Packers To Be More Active In Free Agency

Perhaps the least active team in free agency for many years, the Packers made some notable moves last year. Despite the Jimmy Graham and Muhammad Wilkerson signings not producing what the team hoped, second-year GM Brian Gutekunst is not ready to revert to the organization’s old ways.

Gutekunst hopes to be active in free agency and said the Packers are ready to turn the page from the Ted Thompson years in terms of augmenting their team on the veteran market.

I’d like to be really active,” Gutekunst said during an appearance on the RapSheet and Friends podcast (Twitter link). “The draft is how we build our team, but our team is ready to move in the free agent areas more than we have.”

Green Bay holds $36MM-plus in cap space, which is a middle-of-the-pack number. But the franchise largely avoided non-street free agency during the years leading up to Thompson’s retirement. It appears the Packers will attempt to compete on this front come March.

Missing the playoffs for the second straight season — the first time this has occurred since the 2005-06 campaigns — the Packers in 2018 finished with a lower-echelon defensive performance, continuing a years-long trend. They have needs at their outside linebacker and safety positions, and potentially some of the team’s skill-position spots could be enhanced.

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