Brian Gutekunst Feels ‘Good’ About Free Agency, But Will He Sign Anyone?

Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has a lot to figure out before the free-agent negotiating period opens on March 9.

Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst talks to reporters at Lambeau Field on Feb. 4. | Bill Huber/Packers On SI

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Just because the Green Bay Packers are over the 2026 salary cap today doesn’t mean they won’t get themselves far enough under it to participate in NFL free agency in March.

“I feel really good again,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Wednesday at Lambeau Field. “A lot of that will be dependent on the decisions we make with the roster right now and what we do. But I believe we have all the flexibility to do what we need to do.”

According to OverTheCap.com, the Packers as of Thursday morning are about $3.23 million over the cap. Only 11 teams are in a deeper hole – including each of Green Bay’s NFC North rivals.

It’s too early in the process for Gutekunst to have a definitive plan about how he’s going to address the cap and build his roster. Not that he’d share it with the public, anyway. There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made, including the future of a few high-priced, underperforming veterans and the state of his own free agents.

High-Priced Veterans

The Packers have four players who are scheduled to have salary-cap charges north of $20 million for the 2026 season. One of them is quarterback Jordan Love.

The others? Defensive end Rashan Gary ($18.0 million base salary, $28.0 million cap), left guard Aaron Banks ($9.5 million roster bonus, $7.7 million base salary, $24.8 million cap) and center Elgton Jenkins ($18.5 million base salary, $24.3 million cap). All three could be released over the next handful of weeks. If that’s the direction Gutekunst takes, he’d immediately create a bit more than $35 million of cap space.

“I expect all these guys that are under contract to be back, but we’re just getting started at looking at how we’re building out the team for next year,” Gutekunst said.

Asked specifically about Gary, who didn’t have a sack or tackle for loss after the seventh game of the season, he said:

“I did think towards the end of the year, he wasn’t as productive as he was at the beginning. So, certainly, that will be something I’m sure he looks at personally and we look at as a team, how we can continue to make sure that his production is the same at the beginning and the end of the season.”

Releasing players is easy. Replacing them is more difficult. Releasing Gary could be complicated by Micah Parsons’ torn ACL and Kingsley Enagbare’s upcoming free agency. Releasing Banks could be complicated by the lack of any obvious replacement.

What To Do About 2022?

The 2022 NFL Draft class didn’t produce any Pro Bowlers but it produced some quality players who are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents. First-round linebacker Quay Walker, third-round lineman Sean Rhyan, fourth-round receiver Romeo Doubs, fifth-round defensive end Kingsley Enagbare and seventh-round left tackle Rasheed Walker played more than 3,900 snaps from scrimmage this season.

“Russ (Ball) and I spend a lot of time just looking at ‘26, ‘27, ‘28 and how everything [impacts the roster],” Gutekunst said. “If you decide to sign a guy to an extension, how that’s going to affect everything else.”

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In most cases, the Packers are prepared. At left tackle, they drafted Jordan Morgan in the first round in 2024. At linebacker, they spent a third-round pick in 2024 on Ty’Ron Hopper. At receiver, they used first- and third-round picks on Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in 2025. At defensive end, they used fourth- and fifth-round picks on Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver last year.

“We have a bunch of young players – really good players – that we would like to keep around here for a while, so we’ll work through that,” Gutekunst said. “But I feel good about our flexibility.”

“I think the last few years, Russ has done such a good job of keeping us at a point where, if opportunities present themselves, we’re never not able to do those things, like Micah (Parsons) last year. So, I feel really good about it.”

Quarterback Malik Willis, who was drafted by the Titans in 2022 and acquired by the Packers in 2024, will be a free agent, as well. Gutekunst, however, said it’s “realistic” to assume Willis will leave for a starting opportunity.

The Comp-Pick Question

Re-signing those free agents will be costly. And not just in terms of money.

The NFL awards compensatory draft picks to teams who lose free agents. The higher the average contract, the greater the compensatory picks.

Teams can get up to four compensatory draft picks, with the best being slotted at the end of the third round. There’s at least a decent chance the contracts signed by Rasheed Walker and Willis will give the Packers third-round picks for the 2027 NFL Draft.

Those compensatory picks could be incredibly attractive for Gutekunst, who doesn’t have first-round picks in 2026 or 2027.

Adding free agents impacts the equation. In 2024, for instance, the Packers lost Jon Runyan and Darnell Savage in free agency. Those would have been worth fifth- and sixth-round picks. The Packers lost those comp picks, though, by signing safety Xavier McKinney and Josh Jacobs.

As Nick Korte, an authority on compensatory picks for OverTheCap.com, said, “It always starts with one-to-one cancellations, so if the Packers lose two third-rounders but sign two sixth-rounders, they get nothing other than a possible seventh-round net-value pick.”

Therefore, in order to maximize the compensatory picks, Gutekunst might prefer to lean on street free agents – veterans who have been released – rather than unrestricted free agents. 

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