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What If Free Agency Was Like the Draft?

In a fun-but-irrelevant exercise, a national writer put together a free agency mock draft.
Bill Huber|
What If Free Agency Was Like the Draft?
What If Free Agency Was Like the Draft?

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When NFL free agency begins next month – the negotiating period starts on March 13 with players able to sign on March 15 – the Chicago Bears will be like Oprah Winfrey.

You get a contract! You get a contract! You get a contract. Everybody gets a contract!

The Bears have about $98 million of cap space. That’s almost as much as the next two teams, the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders, combined. They’ll be able to buy a handful of immediate difference-makers to position themselves to actually challenge the Green Bay Packers.

In a fun-but-irrelevant exercise, CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin put together a free agency mock draft.

Rather than the regular NFL Draft order, Benjamin did the mock in order of most available cap space. In his mock, he had the Packers adding Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki with the 21st pick.

“With or without Aaron Rodgers back under center, the Packers need more pass-catchers, whether out wide or in line, where Robert Tonyan is due for free agency,” Benjamin wrote. “Gesicki was severely underutilized in Miami after the Dolphins' addition of Tyreek Hill, and he's got the playmaking wherewithal to at least be a red zone complement to Christian Watson.”

The 27-year-old entered the NFL as a second-round pick by the Dolphins in 2018. After back-to-back seasons of 51 and 53 receptions in 2019 and 2020, Gesicki had a breakout 2021 campaign with 73 receptions for 780 yards. However, with the big trade to acquire Tyreek Hill, Gesicki was Mr. Forgotten in 2022 with merely 32 receptions for 362 yards.

After a four-game stretch in which he caught only one pass for 5 yards, he caught one pass vs. Green Bay in Week 17.

Even in a real-world scenario, he’d be an incredibly appealing option for the Packers. Signing Gesicki would allow general manager Brian Gutekunst to use a valuable draft pick at another position of need.

Spotrac projects a four-year deal worth $8.2 million per season.

With the restructures of Preston Smith and Jaire Alexander, the Packers moved up to 17th in available cap space. The Steelers took right tackle Andrew Wylie at No. 18 and the Chiefs took receiver Odell Beckham Jr. at No. 20. Safeties Jordan Poyer and Jessie Bates, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and receiver Parris Campbell also were on the make-believe board.

Click here for the full mock free agent draft.

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Packers restructure contracts, get under the cap

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Allen Lazard discusses upcoming free agency

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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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