Packers Continue Paying Price for Huge Free-Agent Blunders

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers usually approach free agency with caution. The focus, typically, is on retaining their own players.

While Ted Thompson avoided free agency as if it were the plague, Brian Gutekunst has been more aggressive at times. In 2019, of course, he signed Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Billy Turner and Adrian Amos. Those four helped the Packers reach back-to-back NFC Championship Games. In 2024, he signed Xavier McKinney and Josh Jacobs.

In baseball lingo, Gutekunst went 6-for-6 with three or four home runs. By contrast, he went 0-for-2 with a couple of strikeouts in 2025.

In order to get more physical on the offensive line after the Packers were manhandled by the Eagles in the 2024 playoffs, they signed left guard Aaron Banks to a four-year, $77 million contract and moved Elgton Jenkins to center.

Banks was a solid starter for the 49ers with a bit of an injury history. And yet, Gutekunst gave him an enormous contract. By annual pay, he was the second-highest-paid offensive lineman in free agency. Even today, he ranks 10th among guards. Taking right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele out of the equation, Banks’ total contract is only $7 million less than every other lineman on the roster combined.

Hobbs was little more than a role player for the Raiders with more than a bit of an injury history. His four-year, $48 million contract ranked sixth in average among cornerbacks in free agency.

With huge contracts, they should have been among the missing pieces to get the Packers back to a championship level.

Instead, they are missing, period.

Banged-Up Aaron Banks

Banks has practiced sporadically during training camp because of a knee injury. He hasn’t taken a single 11-on-11 rep since OTAs in June.

“I feel good,” he said on Aug. 10. “My body’s getting back, incrementally making improvements. Looking forward to getting back out there and competing with the guys.”

He said there was “no timetable” for his return but was “not concerned” about his availability for Week 1.

The best offensive lines are the lines that practice together to form a cohesive unit. Instead, the player who was supposed to be the lynchpin to a new-and-improved offensive line hasn’t taken a single rep with the new No. 1 line.

“It’s huge, right?” he said of the No. 1 line getting considerable time to get ready for Week 1. “Any reps you can get all together, the more reps, the merrier, right?

“The reps I do get in indy, the walk-through and jog-throughs I’m getting right now, I’m taking very seriously and very dialed in with those and making sure that we’re all seeing things. I have J-Mo (Jordan Morgan) on my left and Sean (Rhyan) on my right. We’re making sure we’re seeing things through one set of eyes and just communicating and making sure that, trying to make it as seamless as it can be when I get back out there with them.”

Banks was solid when he got healthy for the stretch run last season, but solid isn’t good enough for one of the highest-paid linemen in the NFL. With great money should come great performance. Instead – and maybe it was coach Matt LaFleur trying to add some urgency – Banks is in danger of losing his starting job to rookie Jager Burton.

Imagine having a $77 million backup.

The Packers restructured Banks’ contract this offseason for cap relief, turning a $7.7 million base salary and a $9.5 million roster bonus into signing bonus. That chopped his cap charge in more than half, from about $24.8 million to about $12.0 million.

Kicking the financial can down the road comes with costs. Enormous, compounding costs. Banks has cap charges of about $25.45 million in 2027 and $23.95 million in 2028. Releasing him today would save about $2.06 million on this year’s cap but would come with dead-money charges of about $9.95 million this year and an astronomical $26.29 million in 2027.

One-And-Done for Nate Hobbs

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson catches a pass for a touchdown in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Nate Hobbs. — Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson (87) catches a pass for a touchdown in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Nate Hobbs. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While the Packers probably will fish with Banks, they’ve already cut bait with Hobbs, who made up for being injured by being ineffective. That contract is continuing to haunt the Packers, with dead-money charges of $4.0 million for this season and $8.0 million for 2027.

Hobbs, who is injured again with the 49ers, was one of 98 corners who played at least 240 coverage snaps last season. He ranked 73rd in completion percentage (68.0), 82nd in yards per completion (14.1) and 90th in passer rating (125.3).

Not only are the Packers still paying for Hobbs, but they had to counter by signing Benjamin St-Juste in free agency and drafting two cornerbacks, including Brandon Cisse with their first pick.

Packers Paying for Big Mistakes

The beauty of free agency is teams get to add proven players to their roster. It comes with a cost, obviously, but imagine spending $67 million on McKinney and $48 million on Jacobs and then turning around and spending $77 million on Banks and $48 million on Hobbs.

Bad contracts make it really hard to build a championship team. The Packers are 10th in dead money on this year’s cap ($45.8 million). That’s 15.2 percent of this year’s cap tied up in players no longer on the roster. The Super Bowl-champion Seahawks, for the ultimate contrast, have just $655,535 of dead money.

The Seahawks are paying for players. The Packers are paying for mistakes.

No general manager is perfect. Mistakes can and will be made. But some mistakes are avoidable. Hindsight, of course, is always 20/20. In foresight, though, the outcomes for Banks and Hobbs were predictable at the time. At least Gutekunst admitted defeat with Hobbs, dumping him and signing St-Juste for pennies on the dollar.

The Packers have Super Bowl aspirations, which can become reality if enough young players take the next step and their injured stars return to being stars.

From that short-term perspective and the team’s long-term outlook, the Packers desperately need Banks to get healthy and be the type of player they envisioned. Whether that’s possible, really, is anyone’s guess, but the history isn’t encouraging.

Here's our second Packers Rookie Progress Report, with updates on how all 15 are trending. ⬇️https://t.co/Y4mks2QuUU
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 17, 2026

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