Tier 3: Better Name than Game
These are solid players, but whose name recognition is higher than their game at this point in their careers. Still, they're worth exploring as backup options for the Packers.
Amari Cooper, DJ Reed, Charvarious Ward, Asante Samuel Jr.
Let's start with the wideouts, where free agency’s a snooze-fest after Higgins got tagged. You’ve got Chris Godwin, Amari Cooper, Stefon Diggs, and DeAndre Hopkins -slim pickings- as the top receivers available.
Godwin’s a dice roll, but Cooper’s the safer bet. At 31, he’s not the 1,000-yard beast of 2019-2023 anymore, but there’s juice in those legs.
A short-term deal with prove-it escalators—say, a one-year “show me” pact—could slot him into Green Bay’s WR room without breaking the bank. Just don’t pay for the 2018 version; that guy’s not walking through the Lambeau tunnel.
Then, the corners: DJ Reed, Charvarius Ward, Asante Samuel Jr.—big names, shaky vibes.
Free agency’s deep at cornerback, but it’s light on game-changers. Reed’s slowing down like a golf cart with a flat tire. Ward’s coming off a 2024 stinker that’d make Packers fans boo louder than a Bears touchdown. And Samuel is small and injury-prone.
They’re overhyped, sure, but Jaire Alexander’s future’s cloudier than a Wisconsin snowstorm, and with Eric Stokes, Robert Rochell, and Corey Ballentine all hitting free agency, the cornerback room’s a ghost town.
If the Packers want to add depth to their cornerback room outside of the draft, and they should, they may have to take a risky flyer on a cornerback from this tier.
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