The Green Bay Packers are going to lose several talented players to the free agency market this season.
Unfortunately, that’s just life when you have a franchise quarterback in Jordan Love accounting for a $36 million cap hit while your star edge rusher in Micah Parsons counts for $19 million and counting.
Those are two premium positions and you’ve got two premium players at those positions, so it should be expected that the cap room is a bit tight
In fact, at the time of this writing, a bit tight is an understatement. The Packers are around $10 to $15 million over the cap, depending on where you look. That means that not only are they going to have to let multiple players walk in free agency, but they’re going to have to make a few tough cuts as well.
Quay Walker, John FitzPatrick, Malik Willis, Sean Rhyan, Nick Niemann, Romeo Doubs, Kinglsey Enagbare and Rasheed Walker will all be free to hit the open market at the start of the new league year, which is March 11, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Most of those players, unfortunately, will be playing elsewhere in 2026. It is vital for the Packers to find a way to keep their former first-round pick linebacker, (Quay) Walker, though.
Checking in at 6-foot-4, 241 pounds, the Packers selected Walker with the 22nd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Georgia.
It took him a bit to get acclimated to the speed of the NFL game, and it took him some time to develop the maturity to become a team leader.
Walker has grown into one of the best linebackers in the NFL over the past few seasons, though, and this past season, he was elite for the Packers.
He led the team in tackles (128) and was second behind Parsons in tackles for loss with eight. He notched 2.5 sacks and five passes defended and was everywhere at all times for the Packers — especially when they needed a big play.
Middle linebacker Edgerrin Cooper is the rising superstar of this defensive unit, but one can make the case that Cooper’s elite athletic abilities are only amplified with another elite athlete like Walker next to him.
Walker and Cooper have a chance to be the best one-two linebacker punch in the NFL next season if the Packers can find a way to bring the former back.
The issue is that Spotrac believes Walker is worth a three-year, nearly $30 million contract on the open market.
Do the Packers have the money to do that? Right now, no.
It’s worth noting, though, that if they cut Rashan Gary and Elgton Jenkins this offseason, they could make up about $30 million of cap savings this offseason alone. Gary has been on a milk carton since October, and Jenkins, for all the good he’s done for the Packers, is 30 years old and coming off a torn ACL.
Right there is the $30 million that can go to Walker on a three-year, $10 million deal. If he wants more than that, and he might, at least the Pack can say that they tried.
The point is, they must try, because re-signing Walker must be a priority for this team heading into free agency.
