Packers Prime Candidates to Sign $72 Million Free Agent WR

The Green Bay Packers have only two certainties in the wide receiver room heading into 2023 and the likelihood that they’re active players in free agency is high.

Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are heading into the second years of their rookie deals, while Allen Lazard will look for the first big contract of his career and Randall Cobb will be in the market for perhaps the last NFL deal he will ever sign.

If the Packers bring back Aaron Rodgers, the chances that Lazard and/or Cobb returns to the fold next season increase dramatically, as the quarterback has stumped publicly for the roster spots of each. But if Green Bay goes another way under center, which sounded like the tune general manager Brian Gutekunst was playing Tuesday, February 28, at the combine, the Packers will be hunting value at wideout to provide quarterback Jordan Love with a few more weapons.

The pool of free agent wide receivers is thin this offseason, though it grew larger by one former Pro-Bowler on the final day of February when the New York Giants announced they will part ways with Kenny Golladay.

Adam Schefter of ESPN broke the news on Twitter.

“Giants are releasing WR Kenny Golladay on the first day of the league year, March 15, per source,” Schefter wrote. “By waiting until March 15, they will save $6.7 million against their salary cap.”

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Golladay Suffered Through Nightmare 2-Year Tenure With Giants

Green Bay grew familiar with Golladay as a competitor between 2017-20, during which he played four seasons for the Detroit Lions.

Golladay put together back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns in Detroit (2018-19) and led the league in receiving touchdowns with 11 in the latter of those two seasons, earning the sole Pro-Bowl selection of his now six-year NFL career.

Things went downhill for Golladay after he signed a four-year deal worth $72 million in New York in 2021, just one season after he sustained a strain to his hip flexor muscle that sidelined him for 11 games. The wideout’s production dipped severely with the Giants in 2021, when he caught just 37 passes for 521 yards across 14 games played.

The team bailed on Golladay last year, cutting his role to just 33 percent of the Giants’ offensive snaps — the lowest of his career by far, per Pro Football Reference. Golladay was targeted just 17 times all season, making six catches for 81 yards and scoring one touchdown.

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Golladay Offers Packers Chance at Value Signing in Receiver Room

It’s easy to peg Golladay as washed after three consecutive down seasons, but it should also be fairly easy to sign him to a team-friendly contract and add a former Pro-Bowl talent to a wide receiver room at value.

Golladay is only 29 years old and barely played meaningful snaps in two of his previous three campaigns — once due to a soft tissue injury that doesn’t inspire chronic concern, and once due to a coaching staff choosing to move in another direction. The year in between, Golladay played on an abysmal team characterized by consistently poor quarterback play.

None of that guarantees that Golladay will bounce back to 2019 form immediately upon arriving a new situation, or ever, but it does mean he’s worth a swing on a reasonable contract.

The Packers have restructured several deals already this offseason, including those belonging to RB Aaron Jones as well as CB Jaire Alexander and OLB Preston Smith. Green Bay announced Wednesday that the team had saved another $11 million by restructuring the contract of NT Kenny Clark. All told, the Packers are now $17.5 million under the salary cap, affording them some free agent flexibility.

Green Bay needs to address both a porous run defense and a faltering pass rush, as well as add to the wide receiver room for whoever ends up starting at quarterback in 2023. After a career year, Lazard is going to command more money and years on the open market than will Golladay, while Cobb can’t be expected to produce a statistically meaningful season at this point, assuming he can even stay healthy.

Some of the top wide receiver names in free agency include Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster and D.J. Chark, all of whom will also command significantly stronger deals than Golladay but may not produce at a significantly higher level if Golladay can find the right situation to stage a career renaissance.

Signing Golladay at this point is a calculated risk, but its the kind of risk that cash-strapped teams in reset years frequently take — for example, the Packers heading into 2023 if they plan to do so sans Rodgers, making Golladay a name to watch in Green Bay over the coming weeks.

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