Packers Offseason/Free Agency Thread

[Teamcheez1]

Loved Aaron Jones. Good Packer, played well when healthy.
Not his fault he signed a large contract that he most likely couldn’t earn which was evident last year. Not our fault for cutting him.

He is simply not worth north of $10M+ this upcoming year.

[Joemailman]

Packers sign Xavier McKinney to 4 year, 68M contract. No word yet on guaranteed money.

[Frozen Tundra]

Loved Aaron Jones. Good Packer, played well when healthy.
Not his fault he signed a large contract that he most likely couldn’t earn which was evident last year. Not our fault for cutting him.

He is simply not worth north of $10M+ this upcoming year.

And I have to give Gutekunst a lot of respect for having the balls to pull the plug.

Watch out, NFL. Packers are serious this year.

[King Friday]

Jacobs will need to be close to the 2022 Jacobs for this move to pan out now. Interesting to see what contending team is willing to pay Jones a lot of cash. Can’t see him playing for the Panthers.

[Teamcheez1]

I’m certain we’ll be drafting one or more RB’s. Packers want at least one veteran at the position. Makes sense.

[pittstang5]

I’m certain we’ll be drafting one or more RB’s. Packers want at least one veteran at the position. Makes sense.

I agree and I'm thinking it's a high pick - Round 2 or 3.

[Frozen Tundra]

Remember a couple of months ago, when Hafley was asked to describe what kind of safety he most wanted?

"I want a guy who can erase things—we've got to eliminate explosive plays when we play this defense," said Hafley. "If a run hits up the middle, this guy has got to come out of the middle of the field with his hair on fire and has got to be able to get a guy down."

"I think that position has to be a guy with high ball production, meaning he's got be able to intercept the ball."

Apparently Daddy Gutekunst heard you, coach.

[run pMc]

RBs are not a dime a dozen, especially in the Shanahan offense. The Packers are in win now mode, and putting all your eggs in an unproven rookie behind Jones, who is incredibly fragile, would be a huge risk.

Disagree. Both Shanahans have been able to do just fine with who dats at RB. Olandis Gary, Terrell Davis, Gary Anderson, Philip Linsley, etc. in Denver. At SF - Elijah Mitchell has been fine for them. Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, etc have done fine in SF. McCaffrey takes their offense to a different level, but he'd do that anywhere. Not saying the RB doesn't matter, but if they are a fit for the offense they will do fine without being a star.

I'd also say they aren't in win-now mode - their window really opens in 2025. Winning last season speeds up the expectations, but they still have cap hits to unwind and they have a LOT of young players. This isn't like the 2021-22 run it back teams...those were Win-Now because they had a lot of older guys and pushed contract money out.

[run pMc]

Lets all weep for poor old Aaron Jones and his $34,688,273 that he has collected from the Green Bay Packers.......

I don't weep, certainly not for this reason. He was a class act and a dynamic player for the team. Also a role model for those young players on offense. That has value and will be missed.

I don't think swapping Jacobs for Jones is that great of a trade off. Here's hoping Jacobs can rediscover his 2022 magic. He's had more carries in less pro seasons than Jones, and this last year didn't look good. Hard to tell with the Raiders because the McDaniels/QB situation was bad.
Not a big fan of signing a RB in FA, especially one with wear and tear coming off a down year to a $48M deal.

[sharpe1027]

Packers sign Xavier McKinney to 4 year, 68M contract. No word yet on guaranteed money.

Wow. They have invested a lot in this defense from both free agency and draft picks.

[run pMc]

Apparently the Jacobs deal has $12M guaranteed, so I bet it's really more like a 2 year deal.

[Teamcheez1]

Disagree. Both Shanahans have been able to do just fine with who dats at RB. Olandis Gary, Terrell Davis, Gary Anderson, Philip Linsley, etc. in Denver. At SF - Elijah Mitchell has been fine for them. Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, etc have done fine in SF. McCaffrey takes their offense to a different level, but he'd do that anywhere. Not saying the RB doesn't matter, but if they are a fit for the offense they will do fine without being a star.

I'd also say they aren't in win-now mode - their window really opens in 2025. Winning last season speeds up the expectations, but they still have cap hits to unwind and they have a LOT of young players. This isn't like the 2021-22 run it back teams...those were Win-Now because they had a lot of older guys and pushed contract money out.

Those were not just run-of-the-mill RB’s in their prime. TD is in the Hall of Fame.

[sharpe1027]

I'm good with the Jones-Jacobs move if only because we can't be sure we have a quality backup. Jones has needed to split carries so we need a solid #2. Jacobs is used to taking all the carries.

[Fosco33]

Kinda interesting as Jacobs is a few years younger but basically got the same deal Jones signed 3 years ago.

For Jacob’s it’s 1 year and then 3 packers option years. So more optionality than signing AJ to a big extension or just keeping him for year.

Interesting - Jones saved our ass at the end of the year and was a good packer.

[Sparkey]

Kinda interesting as Jacobs is a few years younger but basically got the same deal Jones signed 3 years ago.

For Jacob’s it’s 1 year and then 3 packers option years. So more optionality than signing AJ to a big extension or just keeping him for year.

Interesting - Jones saved our ass at the end of the year and was a good packer.

Jones is a dynamic, natural runner. Hope he finds a team to give him one more big payday, but I would guess a shorter deal averaging 4 million with some incentives is the best he will do. Really hard to ignore his age and how history treats rb's at that age.