The Packers have taken care of most of their offseason business already, making enough salary cap room to keep the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Preston Smith. One of the last key pieces to their 2021 roster left unsigned is cornerback Rasul Douglas. 

According to ESPN Dianna Russini, both sides are hopeful a new deal can get done to keep him in Green Bay (Twitter link). She reports that “ongoing conversations continue on a potential extension”, though she adds that Douglas has received “multiple offers” from other teams in recent days.

The 27-year-old joined the Packers – his third NFL team – midseason. Brought in as a replacement for the injured Jaire Alexander, he exceeded any reasonable expectations the team had for him. In 12 games, he totalled 57 tackles and a team-leading five interceptions (two of which were returned for touchdowns). He also had the best season of his career in coverage, allowing a 44.5 opposing passer rating.

That led general manager Brian Gutekunst to publicly announce his desire to keep him, along with fellow unheralded defender De’Vondre Campbell. Douglas had earlier expressed his openness to returning. A new deal certainly wouldn’t come as a surprise, then, although the Packers have a tight budget and potential outside suitors to compete with.

Two names are at the center of the Packers’ offseason: Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. While it’s certainly understandable why that’s the case, there are several other big decisions the team needs to make regardless of what happens with that pair. Two such examples are pending free agents De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas. 

When speaking with the media, general manager Brian Gutekunst made it clear he wants both players back in Green Bay. Campbell signed with the Packers last June, reuniting him with head coach Matt Lafleur, dating back to their time together in Atlanta. The 28-year-old was brought in to provide a veteran presence in the absence of Chrsitian Kirksey, paving the way for a career year.

Campbell made 146 tackles, to go along with two sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions in 16 games this year. Those numbers earned him First-Team All-Pro honors for the first time in his six-year career. “The season he had, I’m so impressed with the person and the player, and he just made a world of difference for the defense”, Gutekunst said. He added that the team is “very optimistic and hopeful to get him back into the fold”.

As for Douglas, he may have found a home after five NFL stops in the past three years. Despite not joining the team until October (as a fill-in for the injured Jaire Alexander), he led the Packers in interceptions with five, two of which were returned for touchdowns. The 27-year-old also registered 57 total tackles, and put up career-best numbers in pass coverage, allowing only a 44.5 opposing passer rating.

Douglas has let it be known he is open to a new deal in Green Bay, something which the team is also amenable to. Gutekunst said, “to predict what he was able to do for us, I’d be lying to you if I thought he was going to come here… and impact our team the way he did”.

Both players have certainly earned raises over the figures they played on in 2021, which complicates Green Bay’s situation. Despite recent restructures with Kenny Clark and Aaron Jones, they are still well over the cap, and seemingly no closer to permanent deals with either Rodgers or Adams. If they are able to keep Campbell and Douglas, though, their defense would be well positioned to repeat its top-ten performance from 2021.

Cornerback Rasul Douglas was a revelation for the Packers in 2021. The West Virginia product was selected by the Eagles in the third round of the 2017 draft, but Philadelphia deemed him expendable at final cutdown time before the start of the 2020 season and placed him on waivers. He was claimed by the Panthers shortly thereafter and went on to start 11 games for Carolina in 2020.

However, he finished as a middle-of-the-road performer that year per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and he signed a one-year pact with the Raiders last April, only to be cut in August. Sensing that he might have a good opportunity with the rebuilding Texans, he signed with Houston one day after being released by Las Vegas, but he was cut again less than a week into his Texans tenure. He subsequently hooked on with the Cardinals’ taxi squad and was poached by the Packers in early October.

Douglas, 27, enjoyed a career year in Green Bay. In just 12 regular season games (nine starts), he picked off five passes, returning two for touchdowns. He had always shown solid ball skills, having averaged 8.5 passes defensed per year over his first four seasons in the league, but his ability to convert those PDs into picks in 2021 was a major asset to the Packers’ defense.

It stands to reason, then, that the club would want to bring Douglas back, and for his part, Douglas is certainly amenable to a return. When asked what it would take for him to re-sign with the Packers, Douglas said all the team would need to do is ask. On a follow-up question as to how much more money Green Bay would have to pay him above the prorated $990K veteran minimum he earned from the team in 2021, he replied “probably a little more. Nothing crazy” (Twitter link via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic).

Of course, even a modest raise will be difficult for the Packers to accommodate. The club is currently projected to be more than $45MM over the cap, and that’s before a presumptive franchise tag for WR Davante Adams. Green Bay has only three CBs under contract for 2022, and while two of those players — Eric Stokes and Jaire Alexander — are high-quality starters, retaining Douglas on something of a team-friendly deal would be especially helpful to a defense that could lose some pass rushing prowess (Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith) in the front seven.

Douglas’ market will be interesting to monitor. In addition to his counting stats, he allowed just a 45.3% completion rate in 2021, and opposing passers had a meager 49.6 QB rating when throwing in his direction, the third-best mark in the league. So there is plenty of reason to believe that his breakthrough 2021 campaign is sustainable, and assuming rival clubs feel that way, Douglas could be priced out of Green Bay’s range.