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The unofficial start of NFL free agency is set for March 10. For Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, keeping the band together should be a stress-free ordeal.
Pro Football Network published its list of the top 100 free agents.
Who was missing?
The Packers.
The list is completely void of players from Green Bay, an obvious byproduct of Gutekunst’s woeful 2021 NFL Draft class. Gutekunst selected nine players. Only four remained on the roster this season with first-round cornerback Eric Stokes, second-round center Josh Myers, fifth-round defensive tackle T.J. Slaton and sixth-round linebacker Isaiah McDuffie.
Stokes started seven games this season but played five snaps in Week 18 against Chicago and one snap in the playoff loss against Philadelphia. He went three consecutive seasons without so much as a pass breakup. Fellow Georgia cornerback Tyson Campbell, who was taken at the top off the second round, has 54 career starts.
Myers played through injuries to start 16 games during the regular season – a total of 1,008 snaps – as well as the playoff loss to the Eagles. Myers was the first center selected. Taken one pick later, the Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey was first-team All-Pro this season.
“He really does embody kind of a Green Bay Packer and what we’re looking for and how they’re wired,” Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “I thought he had a really good year, fought through some things.
“Got out of that [playoff] game at the end there where we really thought that might be something more than it is. I think he’s going to be good. We think that’s going to be something, maybe avoided a potentially tough injury. I look back at that one, and I’m really glad we’ve had him for the last four years.”
Slaton started all 17 games for a second consecutive season and was a big reason why the Packers’ fielded one of the NFL’s best run defenses. His average tackle limited the gain to 1.9 yards.
“He’s a really good run defender,” coach Matt LaFleur said before the playoff game. “He’s not only that, he’s a big body and we don’t have anybody of his stature on our roster, so he is obviously a big piece to what we do defensively.”
McDuffie started all 17 games and set career highs with 97 tackles and three passes defensed.
The Packers’ other free agents include linebacker Eric Wilson and kicker Brandon McManus.
“Yeah, I’d like all these guys back,” Gutekunst said. “I wish our roster was 150 and we could just go from there.”
The depth of the free-agent class exists at offensive tackle, which includes eight of PFN’s top 40. The Packers are set at tackle with Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom, unless they decide to move Tom to center.
There are five cornerbacks in the top 40, including the Jets’ D.J. Reed, the Lions’ Carlton Davis and the Saints’ Paulson Adebo.
The Packers could use some help on the defensive line. There are five edge rushers, led by the Eagles’ Josh Sweat and the Chargers’ Khalil Mack, and four defensive tackles, including former Packers player Jarran Reed.
The Packers will have money to spend but, overall, this is not a great class of free agents.
“I think I view every offseason that we have to attack it aggressively,” Gutekunst said. “The opportunities that present themselves, whether that be free agency or trade, are different every year. Every year there’s not going to be a Josh Jacobs or a Xavier McKinney out there to go get.”
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