Packers Won’t Tender Davis as Restricted Free Agent

The Green Bay Packers are not tendering restricted free agent Tyler Davis, but the tight end is expected back in 2023.

By not tendering Davis, he officially will become an unrestricted free agent at 3 p.m. Wednesday. But with the uncertainty at tight end given the statuses of Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis, Davis will stick around and contend for a major role next season.

Playing all 17 games in 2022, Davis caught 4-of-7 passes for 26 yards. Most of those yards came on a 23-yarder at Tampa Bay. Plus, he was fourth on the team with 10 stops on special teams.

The Packers had high hopes for Davis last offseason, when Tonyan was out following the ACL tear that ended his 2021 season.

Davis and Tonyan followed similar paths. Both players started their college careers as quarterbacks. Entering the 2016 season, Connecticut coaches wanted to get Davis on the field. So, they pitched a position change.

“I played quarterback basically my whole life,” Davis said in May. “We had a solidified starting quarterback and the head coach came up to me at the time and said, ‘Tyler, you can’t hold a clipboard on the sidelines. You’re too athletic. We need you somewhere.’ He said outside linebacker and I kind of was like, ‘Oof.’ I was like, ‘Oh, let me think about that one.’ He said, ‘How does tight end sound?’ I said, ‘It sounds good’ and it went from there.”

Davis was a sixth-round pick by Jacksonville in 2021. Green Bay grabbed him off Indianapolis’ practice squad early that season. When Tonyan went down, Davis averaged about 20 snaps per game on offense down the stretch.

With Tonyan returning to play all 17 games in 2022, Davis averaged about 10 plays per game on offense but led the special teams in snaps.

Davis is one of three restricted free agents, with offensive tackle Yosh Nijman and linebacker Krys Barnes being the others.

Nijman started 13 games last season – the first two at left tackle and the final 11 at right tackle. With David Bakhtiari back to man left tackle, Nijman figures to open the offseason as the team’s starter on the right side.

He will be tendered by the Wednesday deadline; it’s just a matter of the level.

The first-round tender is a guaranteed salary of $6.005 million. If Nijman were to leave for another team, the Packers would get a first-round pick as compensation. That tender surely would scare away all suitors.

The second-round tender is a guaranteed $4.304 million. If Nijman were to join another team, the Packers would be given a second-round pick. A tackle-needy team might be tempted to sign Nijman to a contract. As a tendered free agent, the Packers could keep him by matching that offer.

The minimum tender is $2.627 million. In that case, the Packers would not be given any compensation because Nijman entered the league as an undrafted free agent.

Barnes, who started in 2020 and 2021 but was replaced by first-round pick Quay Walker in 2022, probably will not be tendered, either. He played 141 snaps on defense and led the team in tackles per snap.

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