It’s not news that the Green Bay Packers needs wide receivers. It’s not the first offseason in which it happens, and it probably won’t be the last one. Even though there is a fair discussion to have about if the offense needs or not a truly elite receiver on the roster, the urgent necessity to add players to that room goes beyond that.

At this exact moment, the Packers have 10 wide receivers under contract. However, eight of them are under expiring deals of different sorts. Right now, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks are the only ones under contract for 2026, and nobody is signed for 2027.

Situation

Three of the Packers’ ten wide receivers will be unrestricted free agents in 2025, including two starters—Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson. To make things more complicated, Watson is hurt and won’t be back before the middle of the regular season.

Doubs is projected by Spotrac to get a four-year, $47.74 million contract, which is $11.9 million per season. That’s not an absurd amount of money, but Doubs is not a star either—and it’s reasonable to expect that he will make more than that in the open free agent market.

The third one is Mecole Hardman, who signed a one-year deal with the Packers.

Malik Heath and Bo Melton are both slated to be restricted free agents. To keep their restricted rights, though, the Packers have to apply a tender—and the least expensive one is projected by Over the Cap to be $3.453 million for the rights of first refusal. That just gives the Packers the rights to match an outside offer.

If the Packers want any type of compensation in the case of not matching an offer, they need to apply a first-round ($7.893 million) or second-round tender ($5.658 million).

If the team decides not to apply any tender, the players become unrestricted free agents. They could still return to Green Bay, but there would be no matching rights anymore.

The three players signed to the 90-man roster after the season are Julian Hicks, Cornelius Johnson (both who spent all last season on the practice squad), plus Tulu Griffin. They will all be exclusive-rights free agents if they make the roster, which is a big if by itself, and could easily return on an ERFA tender.

Why this happened

The Packers had Davante Adams and a decent if unspectacular group of complementary pieces over the final years of Aaron Rodgers’ tenure. But the reality is that Brian Gutekunst didn’t add much to the position.

In Matt LaFleur’s first three seasons as a head coach, the only wide receiver drafted by the Packers was Amari Rodgers in 2021’s third round. He was cut during his second season in the NFL.

Then, Green Bay traded Davante away, and lost Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard in free agency between 2022 and 2023. It forced their hand, and Gutekunst drafted three receivers in 2022 (Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Samori Toure) and three more in 2023 (Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Grant DuBose).

It was great to have so many young and cheap options at the same time, but the drawback is that their rookie contracts will also finish up in the next two offseasons

Approach to solve it

If Brian Gutekunst decides to add multiple wide receivers in the same class, or in the span of two years, the same problem will appear again in four years. It’s unrealistic to take this approach to every position, but there are certain specific places where it’s smart to take players every year—wide receiver is one of them, in addition to offensive linemen, defensive linemen, cornerbacks.

The Packers could start by adding, let’s say, a Day 2 draft pick this season. They could re-sign Watson or Doubs next year for a reasonable amount, with Reed and Wicks staying around for at least one more season. In 2026, another draft pick could replace Wicks, and it’s fair to expect an extension for Reed.

By drafting receivers often, you would make sure to have adequate depth and a solid timeline of cheap talent.

Eventually the team might miss a pick or two, and that happens in the NFL, but there will be enough volume to make up for that variance.