Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is expecting to be active in the free agent market at the start of the new league year.
Gutekunst believes the classes of both free agents and draft prospects this year match “solidly” with what the Packers roster needs, and he’s prepared to use both avenues to help his team during the 2024 offseason.
Don’t expect the Packers to be quiet in the coming weeks.
“I do, and I think we are every year,” Gutekunst said when asked by Larry McCarren if he’s expecting to be active in the free agent market. “There are good players in this free agency class, and certainly we are going to be in the mix on some of those things.”
While the Packers have been quiet during free agency in recent years, the team is in a better position in terms of the salary cap entering this offseason and should have the financial resources necessary to make a run at top free agents. Gutekunst has more levers he can pull to create even more cap space if needed.
Safety is among the team’s top needs, and the current free agent class looks deep in options.
In 2019, Gutekunst reshaped his defense by signing Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos to big deals. Five years later, it’s possible he could add another impact defensive player to help contribute to a potential Super Bowl run.
Gutekunst explained that the NFL Scouting Combine is a big part of the process in terms of figuring out how the pieces in the free-agent class and the draft class fit into the overall puzzle of building the Packers’ roster.
“For me, it’s really about finding the best overall football players,” Gutekunst said. “There’s only so many difference makers in the National Football League, so if you have a chance to acquire a difference maker, regardless of position, you’re going to be in that market. To me, it’s more about what kind of quality players and people can you bring to our locker room to create the healthy competition we need for our team to move forward?”
The start of the new league year is Tuesday, March 13. The league’s “legal tampering” period runs from March 11-13, so the market is about to heat up, especially coming out of the combine.
