Packers Free Agent Re-sign or Let Go and Prediction Voting Results
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers have 14 of their own unrestricted free agents to make decisions on this offseason.
Their salary cap situation is again going to limit what they can do in free agency. The Packers have just over $24 million in available cap space, according to Over the Cap, but if the Aaron Rodgers trade takes place because of the increased dead cap hit, that figure drops to roughly $15.5 million. On top of that, there are other upcoming expenses, such as free agency and the draft class, that aren’t yet accounted for either.
To preview Green Bay’s 14 free agents, along with the decisions that come with either re-signing each player or letting them go, I brought back my ‘Re-Sign or Let Go & Predicion’ series. In these articles, I took a look at each individual player and discussed why the Packers would re-sign them and why they would let them go in free agency. I then made my prediction.
With each article, I ran a poll on Twitter to get a sense of what others would do. For the most part, the readers and I agreed on the predicted outcomes for each of the Packers’ 14 free agents. But there were two differences that I wanted to explore further.
Below you will find the list of players that the readers and I agreed on when it came to either the Packers re-signing them or letting them go, along with the percentage of votes that outcome received in parentheses. There is also a link attached to each player’s name so you can read the original article. After that, I took a closer look at the two players that the readers and I didn’t come to an agreement on.
Keisean Nixon – Re-sign (92%)
Allen Lazard – Let go (85%)
Dallin Leavitt – Re-sign (73%)
Eric Wilson – Re-sign (72%)
Marcedes Lewis – Let go (55%)
Mason Crosby – Let go (72%) — which may already be wrong, given Brian Gutekunst’s comments at the NFL Combine. Click here to read more.
Justin Hollins – Re-sign (64%)
Rudy Ford – Re-sign (84%)
Randall Cobb – Let go (89%)
Dean Lowry – Let go (90%)
Jarran Reed – Let go (51%)
Adrian Amos – Let go (76%)
Robert Tonyan
My prediction: Re-sign
Readers’ vote: Let go (66%)
There are two primary reasons that I predicted the Packers would re-sign Robert Tonyan. The first is that Green Bay needs a veteran presence at tight end. As of now, Josiah Deguara, an actual H-back, is the only tight end on the team with substantial NFL snaps, not to mention that very few rookie tight ends make a significant impact in their first season.
In what is a very talented tight end draft class, the Packers should absolutely draft a player or two – regardless of what happens in free agency – to provide some much-needed playmaking at the position–something that was severely lacking in 2022. But as this rookie(s) goes through any growing pains, Tonyan, who again caught over 80% of his targets this past season, can provide some stability at the position.
The second reason that I think Tonyan will return is that he is projected to come with an affordable contract. Spotrac projects that he will earn $5 million per year on his next contract, an amount that even Green Bay can absorb, especially if it’s a multi-year deal where the cap hit can be spread out. I guess an important third reason for my prediction is that Tonyan was also very candid after the season about wanting to return to Green Bay.
Corey Ballentine
My prediction: Re-sign
Readers’ vote: Let go (57%)
I’ll reiterate here what I wrote in the full article; I do not feel strongly either way about this prediction. However, Ballentine became a core member of the special teams unit during the second half of the season.
Ballentine played across multiple special teams units and finished sixth on the team in solo tackles, despite ranking 18th in total special teams snaps. He also plays a position on defense, cornerback, where the Packers need to find more proven depth, and while not a lot, Ballentine does have 422 career defensive snaps, according to PFF.
With Ballentine likely earning a league minimum contract, or close to it, the salary cap shouldn’t be much of a factor in this decision. Ultimately, it will come down to how Rich Bisaccia viewed him as a special teams player. If the stats that were mentioned reflect his importance, I believe he will return. If the Packers view Ballentine’s role as upgradeable, my guess is that’s what they try to do with another young player who has more upside.