Green Bay Packers: Re-prioritizing Remaining 2021 Free Agents

If the Green Bay Packers are able to squeeze in one more 2021 free agent signing, here is how they should prioritize those four remaining players.

Even before the 2020 season began, there was already ample focus on the Green Bay Packers’ 2021 offseason. They, of course, had six high-profile players who were all entering the final year of their current deals in 2020. This group included Kenny Clark, David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Kevin King, Jamaal Williams, and Corey Linsley.

Since then, the Green Bay Packers have locked up the two most important players of this group; that being Clark and Bakhtiari. However, a few questions remain. Are there other extensions on the horizon? Will Green Bay try to re-sign one or two of these players once free agency begins in March? Or, given salary cap constraints, will they let them all walk?

Based on some recent comments from GM Brian Gutekunst after the Bakhtiari extension was completed, I wrote an article explaining why I don’t believe that we will see any more extensions this season. With that said, I’m also not fully ready to rule out that any of these remaining players won’t be brought back either. It just might not happen until Gutey and company get the opportunity to see how free agency plays out.

Now, realistically, not all of them will be brought back. In fact, there’s the strong possibility that they all end up on new teams, or at best, just one of them is re-signed. So of the remaining four players that are in the final year of their current contracts with the Packers — Linsley, King, Williams, and Jones — how would you prioritize handing out new contracts?

Based on several factors, most notably their level of play, cost, and positional value, I’ve put together my rankings from No. 4 to No. 1 in terms of how I believe the Green Bay Packers should prioritize these remaining free agents. That is if they decide to bring any of them back.

4. Jamaal Williams

After an offseason of intense workouts, Jamaal Williams has been noticeably more explosive this season. It’s showing up on the film, as well as in his production, and when Aaron Jones missed time with a calf injury, Williams filled in as RB1 very well. On the season, he has 336 rushing yards, which puts him on pace to get close to his career-high of 556 yards. While through the air, his 212 receiving yards ranks as the 17th most among all running backs, and he’s just 50 yards shy of his career-best.

However, the reason that I have Williams at No. 4 is because he plays the most replaceable position of the group, and he’s not even the best available pending free agent at the running back position; that belongs to Jones. Now having said that, if Jones ends up elsewhere, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Williams back. But in terms of prioritizing these upcoming free agents, if we are under the impression that the Green Bay Packers can at the most sign just one of these four players, then Williams is priority No. 4.