3 free agents the Packers should happily let leave in 2023
By Josh Wilson
The offseason is here for the Green Bay Packers, and they should already be teeing up decisions to not bring these free agents back.
The Green Bay Packers are in bad shape financially for 2023, $16.48 million above the cap going into the offseason, the seventh-worst in the league. That reality defines the way in which Green Bay will move forward and make decisions this offseason.
While the team can feasibly restructure some contracts to get themselves in a much better situation, it looks and feels like next year’s Packers will be a lot different than the Packers of recent years.
Aaron Rodgers has hinted at a breakup with the team that might not even be his choice (Rodgers is not a free agent, remember, he would need to be traded or retire to not be a Packer next season). That decision alone would signal the Packers are moving toward a rebuild and looking toward the future. If that’s the case, the team can’t do a ton of restructuring with contracts since it will only move financial concerns into future years when the Packers will desperately need cap space to build its new team.
They’re projected for tons of space in 2024 and should aim to keep it that way, not move tons of money to later years, kicking the proverbial can down the road.
This year, there are some re-signings the team needs to make. Free agent Yosh Nijman is young and clearly a necessary piece of protection for whoever is throwing the ball for the Packers moving forward, for instance.
Better to save some money by saying “no thanks, move along” in the right places for the sake of those signings as well as the team’s future.