Green Bay Packers Free Agent Targets: IDL Jurrell Casey

Rather than wondering who the Green Bay Packers could acquire in free agency, many are wondering what moves they are going to make to get under the salary cap–and understandably so. With the salary cap shrinking, the Packers are projected to be $11.4 million over the salary cap at the moment.

However, while there is work to be done, that doesn’t mean that Green Bay can’t dabble in free agency. The top-flight players are still going to be paid, but many veterans are likely going to be squeezed into shorter and cheaper deals than what they would typically command during a normal offseason. This could create the opportunity for the Packers to make an addition or two–even if that may seem unlikely at this time.

If this is in fact the case, then one player who should certainly be on the Green Bay Packers’ radar is the recently released Jurrell Casey.

After not addressing the interior defensive line position in 2019, Green Bay is still in need of getting Kenny Clark some help. Not to mention that this is a thin group, with Clark, Dean Lowry, and Kingsley Keke as the only players on the active roster, along with Anthony Rush and Willington Previlon signed to futures deals.

When it comes to the draft, this is a bad year to need an interior defensive lineman. Many draft analysts are calling this year’s crop of defensive linemen one of, if not the worst position group in this draft class. So waiting until draft night to address the need is quite risky–which is why bringing in a veteran like Casey, who can help right away, makes a lot of sense.

Casey is a former third-round pick by the Tennesee Titans back in 2011, where he played through the 2019 season and was a five-time Pro Bowler. He spent this past year in Denver but appeared in only three games before suffering a season-ending bicep injury. Yet, in that small sample size, he was still effective, finishing with an overall grade from Pro Football Focus ($) of 74.4, which ranked 30th out of all interior defensive linemen.

Going back to 2013, Casey has recorded at least 42 pressures every season, with a high of 64 in 2017. He also has at least five sacks each year over that same span. For some context, no Green Bay Packers’ interior defensive lineman — other than Clark, of course — has hit that level of production, or even been close, in recent seasons.

Additionally, not only has he put up consistent numbers as a pass-rusher, but Casey has been effective against the run as well. PFF uses a metric called run-stop percentage, measuring the rate at which a player records a run-stop–or a play that constitutes a “loss” for the offense, such as picking up only two yards on third and three.

From 2014 to 2018, Casey finished top-15 in this category among all interior defensive linemen in four of those five seasons, including a career-best of third in 2017. Whether it’s against the run or the pass, any additional attention that Casey can draw and take away from Clark is going to be a welcomed sight here in Green Bay.

Before being released, Casey had just finished up Year 2 of a four-year $60.4 million deal that he had signed with Tennessee. As far as what he will command on the open market this offseason, well, that’s difficult to gauge at this point given the financial environment that we find ourselves in.

With that said, he’s coming off an injury, and at 31-years-old, he isn’t going to command anything near $15 million per year. And he could very well be one of those veterans that I referred to above who could be squeezed into a shorter and cheaper deal.

It’s also worth mentioning that new Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator Joe Barry is expected to run a defensive system similar to that of Vic Fangio’s–the head coach of the Denver Broncos where Casey spent the 2020 season. That’s not everything by any means, but it is something.

Although we never truly know how a player entering his 11th NFL season is going to respond after a season-ending injury, we do know that Casey would compete right away for playing time with Lowry and Keke. And perhaps a three-man rotation among those players alongside Clark would benefit everyone involved and provide the Green Bay Packers interior defensive line unit with a much-needed boost.