3 Free Agents Who Can Still Help the Green Bay Packers
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers Free Agent Target: Trent Murphy
The name of the game in football is getting after the quarterback, something that the Green Bay Packers defense has done fairly well this season. However, once again, due to injuries, they find themselves a bit thin at the edge rusher position.
We still don’t know when — or if — Za’Darius Smith will be back, Rashan Gary is banged up with an elbow injury, although he should return sooner than later, Jonathan Garvin is on the reserve/COVID list, and Whitney Mercilus was placed on season-ending IR.
The duo fo Gary and Preston Smith is still certainly a formidable one while Jonathan Garvin and Tipa Galeai have potential, but Green Bay is lacking experienced depth. And if this is something they’re looking to remedy, free agent Trent Murphy could provide some help.
As a former second-round pick by Washington in 2014, Murphy never quite lived up to his draft stock, but he’s been a solid player over his career.
His best season came in 2016, when he recorded 10 sacks and 55 pressures. As recently as 2019, he posted seven sacks and 42 pressures with Buffalo—although his production really fell off a cliff in 2020. Murphy has also been fairly stout as a run defender over his career as well.
Again, just like the other two options on this list, Murphy isn’t going to be a game-changer. But he provides experience and depth at a key position and could find some success in a limited role—after all, we saw it work for Whitney Mercilus prior to his injury.