Packers Prioritizing Other Re-Ups Over Hyde
One of several notable Packers free agents, Micah Hyde may be on his way out of the NFL’s smallest market. The Packers look to have slotted the defensive back at a lower-priority spot in their free agent queue, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.
Green Bay’s priorities seem to be Nick Perry, T.J. Lang and Jared Cook, per Silverstein. The Perry accord may already be done, with Adam Caplan of ESPN.com reporting the parties have agreed to a deal that will keep Perry in Wisconsin.
Not factoring in any Perry agreement yet, the Packers have $37MM in cap space. That would be enough for the traditionally free agency-averse team to re-sign at least two of these players. Cook, though, has other suitors who may be willing to pay more in the Lions and Bills. Lang was set on hitting free agency but was planning to give the Packers the option of matching whatever offers he received.
Hyde has played in Green Bay for four seasons, functioning as a return man, safety and slot corner for the perennial NFC contenders. He has not shown the ability the aforementioned UFAs have, though.
Packers To Re-Sign LB Nick Perry
The Packers are re-signing outside linebacker Nick Perry, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Perry’s third Packers contract will be worth $60MM over five years, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets. Perry will receive and $18.5MM signing bonus. In terms of AAV, Perry’s deal will fall into fifth place among 3-4 outside linebackers in terms of per-year dollars. The Packers now employ two of the top-five players here, with Clay Matthews‘ $13.2MM-per-year deal ranking third in that hierarchy.
The first three years of this deal will be quite player-friendly. Perry’s total cash flow in 2018 will hit $20.8MM, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). For the first three years, that figure jumps to $39MM.
[RELATED: Aaron Rodgers To Push For New Deal?]
Last year, Perry had career highs in starts (12), sacks (11) and tackles (52). Perry entered the year with only 16 starts and 12.5 sacks across 46 appearances. He entered free agency at just the right time and picked up interest from multiple clubs in need of a difference-maker in the front seven. The Falcons, Colts, and Jets were among the teams in the mix for him.
After Chandler Jones, Melvin Ingram, and Jason Pierre-Paul came off the board, Perry stood as our No. 1 edge defender on the open market. On my Top 50 list, which rates players by earning power, he was No. 18 overall.
The Packers still have free agents of their own to address, including Eddie Lacy, Julius Peppers, James Starks, T.J. Lang, J.C. Tretter, Jared Cook, and Micah Hyde. Green Bay entered today with $37MM-plus in cap space, so retaining multiple other members of this group isn’t out of the question for this build-from-within franchise. Hyde, though, is expected to depart.
This comes a year after Perry re-signed to stay in Green Bay after tepid interest elsewhere, but after a standout season that came in what amounted to a second contract year, the soon-to-be 27-year-old edge player won’t come nearly as cheap. This continues the Packers’ pattern of prioritizing their own, following re-signings of Perry in 2016 and keeping the likes of Randall Cobb and Bryan Bulaga a year prior once they became UFAs. Perry will miss officially hitting the open market by a few hours.
Sam Robinson contributed to this report.
Packers, Falcons In Mix For Nick Perry
While Nick Perry could be the best edge rusher set to hit the open market Thursday, the Packers would like to keep him from leaving Geen Bay, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Twitter). They’re going to face competition, though, including from the Falcons, per Ledbetter.
[RELATED: Falcons To Lock Up Desmond Trufant]
Atlanta’s at least the third non-Packers team involved in the Perry sweepstakes, joining the Colts and Jets. As such, Perry should be in line for a better deal than the one-year, $5MM pact he inked with the Packers last March. Perry was then a player who had largely disappointed during his first few NFL seasons, leading Green Bay to decline the 2012 first-round pick’s fifth-year option for 2016.
In his latest action, Perry broke out as a 26-year-old and picked up career highs in starts (12), sacks (11) and tackles (52). Perry entered the year with only 16 starts and 12.5 sacks across 46 appearances.
For the Falcons, adding the 2016 version of Perry (if his most recent output doesn’t prove to be a fluke) would provide a complement to Vic Beasley and be a boon to a defense that ranked a middling 16th in the league in sacks last season. Further, although the Falcons advanced to the Super Bowl, they finished toward the bottom of the league in total defense (26th), defensive DVOA (27th) and points allowed (27th).
Micah Hyde Likely To Leave Packers
The Packers met with defensive back Micah Hyde‘s agent at the combine last week, but it doesn’t appear that a deal will materialize before free agency opens Thursday. As a result, Hyde is likely to hit the open market, reports Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
[RELATED: Hyde Among PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents]
Hyde has spent his entire four-year career in Green Bay, though its interest in bringing him back for a fifth season doesn’t seem all that high. The team hasn’t even made Hyde an offer, according to Demovsky. If the 26-year-old’s career with the Packers is over, it’ll end with 63 regular-season appearances out of a possible 64, 33 starts, eight interceptions, five forced fumbles and four sacks.
Hyde is coming off a 16-game, 11-start season, in which he tied a career high with three picks and ranked a decent 53rd among Pro Football Focus’ 112 qualified cornerbacks. Hyde also has experience at safety, so his track record of versatility, productivity and durability should enable him to land an appreciable raise over his $1.671MM base salary from 2016. Indeed, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Hyde has “strong offers” from two other clubs.
Giants, Bills Pursuing Martellus Bennett
The free agent tight end market is heating up, as the Bills and Giants are pursuing Martellus Bennett, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), who also confirmed the previously reported interest displayed by the Jaguars. The Titans and Lions are also contacting tight ends , per La Canfora, while the Packers are aiming to retain Jared Cook.
Bennett is reportedly seeking $9MM annually after a 2016 campaign which saw him 701 receiving yards and seven touchdowns for New England. Given that Jack Doyle recently re-signed with the Colts for nearly $7MM per season, Bennett seemingly has every right to ask for $9MM, but a report last month indicated a “real possibility” that Bennett won’t be returning to the Patriots in 2017. Now that New England has acquired Dwayne Allen, Bennett is almost assuredly not returning to the Patriots.
The Giants, meanwhile, are reportedly eyeing all the top tight ends on the free agent market, a list that includes Bennett, Cook, and previously Doyle, and have also expressed interest in Anthony Fasano. The Raiders, too, have been linked to Bennett, who ranks as PFR’s No. 20 overall free agent and No. 1 available tight end.
Aaron Rodgers To Push For New Deal?
The latest polarizing free agent likely set to cash in due to the quarterback position’s supply-and-demand state, Mike Glennon could have an effect on how the player many perceive as the game’s best passer proceeds. Seeing Glennon in line to sign for as much as $15MM per year, Aaron Rodgers said that situation “has to” lead to a revisiting of his own deal with the Packers, per Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com (on Twitter). Rodgers, though, downplayed this perceived desire for a pay bump (via Twitter).
Rodgers is no longer the league’s highest-paid signal-caller, with Andrew Luck now occupying that status. In fact, Rodgers’ $22MM-per-year setup has slunk to fourth on this list in terms of AAV — also behind Drew Brees and Joe Flacco. The 33-year-old perennial MVP candidate is signed through the 2019 season and will count $20.3MM, $20.9MM and $21.1MM in those years.
However, several other quarterbacks look to be in line to surpass Rodgers’ salary via likely 2017 extensions. Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford and Derek Carr, and possibly Kirk Cousins, figure to sign for more than $22MM per year. Rodgers could be reacting to this as much as Glennon being set to follow in Brock Osweiler‘s footsteps.
Rodgers signed his five-year, $110MM extension in 2013. He bounced back from a substandard (for him) year by leading the NFL with 40 touchdown passes and guiding the Packers to their eighth straight playoff berth after the team began the season 4-6. The longtime starter’s virtuoso playoff work led the Packers past the Giants and Cowboys in January.
Going into the 2017 season, Rodgers figures to have several years left to contribute to Green Bay’s championship cause. He discussed playing into his 40s early during the 2016 season, which was the former first-rounder’s 12th in the league. Among active quarterbacks, Rodgers’ two MVPs are also tied with Tom Brady — in six fewer seasons as a full-time starter — for most in football, so he figures to have a case for a raise should he bring this up to Packers management.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/7/17
Unrestricted free agent news will obviously dominate the day, but several clubs also had to make decisions on whether to offer tenders to restricted and exclusive rights free agents. All RFA tenders listed are original round/right of first refusal (worth $1.797MM), and all links go to Twitter:
RFAs:
Tendered:
- Bengals — G T.J. Johnson (via Jim Owczarski of the Enquirer)
- Bills — C Ryan Groy (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com)
- Buccaneers — DE Jacquies Smith (via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times)
- Giants — DE Kerry Wynn (via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com)
- Patriots — T Cameron Fleming (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com)
- Rams — DT Dominique Easley (via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com)
- Ravens – S Marqueston Huff (via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com); WR Michael Campanaro, T James Hurst, RB Terrance West (via Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun)
Non-Tendered:
- Bills — DE IK Enemkpali, P Colton Schmidt
- Broncos — OL Sam Brenner (via Mike Klis of 9NEWS)
- Chargers — WR Jeremy Butler (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk)
- Seahawks — LB Brock Coyle, CB DeShawn Shead (via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com)
ERFAs:
Tendered:
- Broncos — LB Zaire Anderson, OLB Shaquil Barrett, RB Kapri Bibbs, C James Ferentz, WR Bennie Fowler, LS Casey Kreiter, C Matt Paradis, WR Jordan Taylor (via Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post)
- Cardinals — QB Zac Dysert, DT Olsen Pierre, G/T John Wetzel (via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com)
- Jaguars — S Peyton Thompson (via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union)
- Lions — DE Brandon Copeland (via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com)
- Packers — LB Joe Thomas (via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Panthers — C Tyler Larsen, P Michael Palardy
- Patriots — CB Justin Coleman (via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald), TE Matt Lengel (via Kevin Duffy of MassLive)
- Saints — WR Brandon Coleman (via Nick Underhill of the Advocate)
Non-Tendered:
- Buccaneers — DE Howard Jones (via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times)
Packers DT Letroy Guion Suspended
Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion has been suspended for the first four games of the 2017 season, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The exact reason for the ban is not yet known. Guion was previously suspended for the first three games of the 2015 season due to a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. 
Guion, 30 in June, made 15 starts for the Packers last year and racked up 30 total tackles. He’s currently set to enter the second season of a three-year deal worth $11.25MM. Depending on the nature of the suspension, his guaranteed cash could be in jeopardy.
In other Packers news, the team reached out to cornerback Davon House on Tuesday. House became a free agent this week when the Jaguars cut him loose.
Packers Contact CB Davon House
Could Davon House return home to the Packers? There is mutual interest between Green Bay and the cornerback, according to ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky (Twitter link). Already, the Packers have reached out to his camp. 
House spent the first four years of his career in Green Bay before signing a four-year, $24.5MM deal with the Jaguars in free agency. This week, the Jags cut him in order to save $6MM against this year’s cap.
The 27-year-old (28 in July) shined in a reserve role while with the Packers. When he first joined Jacksonville, he ascended to a larger role and started in all 16 games. Then, in 2016, he was sent back to the bench as Jalen Ramsey and Prince Amukamara held down the starting spots.
After finishing near the bottom in passing yards allowed last season, it makes sense for the Packers to explore every possible upgrade in the secondary. Their familiarity with House could quickly lead to a deal.
Julius Peppers To Continue Playing
Julius Peppers isn’t done with football just yet. The veteran will return to play in 2017, though his next stop is still uncertain. 
“Julius, after taking some time to reflect during the offseason, has decided that he still has the desire and enthusiasm for the game, and his intention is to play a 16th NFL season,” agent Carl Carey told ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky and Vaughn McClure.
Peppers is fifth on the NFL’s all-time career sacks list, and could conceivably move up to No. 4 with another year on the field. The 37-year-old has 143.5 career sacks and needs seven to match Chris Doleman’s 150.5 total. Last year, Peppers finished out with 7.5 sacks, so a repeat effort would leave him all alone at No. 4 on the list. To have any chance of bypassing Kevin Greene (third all-time with 160 sacks), he’ll need at least two more seasons. Of course, Peppers will be taking things one step at a time and his next deal will almost certainly be of the one-year variety.
Our updated rankings of this year’s defensive free agents lists Peppers as one of the ten best edge defenders out there.