The NFL free agency period is finally here, and unlike last offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst and the Green Bay Packers are expected to be in the mix. How aggressive they will be, though, remains to be seen. The legal tampering period begins Monday and the start of the new league year begins Wednesday at 4 pm EST, at which point free agent deals can become official. Below is what is being reported about the Packers’ free agency prospects. 

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Sunday that “Green Bay is considered a threat in the safety market. It wouldn't be a shock if the Packers comb the Xavier McKinney and Kamren Curl markets, depending on the price point. Recently released safety Quandre Diggs could also be an option.” 

McKinney, who played the first four years of his career with the New York Giants and was recruited by the Packers' defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley while Ansley was at Alabama, is considered the top free agent safety and will likely draw many suitors. He set a career high last season in tackles with 116 and also recorded three interceptions. McKinney, under the direction of blitz-heavy defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, was not afraid of getting his nose dirty last season, either, as he was sent on a blitz 42 times, the most in his career. However, one knock on McKinney is his availability. While he played in all 17 games in 2021 and 2023, and played in every defensive snap last season, he only appeared in nine games in 2022 and six games in 2020, his rookie season. All told, the Alabama product, who is only 24 years old, finished the 2023 season with a Pro Football Focus grade of 87.8, the fourth-best grade among safeties. Spotrac estimates that McKinney’s market value is an average annual salary of $10.4 million, although I suspect the price of brick will exceed that figure. 

Curl, who is likely best suited to play strong safety, was credited with 115 tackles last season, a career high, and according to Doug Farrar, “is your robber/rat all day long and can play credibly enough in the deep third to make the most of coverage switches.” In 603 coverage snaps last season, he only allowed three touchdown receptions, but he did allow a passer rating of 108.3 when targeted. Spotrac estimates that Curl’s market value is an average annual salary of $14.4 million. 

Diggs, who played free safety for the Seattle Seahawks the last 4.5 seasons, was released by the team last week and played in every game each of the last four seasons. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons in Seattle. According to Pro Football Reference, Diggs’ Approximate Value was 9 in 2020 and 2021 and 8 in 2022. However, it dipped to 4 last season, but he did set a career high in tackles (95). And while he had at least four interceptions in his first three full seasons with the Seahawks, he only had one in 2023. 

Altogether, the free agent safety market is one with plenty of options, so it will be interesting whether Gutekunst double dips in free agency, similar to what they did at edge rusher/linebacker in 2019 with Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, or whether they will sign a safety via free agency and draft one. 

Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated wrote last week that “the expectation coming out of the Scouting Combine is the Packers are going to turn back the clock to 2019, when they signed Adrian Amos in free agency and used a first-round pick on Darnell Savage. The Packers might not draft a safety in the first round on April 25, but the general idea is the same by signing one early in free agency and picking one early in the draft.”

Sticking on the defensive side of the ball, Tom Silverstein reported Sunday that the team will cut linebacker De’Vondre Campbell on Wednesday. “By waiting until Wednesday, they can put a June 1 designation on his release and gain a larger chunk of salary cap room than if they cut him right away.” The move will create $10.57 million in salary cap relief. It is important to note that designating Campbell as a June 1 release does not provide salary cap relief to the Packers for their free agency endeavors as the new league year begins. Rather, “[i]t simply gives the team more cap room to use during the rookie signing period and to function when cap accounting expands from 51 players in the offseason to the full roster during the season,” as noted in this Over The Cap article. 

Silverstein also reported that Green Bay wants to re-sign cornerback/returner Keisean Nixon. 

On the other side of the ball, NBC Sports’ Matthew Berry reported that the Packers are not expected to re-sign running back A.J. Dillon and, instead, “will likely draft a RB early on Day 3, but Emmanuel Wilson will get a shot at a real role behind [Aaron] Jones. They like him.” Wilson was the darling of the preseason, leading the league in rushing yards (223) on 38 attempts, but only saw action in seven contests during the regular season. He finished his rookie campaign with 14 attempts for 85 yards (6.1 yards per attempt). 

Berry also reported that the Packers are likely to release All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, who has started only 13 games over the last three seasons and has a cap hit of $40 million for the 2024 league year. And that was confirmed by No. 69 himself in an Instagram post on Monday. The move will create $20.935 million in salary cap space but will leave the team with a $19 million dead cap hit. 

And finally, ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported Monday that the Packers have re-signed tight end and special teams ace Tyler Davis, who tore his ACL in the 2023 preseason and is "expected to be ready for the start of training camp, if not sooner."