doesn’t mean that the overall makeup of their roster hasn’t changed. Coming into free agency the Packers had 21 of their own free agents and so far they’ve decided to re-sign a few. On top of that, they’ve made a few additions from the outside as well.

So with the roster now looking a bit different, let’s take a look at what has changed and how these moves affect the Green Bay Packers moving forward.

New Additions

LB Chrisitan Kirksey: 2 year – $13 million deal

OT Rick Wagner: 2 year – $11 million deal

WR Devin Funchess: Contract unknown at this point

Unrestricted Free Agents Re-Signed

TE Marcedes Lewis: 1 year – $2.25 million deal

S Will Redmond: Contract unknown at this point

K Mason Crosby: 3 years – $12.9 million deal

RB/KR Tyler Ervin: Contract unknown at this point

Exclusive Rights Free Agents Re-Signed

Allen Lazard

Jake Kumerow

Robert Tonyan

Chandon Sullivan

Tyler Lancaster

Free Agents that Signed Elsewhere

Blake Martinez – New York Giants

Kyler Fackrell – New York Giants

Bryan Bulaga – L.A. Chargers

Jimmy Graham – Chicago Bears

B.J. Goodson – Cleveland Browns

Danny Vitale – New England Patriots

Remaining Free Agents

Tramon Williams – Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA)

Geronimo Allison – UFA

Ibraheim Campbell – UFA

Ryan Grant – UFA

Jason Spriggs – UFA

Jared Veldheer – UFA

Malcolm Johnson – Restricted Free Agent

Current Roster

QB: Aaron Rodgers, Tim Boyle, Manny Wilkins

RB: Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, Dexter Williams, Tyler Ervin, Damarea Crockett

FB: Elijah Wellman

WR: Davante Adams, Reggie Begelton, Jake Kumerow, Allen Lazard, Darrius Shepherd, Equanimeous St. Brown, Malik Taylor, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Devin Funchess

TE: Marcedes Lewis, Evan Baylis, Jace Sternberger, Robert Tonyan, James Looney

OT: David Bakhtiari, Cody Conway, Yosh Nijman, Rick Wagner, Alex Light, Billy Turner

G: Elgton Jenkins, Cole Madison, Lane Taylor, John Leglue

C: Corey Linsley, Lucas Patrick

DT: Montravius Adams, Kenny Clark, Kingsley Keke, Tyler Lancaster, Dean Lowry

EDGE: Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Tim Williams, Greg Roberts, Randy Ramsey

LB: Ty Summers, Christian Kirksey, Curtis Bolton, Oren Burks

CB: Jaire Alexander, DeShaun Amos, Kabion Ento, Ka’dar Hollman, Josh Jackson, Kevin King, Chandon Sullivan

S: Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage, Raven Greene, Will Redmond

Specialists: Mason Crosby, J.K. Scott, Hunter Bradley

Have the Packers Improved?

Obviously it’s difficult to say with any sort of certainty at this point but on paper, I think most would agree the answer is no.

While it just didn’t make sense to keep Blake Martinez and pay him the $10 million per year he received in New York, the Packers replaced him with Christian Kirksey who has played in just nine games the past two seasons combined. With that said, if we see the Kirksey of 2016 and 2017, his contract will look like a steal.

Meanwhile at tackle, it’s clear that Wagner is a downgrade from Bulaga but the question is, how much? Bulaga is coming off of an excellent 2019 season, but at 31 years old and with an injury history, the Packers were reluctant to pay him what Los Angeles did. On the flip side, there is Wagner who appeared in only 12 games in 2019 and when he was on the field, he had his struggles. Like Kirksey, Green Bay is hoping that Wagner can find his old form but that remains to be seen.

Then there is the most recent signing of Devin Funchess, who has proven that he can be productive in the NFL but he is coming off a season where he appeared in just one game before suffering an injury and drops have plagued him throughout his career. Not to mention that athletically he doesn’t meet the typical thresholds that we see Gutekunst go after.

As I mentioned previously, the Green Bay Packers just don’t have the same spending power that they did a year ago. So instead they have been bargain shopping and landed three players that have high upside, but they also come with relatively low risk because if the Packers do need to get out of any of the contracts after the 2020 season, they are able to do so.

But it’s this uncertainty surrounding these new additions that makes me say at this point that the Packers have not improved.

How do these moves affect the draft?

Honestly, they don’t. Prior to free agency, linebacker, tackle, receiver, among other positions, were considered the major needs for this team and even with their new additions, that’s still true.

Kirksey and Wagner are only signed to two-year deals and as I alluded to, the Packers face minimal dead cap hits after 2020 if they need to move on from either player. Meaning, both Kirksey and Wagner are short-term solutions.

And the same thing goes for Funchess. While we hope in Green Bay that he can put up numbers like he did during the 2017 season with Carolina, ultimately, the Packers still need more speed and playmaking ability at the receiver position.

So having said all of that, how the Packers approach the draft should remain the same. Linebacker, receiver, and tackle are all still positions of priority.

All info courtesy of Packers.com and Spotrac