Packers Winners, Losers After Opening 24 Hours of NFL Free Agency

The Green Bay Packers spent Day 1 of free agency doing the same thing as the rest of us: Watching one difference-making player after another agree to contracts.

The Packers were one of only two teams who did not sign an unrestricted free agent on Monday, though that changed Monday night when they re-signed linebacker Kristian Welch to a one-year contract. They made their first outside addition on Tuesday morning with towering cornerback Benjamin St-Juste.

Here are winners and losers for the Packers through about 24 hours of free agency.

Winner: Russ Ball in 2026

Green Bay faced a tricky salary cap. However, after restructuring the contracts of safety Xavier McKinney and left guard Aaron Banks, trading Rashan Gary and releasing Elgton Jenkins, the Packers are fairly comfortably under the cap.

End of Free Agency Day 1 - Cap Update:

⚠️Placeholders *ONLY* Chris Brooks & Darian Kinnard

Cap Space:
🟡All Reported Moves & Restructures: $32.8m
🔵Effective for Regular Season Costs: $17.3m

📈Packers still can create another $55.8m with additional restructures if they wanted! pic.twitter.com/c4uECxN5OQ
— Ken - Packers Cap (@KenIngalls) March 10, 2026

Not only do they have the money to sign a player or two without doing a bunch of salary-cap gymnastics and kicking the financial can down the road, they can easily handle a contract extension for Tucker Kraft and are in good shape to deal with the increasingly expensive contracts given to Jordan Love and Micah Parsons.

Creating salary-cap space is easy. Restructuring contracts is like taking a HELOC out on your home. At some point, though, you’ve got to pay the lender. So far, so good from Russ Ball’s perspective.

Winner: Brian Gutekunst in 2027

The Packers are plus-4 for draft picks next year, which is big considering they won’t have a first-round pick in 2027.

So long as Malik Willis stays healthy as Miami’s starting quarterback, they should get a third-round compensatory pick for him in 2027. Linebacker Quay Walker and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare are projected to give the Packers fifth- and sixth-round compensatory picks, respectively.

At some point, left tackle Rasheed Walker and receiver Romeo Doubs will sign contracts. Teams can receive only four compensatory picks, so general manager Brian Gutekunst was able to sign cornerback Benjamin St-Juste and not impact the comp-pick ledger.

Plus, Gutekunst traded Rashan Gary to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.

So, including his own picks, this could be Gutekunst’s draft cache for 2027: First round (zero picks), second round (one), third round (two, including Willis), fourth round (three, including Rasheed Walker and Rashan Gary) and fifth round (three, including Quay Walker and Doubs).

Winner: Opposing Quarterbacks

Imagine being Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams and throwing to a skilled set of young pass-catchers and attacking a Green Bay defense with only one good edge rusher (Micah Parsons), one good interior rusher (Devonte Wyatt) and no above-average corners.

Winner: Rashan Gary

Rashan Gary wasn’t cut by the Packers. He was released. That means Gary’s contract will follow him to Dallas, where he is scheduled to earn base salaries of $18 million in 2026 and $21 million in 2027. We’ll see if he actually plays for that number in 2027 but, considering last year’s disappearing act, he probably wasn’t going to get $18 million in 2026 from any team if released.

Winner: Desmond Ridder

Desmond Ridder isn’t out of the woods, but he remains the front-runner to be the No. 2 quarterback behind Jordan Love. On Day 1 of free agency, Marcus Mariota – who played under Matt LaFleur in Tennessee – re-signed with Washington, Mitchell Trubisky signed with the Titans and Gardner Minshew signed with the Cardinals.

Some good backup options remain on the market. Ridder, however, who has 18 career starts, might wind up getting the first crack to be the primary backup.

Loser: Jonathan Gannon

New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon inherited a defense that was underpowered at defensive end and undermanned at defensive tackle.

Rather than those positions getting better, they’ve gotten worse.

At defensive end, the Packers traded Rashan Gary and lost Kingsley Enagbare. That leaves Micah Parsons, who is coming off a torn ACL, Lukas Van Ness, who has been underwhelming three seasons as the 2023 first-round pick, and Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver, a pair of Day 3 draft picks last year who made meager contributions.

At defensive tackle, the Packers traded Colby Wooden. That leaves Devonte Wyatt, who hasn’t been a full-time player in his career with 33.8 percent playing time in 2025, 33.2 percent in 2024, 49.7 percent in 2023, 21.7 percent in 2022, Karl Brooks, whose production fell off a cliff in Year 3, and a pair of 2025 rookies, Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse.

Plus, the Packers probably are no better at linebacker after trading for Zaire Franklin and letting go of Quay Walker, and they might be only marginally better at cornerback with Benjamin St-Juste.

Loser: Rasheed Walker

Rasheed Walker, the team’s three-year starter at left tackle, was expected to be a hot commodity. However, he was not signed during Day 1 of free agency.

Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Rasheed Walker (63) remains unsigned. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Related, the Packers might be losers here, too, with the hoped-for third-round compensatory pick perhaps no longer in play. It will all come down to the contract.

Loser: Micah Parsons

Micah Parsons is a great player, but he can’t do it alone. Unloading Rashan Gary made a lot of sense. After ending the season on a streak of 10 consecutive games without a sack, he simply wasn’t worth his bloated contract.

However, who else is going to rush the passer? Maybe Lukas Van Ness will finally play to his first-round credentials. Maybe Devonte Wyatt will finally stay healthy and reach his potential. But, as it stands, the pass rush might depend on a player coming off a torn ACL beating double-team blocks on every snap.

Loser: Returning Cornerbacks

Related to that, every cornerback’s best friend is a great pass rush. Will the Packers find some help in the second wave of free agency?

Some productive veterans are available. Would Gutekunst break with his preferred roster-building philosophy and take an oldie-but-goodie such as Joey Bosa, Cameron Jordan or Jadeveon Clowney – veteran players who are either past their prime or have injury histories?

Everyone knows Green Bay’s cornerbacks weren’t good enough last year. They’re not going to be any better if the pass rush doesn’t get better.

Loser: Jordan Love

After three consecutive seasons of getting to the playoffs, it’s time for the Packers to make a move for the Super Bowl.

It hasn’t gotten any easier.

The Super Bowl-champion Seahawks lost marquee running back Kenneth Walker III but re-signed receiver/returner Rashid Shaheen and cornerback Josh Jobe. There’s no reason to believe the best defense in the NFL is going to take a step back.

The Los Angeles Rams are another NFC West team that will stand in Green Bay’s way. The Rams traded for cornerback Trent McDuffie and signed cornerback Jaylen Watson. With a top cornerback tandem, they also should have one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Beating those teams in the playoffs would be one heck of a challenge for Love, especially with an offense that’s basically running it back with the same coaches and players.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER