With NFL Draft Complete, Five Free Agents Who Could Push Packers Over Top

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst filled a lot of key needs during last week’s NFL Draft. The notion that he took care of all the team’s shortcomings, though, is laughable.

“To be honest, I don’t know if I ever feel like I’ve checked every box because I don’t know if anything’s ever complete,” he said after the draft. “That doesn’t mean I don’t feel really good about what our team looks like, but to me, and I’ve probably said it to you guys, but this is 365. So, yeah, these three days were really good. I feel really good about what we did. …

“These guys, I think, are going to be really good additions to our locker room and then our football team and I think they’ll help us, but tomorrow’s another day and we’ll see if there’s areas we can improve and if we can we will.”

Now that the compensatory-picks window is closed, meaning the Packers are locked into their maxed-out four selections for 2027, here are five free agents to fill remaining needs.

TE Marcedes Lewis

The Packers lost their physical blocking tight end, John FitzPatrick, to a torn Achilles late last season. It was slim pickings in the NFL Draft to fill that role, as Gutekunst said.

“If there was one thing coming out of this draft, it would have been nice to add a Y-tight end kind of body,” he said after the draft. “We weren’t really able to accomplish that. There’s not a ton of those guys coming out of college. There’s not a lot of places that use them.”

While former Browns star David Njoku would obviously bring an enticing receiving threat to the offense – he caught only 33 passes last season but had 64 a year earlier – the lone big blocker on the market is old friend Marcedes Lewis.

Lewis, who played 81 snaps in five games for the Broncos last season, will turn 42 next month. Obviously, he’s not going to be the powerful presence he was with the Packers from 2018 through 2022, but he’d take some of the run-blocking stress off Tucker Kraft as he comes back from a torn ACL.

RB Antonio Gibson

Washington Commanders running back Antonio Gibson (24) catches a touchdown pass against the Packers in 2022. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Packers lost Emanuel Wilson in free agency and didn’t replace him. As it stands, the race for the No. 2 running back will be between Chris Brooks, MarShawn Lloyd, Pierre Strong, Damien Martinez and undrafted rookie Jaden Nixon.

“We’ve just got to get him out there and keep him healthy,” Gutekunst said about Lloyd and the running backs. “If he’s out there and healthy, if he’s healthy, we know he can help us.

“Certainly, bringing Chris Brooks back, that was a big part of that. We have a lot of faith in him to be able to do things we do. So, I feel very good about that group. We’ll see as it goes. If we feel we need to add to it, we will. But, right now, I don’t really think we need to.”

To Gutekunst’s point, there is some talent in that group, but none have shown they can take a sustained workload like Wilson, who had 114 touches in 2024 and 140 in 2025, when Josh Jacobs was banged up.

Antonio Gibson, who will turn 28 in June, is coming off a torn ACL sustained in early October, which should put him on a trajectory to be ready for training camp. By the time he is healthy, Gutekunst should have a better feel for his backfield. Gibson rushed for 1,027 yards in 2021 and caught 195 passes during his first five seasons. At 6-foot and 228 pounds, he fits what Green Bay likes in the backfield.

OT Kendall Lamm

The Packers improved their interior depth with fifth-round pick Jager Burton. He’ll immediately compete to be a three-position backup.

What they don’t have is a swing tackle. What would happen, for instance, if new left tackle Jordan Morgan were sidelined?

“We got a number of guys that could probably play there,” Gutekunst said. “Certainly, Zach (Tom) could go over there and play there. We’ve got (Darian) Kinnard that could play there. (Anthony) Belton could play there. You know, a number of guys who do that.”

Kendall Lamm has started 44 games in 11 NFL seasons. He has proven position flexibility with 1,611 snaps at right tackle, 980 at left tackle and 291 as an extra tight end. Lamm, who will turn 34 in June, played about half the snaps for the Dolphins in 2024 and didn’t allow a sack.

DT Calais Campbell

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Calais Campbell. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Packers used their third-round pick on Chris McClellan. He should compete for immediate reps, perhaps as soon as Week 1 as the starting nose tackle.

Still, the Packers could use reinforcements. A look at the depth chart helps show the need.

Defensive tackle: Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks, James Ester, Jaden Crumedy

Nose tackle: Jonathan Ford, Nazir Stackhouse, Chris McClellan

Defensive tackle: Javon Hargrave, Warren Brinson, Anthony Campbell

Jonathan Gannon’s Super Bowl defense with the Eagles rolled through impact defensive linemen in waves. Campbell will turn 40 before Week 1 but remains an impact player. He started all 17 games each of the last three seasons. He had 6.5 sacks last season for the Gannon-led Cardinals, his fourth consecutive season with at least five sacks.

Campbell was a team captain for Gannon last season.

“When we signed him, we kind of had the foresight that he was going to impact our team in a positive way,” Gannon said.

Campbell has played in 278 regular-season games. The NFL record for a front-seven defender is Jim Marshall’s 282. Would the Packers be interested in a 40-year-old defensive linemen? Would Campbell be interested in being a backup? Or would rejoining Gannon and pushing for a playoff spot be of interest?

Edge Haason Reddick

A 3-4 defense requires dropping the edge players into coverage. Not all the time. Not even most of the time. But some of the time.

In 2022, Reddick starred in the Gannon-coordinated Eagles defense, finishing fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting with 16 sacks. Gannon joked that he might have had 20 sacks had he not dropped into coverage so often.

Reddick had 50.5 sacks from 2020 through 2023. He had only 3.5 sacks the last two seasons, though. Last season with Tampa Bay, he had 2.5 sacks and six tackles for losses in 13 games (12 starts), though the pressure numbers from Pro Football Focus showed he made an impact.

Fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton dropped into coverage 97 times during four seasons at Penn State, but signing a player like Reddick would allow Dennis-Sutton to narrow his focus as a rookie.

Off the Table

One position that Gutekunst will not be looking to sign is a cornerback after drafting Brandon Cisse in the second round and Domani Jackson in the sixth round. So, you can probably forget about reunions with Rasul Douglas and Trevon Diggs.

“It’s not something that I’m looking for but, certainly, if the right guy’s there, we would consider that for sure, but it’s not something we’re actively seeking at the moment,” he said.

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