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PFF: Replace One Old Tight End with Another

Pro Football Focus provides its free-agent game plan for all 32 teams.
Bill Huber|
PFF: Replace One Old Tight End with Another
PFF: Replace One Old Tight End with Another

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Should the Green Bay Packers replace one over-the-hill tight end with another?

That’s part of ProFootballFocus.com’s free-agent game plan.

With the $8 million of cap space created by the potential release of Jimmy Graham, PFF suggests the Packers sign Greg Olsen, who was released recently by the Carolina Panthers. In 14 games this past season, Olsen caught 52 passes for 597 yards (11.5 average) and two touchdowns. He did catch 8-of-10 targets for 98 yards against the Packers.

Signing Olsen – or someone like Olsen – would run opposite of general manager Brian Gutekunst’s thinking last offseason. Last year’s free-agent haul of Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos and Billy Turner had one thing in common beyond being instant starters. All four were young and, presumably, ascending players. They would be building blocks rather than stop-gap solutions. Olsen, who will turn 35 on March 11, played in 14 games in 2019, nine in 2018 and seven in 2017.

“Really proud of our personnel group and how we went through free agency last year,” Gutekunst said at his season-ending news conference. “It’s a tough market to be in, the history shows that, but some of the things we felt were important, the character of the guys, some of the things we looked at came to fruition during the season. Obviously, those guys are very productive players on the field, but they really I think helped Matt (LaFleur) establish the kind of culture he wanted in the locker room, and that was very, very important as we move forward. 

“We’re going to be looking for guys like that again. If we can have impact from free agency like that every year, that would be significant but it doesn’t always work that way. I’m really proud of all the guys we brought from outside the building inside. We had a bunch of change, and those guys really adapted to what Matt and his staff wanted to do well.”

For more on the Packers and the rest of PFF’s free-agent preview, CLICK HERE.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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