Packers Decline Fifth-Year Option on Quay Walker, Here’s Why

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers chose not to activate the fifth-year option for linebacker Quay Walker at the deadline on Thursday, with the goal of working out a contract extension with the former first-round pick.

The option for a linebacker like Walker, who hit playing-time thresholds but was not a Pro Bowler, would have been worth a guaranteed $14.751 million in 2026, according to projections from OverTheCap.com and Spotrac.

That the Packers didn’t flip the switch doesn’t mean they’re ready to discard a player who is one of only two players in the draft class with at least 225 tackles and 20 tackles for losses. Quite the opposite. This was a finances-driven decision. By average pay, only six off-the-ball linebackers make more than the option amount.

Walker is under contract through the upcoming season. General manager Brian Gutekunst has said the team hopes to keep Walker over the long haul, and that remains the case.

“I think that for both those guys, whatever mechanism we use, we’d like to keep those guys around for ‘26 and beyond,” Gutekunst said before the draft of Walker and fellow first-round pick Devonte Wyatt, who will return under the fifth-year option in 2026. “So, whether that’s through doing the fifth-year option on these guys or extending them one way or the other, we’re planning to do that, we’d like to do that.”

The Packers used the 22nd pick of the 2022 draft on Walker, choosing the potential-packed Georgia product over Devin Lloyd, the All-American from Utah. Lloyd went 27th overall to the Jaguars; they chose not to activate his option.

Among all players drafted in 2022, Lloyd is first with 355 tackles and Walker is second with 341. They are the only third-year players with 300-plus tackles. Walker is seventh in the draft class with 21 tackles for losses; Lloyd has only nine. Walker and Giants’ Micah McFadden are the only off-the-ball linebackers with more than 10 TFLs.

Walker has played in 44 games with 43 starts in three seasons. He has 100-plus tackles in all three seasons, including 102 in 2024. While he set a career high with nine tackles for losses last season, he didn’t produce a turnover-play and had a career-low two passes defensed.

However, the Packers liked how Walker handled the demands of being the middle linebacker in Jeff Hafley’s defense and his trajectory. In a blowout win over the 49ers in late November, he had seven tackles, including two for losses. He followed that with back-to-back 10-tackle games but sustained an ankle injury against the Seahawks and missed the final three games of the regular season.

A couple days after the San Francisco game, safety Xavier McKinney couldn’t have handed out a stronger endorsement.

“Quay a hell of a player,” he said. “From the time that I got around him when I first came to now, obviously, he’s growing each game, each practice.

“From my eyes and from what I’ve seen, I believe Quay’s the best middle linebacker in the league, in my opinion. I think he has so many different qualities that you don’t really see. He can cover well, he can tackle well, he (can) do a lot of things and, obviously, he’s still growing [as the middle linebacker]. When he goes out there and plays fast, there ain’t a lot of people that can do what he can do.”

League-wide, regardless of when they were drafted, there are 22 defensive players with 300-plus tackles and 20-plus tackles for losses the last three seasons. On that list, Walker is 16th in tackles.

Finances are at the forefront of these decisions.

Making Walker the 20th-highest-paid linebacker in terms of average salary would require $9.0 million per season – much less than the option figure. Contrast that to defensive tackle. Making Wyatt the 20th-highest-paid player at the position would require a contract worth $15.1 million per season.

Meanwhile, even before Wyatt’s 2026 contract goes on the ledger, the Packers are just $6.5 million below the projected 2026 salary cap; only nine teams are in worse shape, according to OverTheCap.com.

“We’re super-fired-up about both those guys seasons this year,” Gutekunst said of Walker and Wyatt at the end of the season. “Quay continued to make a leap, and another guy who had struggled through injuries at the end of the year, but he was really impactful for us this year. Continues to be a great leader for us. Certainly think we would love to have him around here for longer than just a couple years. He’s that kind of guy.

“And D-Wy was probably our most consistent pass rusher from the inside this year. Both of them dealt with some injuries and was really proud of how they attacked those and played through some things this year. But I think both those guys had their best years as pros so far.”

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