Packers To Meet With Christian Kirksey
The Packers are set to meet with free agent linebacker Christian Kirksey on Thursday, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). Kirksey left his Raiders visit without a deal this week, though Garafolo hears that a deal is still possible with Las Vegas. 
Kirksey, 27, was cut by the Browns earlier this month. In Cleveland, he was equally known for his tenacious play and his charitable work. On the field, he appeared in 73 career games and made 54 starts over the course of six seasons. Recently, however, he has has been slowed by injuries. In 2018, a hamstring injury kept him out for more than half of the season. Last year, he only played in two games thanks to a pec tear.
The Browns re-upped Kirksey to a four-year, $38MM extension before the 2017 season. Even before the injuries started, Kirksey’s performance was dipping off a bit, as shown by the advanced metrics in ’18. It was a sharp contrast from 2017, when he tallied 148 total stops.
Kirksey would be a logical fit for both the Raiders and Packers, and he’d come at a much cheaper rate than his previous contract.
Packers To Cut Jimmy Graham
The Packers will release Jimmy Graham on Thursday, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The release will be formally processed on Thursday, sending the tight end into free agency immediately.
This has been the expected move for some time. Despite Graham’s many career accomplishments, the Packers had little reason to keep him and his $11.6MM cap hit. By dropping Graham, the Packers will save $6MM against $3.6MM in dead money.
Graham was one of the league’s most dominant tight ends for a long stretch. In his first eight seasons – spent with the Saints and Seahawks – Graham earned five Pro Bowl nominations. In 2013, one of his seasons ever, Graham was also named a First-Team All-Pro after notching 86 catches for 1,215 yards and a league-leading 16 touchdowns.
After that, he inked a three-year, $30MM deal with the Packers, but he couldn’t match his previous production. In 2018, he finished out with a 5/636/2 line. Last year, he had just 38 catches for 447 yards and three TDs. It was his lowest output since his rookie season back in 2010, and it was a reminder that Father Time catches up with everyone – even the game’s greats.
While Graham won’t have an issue finding another gig, he’ll be joining a relatively deep free agent class that’s led by Austin Hooper and Hunter Henry. It’s worth noting that fellow veteran Greg Olsen got $5.5MM guaranteed from the Seahawks.
Packers Unlikely To Keep Jimmy Graham
Tight end Jimmy Graham plans to continue playing, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back with the Packers in 2020. The Packers plan to move on from him and the final part of his three-year, $30MM deal, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter).
[RELATED: Jared Veldheer To Continue Playing]
As of this writing, Graham is the league’s highest-paid tight end on a per-year basis. And, as of this writing, he’s set to count for an $11.6MM cap figure. The Packers, in all likelihood, will terminate the deal in order to save $8MM against $3.6MM in dead money. A trade may also be possible, though Graham is well past his best years.
Across ten campaigns with the Saints, Seahawks, and Packers, Graham went to the Pro Bowl five times. In 2013, he was also a First-Team All-Pro as he led the league with 16 touchdown catches.
Last year, Graham stayed healthy – it was his fourth-straight season with 16 games played – but he wasn’t able to play up to his contract. After he registered just 38 catches for 447 yards and three scores, the Packers are ready to move on.
Jared Veldheer To Continue Playing
Jared Veldheer already retired from the NFL once. His next retirement can wait. The Packers free agent plans to continue playing in 2020, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). 
Veldheer’s first exit from the game didn’t stick. In May of last year, he walked away from the NFL shortly after signing with the Patriots. But, in late November, the Pats granted his request to be released from the retired list. The Packers swooped in to claim him, and he went on to suit up for them in a pair of games.
Multiple teams inquired about Veldheer at the combine, Schefter hears, so it sounds like he’ll have a decent market waiting for him in a couple of weeks. Interested clubs will want to take a close look at his hip, however – he cited that lingering injury as the main reason for his abrupt and short-lived retirement last year.
Veldheer may be past his prime, but he did start 12 games for the Broncos in 2018. And, up until last year, he was a starter for almost every season since 2010.
Veldheer has appeared in 120 career games with 113 starts throughout his career. After starting out with the Raiders for his first four years, the third-round pick suited up for the Cardinals and Broncos before hooking on with the Packers in 2019.
Joe Schobert Won’t Return To Browns
The back and forth Joe Schobert saga has reached an endpoint. The Browns will indeed let the linebacker walk in free agency, a source told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
Back in November we heard that the two sides had discussed an extension, but not long after that we got word that things had cooled and the Browns were in no hurry to re-sign him. They appeared to be headed toward a split when John Dorsey was still in charge, but then Dorsey’s firing seemed to open things up again and new GM Andrew Berry resumed talks. Kay Cabot reports that Berry met with Schobert’s agent at the combine this week, and that the meeting didn’t go too well.
The Browns let Schobert’s agent know that they wouldn’t be giving him the “double-digit millions” he’s looking to get annually on the open market, Kay Cabot writes. Sources told Kay Cabot that the Browns are “planning to make a big investment” in their offensive line, and that they’re saving their cap space for that push.
Cleveland drafted Schobert out of Wisconsin in the fourth-round back in 2016, and he developed into a solid starter. He made the Pro Bowl in 2017, and has generally been very productive. He started all 16 games this past year, racking up 133 tackles, four interceptions, two sacks, and nine passes defended. As for where he’ll go next there are many teams that will be interested in Schobert’s services, and the Packers are exploring making a bid for the inside linebacker, according to Tom Silverstein and Jim Owczarski of Packersnews.com.
Packers Unlikely To Retain Bryan Bulaga?
Bryan Bulaga has been a stalwart on the Packers’ O-line since his rookie campaign in 2010. Though he has never made the Pro Bowl, he has been a consistently solid performer who has generally been able to keep star QB Aaron Rodgers clean, and 2019 was no exception.
The former first-round pick graded out as the 16th-best tackle in the league last year, per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and despite a couple of injury concerns during the season, he played a full 16-game slate for the first time since 2016. The O-line as a whole performed pretty well, and Bulaga was a big reason for that.
However, it looks like the Iowa product will be testing the free agent waters for the first time in his career. Tom Silverstein and Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report that the Packers have not had any talks with Bulaga’s camp since the end of the season, and while that could simply be a function of the uncertain CBA situation that has the entire league in limbo to some degree, the team does not appear to be interested in tagging Bulaga either.
Per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, it’s unlikely that Bulaga gets hit with the franchise tag, which comes at a value of $16.1MM. Theoretically, the slightly less expensive transition tag could be in play, but it sounds as though the Packers are simply prepared to cut ties.
Bulaga would become one of the better tackles available on the open market, and he stands to earn a sizable raise over the $6.8MM he took home in 2019.
Packers To Pursue Austin Hooper; Latest On Aaron Jones
An Aaron Rodgers–Austin Hooper connection is a pretty scary proposition for the Packers’ NFC rivals, and that’s exactly what Green Bay is hoping to create this offseason. Per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, the Packers want to add a receiving weapon in free agency and in the draft, and they plan to pursue Hooper, the best TE available on the free agent market.
Already this morning we heard that the Bears and Redskins are interested in Hooper, but given that they advanced to the NFC Championship Game in 2019 and have a future Hall of Famer under center, the Packers look like a much much more appealing landing spot for Hooper if they can make the money work. The 25-year-old will likely take home a contract paying him at least $12MM per season, and the tight end market as a whole is widely expected to be reset this year after it has stagnated for some time.
Indeed, the Packers’ own Jimmy Graham has long been the TE pacesetter in terms of average annual value ($10MM), but his play has not really merited that status in recent years. He did lead Green Bay tight ends with 38 catches for 447 yards in 2019, but an upgrade is definitely in order.
Hooper would provide just that. In 13 games for Atlanta in 2019, the 25-year-old two-time Pro Bowler set career-highs in receptions (75), yards (787), and touchdowns (six). Green Bay has often asked Rodgers to make hay out of an underwhelming receiving corps, and a combination of Davante Adams, Hooper, and perhaps a rookie WR from a class that is historically deep at the position would undoubtedly make A-Rod a very happy man. Adding Hooper may also allow the team to cut Graham and save about $8MM against the cap, which would help pay for Hooper’s salary.
Of course, the team also hopes RB Aaron Jones will stick around for the foreseeable future after a monster 2019 campaign as a do-it-all playmaker for the Green Bay offense. Jones is now eligible for an extension after having completed three years in the league, and Demovsky says the Packers were scheduled to meet with his reps at the scouting combine. Jones, a 2017 fifth-rounder, is interested in having contract talks.
Green Bay Has Not Been Named Host of 2022 NFL Draft
An erroneous report yesterday began circling around various media outlets that Green Bay, Wisconsin would host the 2022 NFL Draft. While the city of Green Bay still hopes to host the event, Packers chief operating officer Ed Policy tells Richard Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette that no decision has been made by the league at this point.
The draft was hosted in New York from 1965 to 2014, but the league decided to allow the event to rove between cities. Since the league’s decision, the most popular event of the offseason has been hosted in Philadelphia (PA), Dallas (TX), Nashville (TN), and Chicago (IL) twice. Las Vegas will host this offseason’s draft and the 2021 draft will take place in Cleveland (OH).
Green Bay is obviously one of the most historic cities in NFL history, but it also would be a stark contrast from the large cities that have played host over the event’s history. Ryman writes that Green Bay has had its eyes on the draft for some time with a number of recent developments in the city’s downtown.
Since no announcement has been made, and Green Bay seems to be in the running, it’s still plausible that the 2022 NFL Draft could be in Wisconsin, but for now, no decision is final.
Packers, Mason Crosby Agree To Extension
Mason Crosby will not hit free agency. The Packers are bringing their longtime kicker back on another extension, according to agent Mike McCartney (on Twitter).
The sides agreed to a three-year deal, tethering Crosby to the Packers through the 2022 season. This will be the 35-year-old kicker’s 14th season with Green Bay. The three-year pact is worth $12.9MM, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). He’ll get $6MM in year one of the deal and $9.5MM through the first two. As Pelissero points out, that makes Crosby the NFL’s third-highest paid kicker.
Crosby, who made $3.2MM in base salary last season, is by far the longest-tenured kicker in Packers history. He’s played in 208 games with the franchise — 64 more than the next-closest Packer kicker. Crosby passed Donald Driver last season for the No. 2 spot among games played as a Packer, now trailing only Brett Favre (255).
Last season marked his most accurate as a pro, with the veteran specialist connecting on 91% of his field goal attempts. Crosby made connected on fewer than 82% of his field goal tries in 2017 and ’18, with the latter season marred by a rough day in Detroit when he went 1-for-5. Crosby missed just two field goals in all of 2019, also making 40 of 41 extra point attempts. For his career, however, Crosby’s 81% make rate ranks just 46th all time — behind 21 of his active peers.
The Packers still have Bryan Bulaga and Blake Martinez looming as free agents, but they have locked down their second-longest-tenured player. While Crosby is not the NFL’s oldest active kicker, he has been in his current post longer than all but two kickers — Adam Vinatieri in Indianapolis and Stephen Gostkowski in New England. Both players began their respective runs with their current team in 2006; the Packers used a sixth-round pick on Crosby a year later.
Davon House Retires From NFL
It’s official – Davon House is hanging ’em up. Although the former Packers cornerback has not played since 2018, he did not make his retirement official until Tuesday, when the club announced that he’s leaving the game. 
[RELATED: Packers To Move On From LB Blake Martinez?]
House started his pro career with the Packers back in 2011, when Green Bay selected him in the fourth round of the draft. That’s where he played through the 2014 season, before joining the Jaguars for a couple of years. After that, he returned to the Packers for the 2017 and 2018 campaigns – his final seasons in the NFL.
With House in the fold, the Packers captured four NFC North titles and won at least eleven games in three different seasons. That included the 2011 season, when they went 15-1 in their Super Bowl follow-up.
In total, House spent six years with the Packers and eight seasons as a pro. Statistically, his best work came in Jacksonville in 2015, when he notched 60 tackles, four interceptions, and 23 passes defensed. A shoulder injury cut House’s final season short, meaning that he has not played since September 23, 2018.
We here at PFR wish House the best in (official) retirement.