The Green Bay Packers are in the unique position of being a playoff team who have few starters hitting free agency and a good amount of cap space heading into free agency.
Touted to have just under $49 million to work with this offseason (13th in the NFL) and beyond, and with only center, Josh Myers; linebacker, Isaiah McDuffie; and nose tackle, TJ Slaton, as departing starters – neither of whom are expected to receive huge deals next month – the team is well set to make some splash plays this upcoming free agency period.
And for a team who has plenty of ‘good’, but not enough ‘great’, now could be the opportunity to let mid-level starting players find pastures new – as has been the team’s policy for many years.
But on Monday, the team made a notable decision on one of these players – a decision that bucks decades-long general trends in Green Bay – in re-signing linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, per Jeremy Fowler.
Many Surprised By Packers’ Decision On McDuffie
After spending his first couple of years in the league as a core special teamer; coming out of Boston College as a 6th round pick in 2021; McDuffie has turned into a strong player against the run: accumulating 183 tackles over the past two seasons.
However, he has remained somewhat of a liability against the pass, receiving a poor 45.8 grade from Pro Football Focus – 148th of 189 qualifying LBs.
Towards the end of the season, his starting role on the team became more tenuous, playing fewer than 50% of reps on defense in all of the final five games of the season – despite the absence of Quay Walker from Week 16-18. All the while veteran, Eric Wilson; and rookie, Edgerrin Cooper saw a large uptick in snaps during the final weeks of the regular season, who both averaged over 2/3 of defensive snaps per game over that spell.
Thus, the trends pointed to the team retaining Wilson; who is also a free agent next month, and made more splashy plays over the course of the season; and letting McDuffie find a new team.
In fact, the decision was so strange that even notorious Packers beat writer, Andy Herman, was surprised.
The Packers Do Not Normally Re-Sign Players Like McDuffie
Whilst it is not like the Packers never re-sign players to low-mid level deals – every team does – the profile of McDuffie’s situation felt like it was borderline inevitable he would become a free agent come March.
Over the course of Green Bay’s multiple long-term, interconnected general-managing regimes, the team’s disciplined spending policy rarely makes allocations for extensions for players trending downward in the organization. Particularly those who are limited in a core area of play (the passing game), and will likely serve in a backup role barring any injuries.
The Packers prefer instead to build through the draft, or sign a cheap ($1-2 million) veteran with upside as a filler – a role that many expected Eric Wilson to slot into this offseason.
Not to mention the fact that Green Bay has a whole third round LB in Ty’Ron Hopper; a raw but athletic player, who could be set to make inroads into the starting lineup over the next year or two – esepecially if the team decides Quay Walker is not the long-term answer at the position beside Cooper.
Why Did The Packers Re-Up McDuffie?
Although his snaps on defense have been significant over the past two years, the primary reason the team bought McDuffie back was due to one thing – special teams.
The Boston College grad has become one team’s best special teamers over the duration of his rookie contract, and contributes in all five of the team’s ST phases.
Ever since the Packers got knocked out of the 2022 playoffs by the San Francisco 49ers – a game which they went into as almost seven-point favorites – primarily due to a fourth quarter blocked punt, general manager Brian Gutekunst has paid far more attention to the third phase of the game.
Special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia; head coach, Matt LeFleur; and Gutekunst must think very highly of McDuffie’s ability on teams moving forward to move into previously signing territory. But with few strictly necessary additions needed on the team and with abundant cap room – it seems that Gutekunst is happy to, for once, splash out.
