With the Green Bay Packers’ season officially over, we now enter an offseason that could define the next several years of Packers football.
Does Matt LaFleur officially stay? All signs point to yes, with reporting on Monday that the team and he are working toward a contract extension.
Will Jeff Hafley get a head coaching job, and, if so, how many members of the staff will he take with him? What is the future of special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia after his unit underwhelmed for the majority of the season?
These are all questions we will likely get the answers to in short order.
Green Bay also has to make decisions on 21 pending free agents. As constructed, the Packers will be over the cap to start 2026 and, even with a few moves such as releasing Rashan Gary and Elgton Jenkins, will still be in rough shape.
If they want to re-sign players from this current team, they’ll need to be picky about who to invest in and who to let walk. Who leaves and who stays to be a part of what we hope is a Super Bowl run in 2026 will be an early offseason question Brian Gutekunst will need to figure out.
Below is my prediction on all upcoming Packers free agents.
Unrestricted Free Agents
An unrestricted free agent is any player with four or more accrued seasons and an expired contract. They are free to negotiate and sign with any team. If any of these players sign with another team, the Packers will benefit from the opportunity to be granted a compensatory pick in the next season’s draft. That will surely be a factor in their decision.
Re-sign: Quay Walker, Sean Rhyan, Nick Niemann
The Packers seem to really like the duo of Walker and Cooper in the middle of their defense, and Walker, the former first-round pick, will only be 26 at the start of the season. Walker wears the green dot on his helmet and relays plays from the defensive play caller. If he leaves, Isaiah McDuffie would be his likely replacement. The Packers shouldn’t want to take a step back athletically from Walker to McDuffie.
Rhyan played much better than expected at center once the Packers thrust him into the starting role following Jenkins’ injury. If Green Bay can find a decent middle ground with him, I would think they’ll want him back after all the time and investment they put into the third-round pick.
Niemann is a core special-teamer and should be cheap enough for the Packers to bring him back on a one-year deal.
Let walk: Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs, Kingsley Enagbare, John FitzPatrick, Malik Willis, Kristian Welch
Rasheed Walker saved his worst game for the final game of the season and, more often than not, was below average this season. The Packers drafted a first-round offensive tackle two years ago, Jordan Morgan, and he is the left tackle of the future.
Similarly to Walker, Doubs’ replacement(s) were drafted last year when the team selected Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in the first and third rounds, respectively. Doubs has been one of Love’s favorite targets since he became the starter in 2023, but he will get a much bigger offer from another team.
I considered placing Enagbare on the re-sign list, and if you told me one of these players was a Packer next year, he would be the least surprising of the group. However, based on what Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver showed at the end of the season, I think they’ll want to get them on the field as much as possible, and that will come at the expense of Enagbare’s snaps.
Willis is perhaps one of the most sought-after free agents in the entire 2026 class. I’m sure the Packers would love to have him back, but there is essentially zero chance of that happening.
FitzPatrick and Welch ended the season on injured reserve with Achilles and ankle injuries, respectively, and the Packers surely can and will find better options elsewhere.
Restricted Free Agents
A restricted free agent is a player with only three accrued seasons and an expired contract. RFAs are free to negotiate and sign with any team, but their original team can offer them one of various tenders that come with the right of first refusal and draft pick compensation.
Re-sign: Darian Kinnard, Josh Whyle, Arron Mosby, Chris Brooks/Emanuel Wilson
I think the Packers value Kinnard, who brings versatility as a swing tackle and veteran experience as the first player off the bench in case of an injury.
Whyle showed flashes in the second half of the season once he was signed to the active roster. He even logged some snaps as TE1, with Luke Musgrave still not living up to his draft status. If they are going to let FitzPatrick leave, Whyle can provide valuable depth and compete for a role behind Tucker Kraft as he eases his way back into things during camp.
Mosby is another core special teamer and can play off the edge in a pinch. The Packers must improve their special teams, not get worse. Letting one of their best players on the unit walk for a relatively cheap contract probably isn’t the best way to do so.
Brooks and Wilson are both on this list as a caveat. It all comes down to MarShawn Lloyd. If the Packers think he’s finally healthy, then they should re-sign Brooks as the primary blocking back and special teamer and let Wilson walk. If they don’t think Lloyd is going to finally see action, they sign Wilson and hope to find a replacement for Brooks in the draft. They won’t have the funds to sign both.
Let walk: Jonathan Ford, Zayne Anderson, Brenton Cox Jr.
Anderson ended the season on injured reserve. While he’s a core special teamer, the Packers really need to see what they have in Kitan Oladapo, their former fifth-round pick. Fellow safety Jonathan Baldwin, the former UDFA, also showed flashes, so Anderson’s days in Green Bay are done.
Similar to Enagbare, Cox will lose out to younger options in Sorrell and Oliver. A core edge group of Micah Parsons, Lukas Van Ness, Sorrell, and Oliver (plus a draft pick or UDFA) is the likely path for the 2026 Packers. Cox also doesn’t play any special teams, so he’s not really a roster fit for a team that needs their backups to contribute on the third unit.
The Packers claimed Ford, the former Packer turned Bear turned Packer again, off waivers in a last-ditch effort to help the defensive line and stop the run. Maybe they re-sign him if the draft doesn’t go their way along the defensive line, but I don’t see them offering him anything prior.
Exclusive-Rights Free Agents
An exclusive-rights free agent is one with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expired contract. If his original team offers him a one-year contract at the league minimum, the player cannot negotiate with other teams.
Re-sign: Bo Melton, Kamal Hadden, Donovan Jennings
The Packers love Melton’s versatility. They likely don’t carry him on the roster all season, play him on all special teams units, and cross-train him at cornerback just to let him walk.
Hadden suffered a gruesome injury in the final home game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens. If the health checks out and he isn’t going to miss too much time, they likely bring him back to compete for a corner depth piece. They need all the cheap talent they can get there.
Jennings was another player carried on the roster all season. There were several times he could have been cut as the odd man out, but he never was. If his season-ending throat injury isn’t serious, he’ll be back.
Let walk: Lecitus Smith
Smith has been signed and released by the Packers a total of five times in his career. They have seen all there is to see of the offensive lineman and really only brought him back out of desperation. Plus, he will be 28 years old to start next season, which isn’t old, but he has no upside at this point.
