A year ago, a pair of Packers cornerbacks – Tramon Williams and Davon House – reached the open market and signed with new teams, and it appears another Green Bay corner could explore his options in free agency this time around. As Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com details, Casey Hayward has hired a new agent, David Mulugheta, and isn’t sure whether he’ll get a new deal done with the Packers within the next few weeks.
“They normally wait til closer to the deadline [to negotiate],” Hayward told Demovsky this week in a text message. “But we shall see. I’ll probably hit the market.”
As Demovsky observes, the Packers typically prefer to re-sign their own homegrown players rather than bringing in outside free agents, but it appears the team is deep enough in the secondary to allow Hayward to gauge his value. If the 26-year-old finds that he has fewer suitors than expected, or doesn’t get an offer he likes, he could re-sign with the Packers even after becoming a free agent.
Here’s more from out of the NFL’s North divisions:
- Defensive back Sherrick McManis doesn’t play much on defense, but he’s extremely valuable on special teams, so the Bears ought to consider re-signing him this offseason, writes Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com.
- Even if the Browns didn’t lie about Johnny Manziel‘s concussion diagnosis during the final week of the regular season, the team has played a part in enabling the former Texas A&M quarterback since drafting him two years ago, says Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com.
- Under previous general manager Martin Mayhew, the Lions often made their veteran cuts shortly after the Super Bowl, but new GM Bob Quinn may be a little more patient when it comes to making decisions on potential cap casualties like Stephen Tulloch, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.