Official 2026 Free Agency/Offseason/Non-Draft Thread

[Tony Oday]

Diggs was never going to be kept around on his old deal, he knew that, the Pack know that, I bet he signs with the Pack.

[Vincenzo]

The whole division will have issues to deal with. As things stand right now, at start of 2026 league year, the Packers will have $10 million cap space, the Lions $6 million, the Bears $1 million and the Vikings will be $37 million over. https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space

Wow to this.
At we aren’t the worst - however we don’t have a 1st round pick, Joe.

[pbmax]

From Cheesehead TV: https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/is-cor...igger-need-310

According to the team’s draft and development philosophy, the next man up for the team should have been Eric Stokes, who the team used a first round draft pick on in 2021. After a solid rookie year, Stokes struggled with injuries and coverage skills until he was allowed to walk in free agency a year ago. He landed in Las Vegas and had a…very good year. Which isn’t frustrating at all. Nope.

Is this true? And if yes, who can we blame?

[Joemailman]

From Cheesehead TV: https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/is-cor...igger-need-310



Is this true? And if yes, who can we blame?

Stokes started every game for the woeful Raiders and had his best season since his rookie year. But not quite as good as his rookie year. I blame Joe Barry.

[bobblehead]

Diggs was never going to be kept around on his old deal, he knew that, the Pack know that, I bet he signs with the Pack.

2 ways to view it. They cut him because they don't see him in long term plans (my bet....he is a gambler who doesn't like contact). Or they cut him as a show of good faith to let him have control over is future while they negotiate with him (doubtful....why do that. You paid him $500k for the right to renegotiate his deal).

[bobblehead]

Wow to this.
At we aren’t the worst - however we don’t have a 1st round pick, Joe.

I also think we are losing the most players. Not any knowledge I have, but we are going to lose a fair number of contributors.

[bobblehead]

From Cheesehead TV: https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/is-cor...igger-need-310



Is this true? And if yes, who can we blame?

Its undeniable that Stokes best year with us was year 1....every year of coaching he got he regressed. I liked the pick after digging in a bit and realizing he had a lot of success in college against top ranked competition. Was the regression due to scheme? Coaching? Lack of desire on his part? Hard to say.

[bobblehead]

If we can either draft the best center in college OR sign a legit NFL center could that fix the entire OL? Can Morgan slide back to LT and be effective? Can Banks be healthy and play like he flashed at times late? Will an offseason and camp working at RG have Belton playing effectively? A lot of question marks, but with some luck (OK, a lot of luck) our OL could be respectable next year. But it revolves around fixing the center problem. Any chance Jenkins takes a pay cut and comes back? I think he can play C, but he needed more than a single camp to get up to snuff. Now he has a camp and several games and potentially a second camp. That could be enough.

But mainly they really have to cut with the idea that you can just move guys all over because they have a tweener body type. That's about as stupid as thinking a RB who runs a 4.3 can find the running lane because you coached him up.

[Joemailman]

If we can either draft the best center in college OR sign a legit NFL center could that fix the entire OL? Can Morgan slide back to LT and be effective? Can Banks be healthy and play like he flashed at times late? Will an offseason and camp working at RG have Belton playing effectively? A lot of question marks, but with some luck (OK, a lot of luck) our OL could be respectable next year. But it revolves around fixing the center problem. Any chance Jenkins takes a pay cut and comes back? I think he can play C, but he needed more than a single camp to get up to snuff. Now he has a camp and several games and potentially a second camp. That could be enough.

But mainly they really have to cut with the idea that you can just move guys all over because they have a tweener body type. That's about as stupid as thinking a RB who runs a 4.3 can find the running lane because you coached him up.

I don't think Jenkins ever wanted to move to Center, and I don't think there's any way he takes a pay cut from the Packers.

Monk is the big question here. Looked pretty good as a rookie in training camp and preseason in 2024. Was a big disappointment last summer. But started last game of year against Vikings starters and played really well. PFF gave him 2nd best offensive score.

[pbmax]

I don't think Jenkins ever wanted to move to Center, and I don't think there's any way he takes a pay cut from the Packers.

Monk is the big question here. Looked pretty good as a rookie in training camp and preseason in 2024. Was a big disappointment last summer. But started last game of year against Vikings starters and played really well. PFF gave him 2nd best offensive score.

I posted a while back that Tauscher and Bulaga were talking on the radio about Jenkins wanting to move to center last year. Tauscher, not normally a gossip, all but said it was Jenkins who was talking to him. Which would only make sense if he saw it as inevitable and wanted a year to adjust and a year to excel for another deal. But that's not often the case you get public acknowledgement of thinking that far ahead and also presupposing a teammate would be supplanted.

[Patler]

I don't think Jenkins ever wanted to move to Center, and I don't think there's any way he takes a pay cut from the Packers.

I wondered about that when they shuffled the line last summer, but then I read or heard a comment from someone (Tauscher?) who seemed to have had a personal connection and had talked to Jenkins. Whoever it was said Jenkins was actually excited about the move to center at this point in his career. He liked playing center, and all he wanted was an extension so he could plan on finishing his career in GB. He recognized it would involve a reduced salary and could accept that because he did not want to start over somewhere else. He wanted about three years added on to his existing contract.

[bobblehead]

I don't think Jenkins ever wanted to move to Center, and I don't think there's any way he takes a pay cut from the Packers.

Monk is the big question here. Looked pretty good as a rookie in training camp and preseason in 2024. Was a big disappointment last summer. But started last game of year against Vikings starters and played really well. PFF gave him 2nd best offensive score.

Maybe Monk is ready. I just haven't seen enough. When we drafted him I liked the pick. As for Jenkins, he will do what is in his best interest. If we tell him "take $14 million to play another year" and he can't do better, that is exactly what he will do. And I don't blame him for that at all.

edit: After reading Patler and Pb I could see ripping up the existing deal, signing to a mutually beneficial deal and having him be our center for next 3 years.

[Joemailman]

Tom Pelissero
@tompelissero.bsky.social

The NFL informed clubs today it is projecting a 2026 salary cap in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million per club, per source.

That would represent another significant jump from this year’s $279.2 million cap number, and nearly $100M than the $208.2M cap in 2022.

[MadScientist]

I'm guessing these streaming exclusive games are adding a good chunk to the cap increases. We can probably expect more.

[Joemailman]

Tom Pelissero
@tompelissero.bsky.social

NFL salary cap over the years:

2013: $123M
2014: $133M
2015: $143.28M
2016: $155.27M
2017: $167M
2018: $177.2M
2019: $188.2M
2020: $198.2M
2021: $182.5M
2022: $208.2M
2023: $224.8M
2024: $255.4M
2025: $279.2M
2026: $301.2M-$305.7M (projected)