PFF Predicts where Top Green Bay Packers 2021 Free Agents End Up
By Paul Bretl
Pro Football Focus ranked their top-50 free agents this offseason and predicted where they will end up. There were 3 connections to the Green Bay Packers on this list.
The NFL offseason is closer than we think, so recently, Pro Football Focus came out with their ranking of the top-50 free agents in 2021 and where they predict that they will sign. When it comes to the Green Bay Packers, there were three connections to them on this list.
The first being that two of their pending free agents made the top-50 list — I’m guessing you know which two I’m referring to — and Pro Football Focus would also predict that a top free agent from another team ends up in Green Bay.
With the salary cap dropping as much as $23 million in 2021 due to no fans in the stands — or very few — from COVID, it’s going to make things much more difficult for GM Brian Gutekunst and Executive VP/Director of Football Operations Russ Ball as they try to navigate free agency. However, that remains true for the rest of the NFL, not only the Packers.
This means we will likely see more veteran cuts to create cap space, more contract extensions and restructures, as well as some frugal spending habits to make it under the newly lowered salary cap. Regardless, difficult decisions will have to be made.
Now with that said, after the David Bakhtiari extension was completed, Gutey did mention that there might be some opportunities to land veteran players that wouldn’t normally be available but happen to be because of these unique circumstances. And with that, more team-friendly contracts may be in play as well since there isn’t the same amount of available money as there usually is.
So with all of that said, let’s take a look at how Pro Football Focus is predicting that the Green Bay Packers’ offseason will play out with some of their high-end talent and just who they might sign.
Corey Linsley signs with the Chargers
Of the Green Bay Packers remaining free agents, in a perfect world, if they could sign just one more, Corey Linsley would be at the top of my list. Before ending up on IR, he was putting together an All-Pro caliber season, allowing only one sack and two pressures in 379 pass-blocking snaps. He is also the fourth rated center by ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric and the second-best by their run-block win rate metric.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Pro Football Focus that Linsley will sign elsewhere. Even before the salary cap reduction, the Green Bay Packers were already going to have a difficult time retaining more than a few of their 2021 free agents. Add in the fact that they have several replacements already on the roster in Elgton Jenkins, Lucas Patrick, and rookie Jake Hanson, and the writing is on the wall.