Before Draft season begins in earnest, free agency will offer the Packers an opportunity to add veterans to a young roster which could use some help in certain areas.

Green Bay has not been shy to dive into the free agent pool under Brian Gutekunst, and the Packers GM has a strong track record for finding quality players on the open market.

There may not be a Xavier McKinney or Josh Jacobs in the 2025 class, but let’s examine the positions which Gutekunst could look to augment from March 12.

Wide Receiver

While the end of the 2024 campaign left questions about Green Bay’s receiver room, specifically whether a veteran needs to be added to upgrade the overall talent level, especially given Christian Watson’s season-ending injury, it is not a straightforward decision.

In a vacuum, acquiring another talented receiver would be welcome, but Watson’s injury, and how long his recovery might take, could actually cloud the thinking.

If Watson can make a speedy recovery, say, in nine months, he could be back around the start of the regular season, at which point, the Packers would already have plenty of mouths to feed between him, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks.

Bo Melton is likely to be back at least for training camp, as is Malik Heath, although Gutekunst will probably not be making any major decisions based on their presence.

If the prognosis on Watson’s timetable is less optimistic, or more likely, the Packers are unsure by the time they have to make a decision whether to attack free agency or not, it would make sense to attack the position and add another weapon for Jordan Love.

Center

The big question here; is Green Bay’s 2025 starting center currently on the roster?

Josh Myers is set to hit free agency, and while those inside the building have spoken glowingly about his positive impact on the team and in the locker room, his play on the field has never been of a high enough quality or consistent enough.

Assuming he ends up leaving for a better offer than Green Bay is willing to present, much like Jon Runyan a year ago, the Packers will be looking for answers at that spot.

In theory, they have five offensive linemen they would be happy to start in Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan, Zach Tom and Jordan Morgan, but how confident are they that one of them can make the move to center?

Jenkins played the position in college, but the former has not fared extremely well when asked to fill in there in the pros. Having more time to get back on the horse, such as an entire training camp, could help.

There was buzz last offseason the Packers thought Tom could be an ‘All-Pro’ center, but he has performed so well at tackle it is hard to see the team moving him now.

Rhyan could be another option, but an untested one, while the center they drafted last year, Jacob Monk, was inactive on game days by the end of the season.

If the Packers do not believe their guy is on the roster, they need to get one.

Defensive Line

In their first year under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, the defensive front had a tough go of it at times. Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden all arguably performed worse than they did in 2023.

Inside 1265 Lombardi Avenue, discussions will be had about whether they believe this was simply the result of adapting to a new scheme, or whether more competition is needed to try to achieve more consistent results.

T.J. Slaton is set to hit free agency, and Green Bay’s success in defending the run waned noticeably when the big-bodied defensive tackle was not on the field. Do the Packers think they need to replicate his body type, and would they be willing to do so before the draft?

EDGE

The Packers struggled to get consistent production out of their pass rush in 2024, at least when they rushed four. An EDGE group which underwhelmed in too many games was arguably the biggest reason.

Rashan Gary got his numbers back to a respectable place by the end of the year, but was not the player Packers fans have come to know.

Lukas Van Ness, taken with the 13th overall pick in 2023, has yet to get off the ground, and while Kingsley Enagbare, Brenton Cox Jr. and Arron Mosby had their moments, it was not enough to hang your hat on going forward.

Gutekunst faces a tough decision here. Is he ready to bring in a big name and plant them firmly ahead of Van Ness on the depth chart, helping the team in the short term but potentially curtailing any steps his former first-round pick may have taken?

Does he want to keep the group mostly as it is, giving LVN the runway to win a starting spot ahead of Enagbare, Cox and Mosby and hope he does exactly that? It’s a fine balance between having faith in your guy and falling into a sunken cost fallacy.

There should be options out there, Khalil Mack potentially chief among them. How confident is Gutekunst he made the right decision back in 2023 to draft Van Ness, and that another year in Hafley’s system will yield the results he needs to see?

Linebacker

Edgerrin Cooper looks like a budding star for the Packers, enjoying a tremendous rookie year. Quay Walker has been decidedly less impressive in his three years with the team, but will almost certainly start and wear the green dot on Green Bay’s defense again in 2025.

The X-factor here is Ty’Ron Hopper.

Us mere outsiders are not privy to all the information on Hopper, a third-round draft pick from last year who scarcely saw the field as a rookie, such as how he has progressed throughout the year in practice.

Some kind of addition likely needs to be made regardless, with Eric Wilson and Isaiah McDuffie hitting free agency, but if Green Bay believes the former Missouri man can start in base next season, they will not need to attack the position with as much vigor.

If they are not confident he is ready, they may need to consider dipping their toes into the free agent market, especially given Walker’s up and (mostly) down play to date.

Cornerback

The consensus seems to be that the Packers will cut bait with Jaire Alexander, their two-time Second-Team All-Pro but oft injured corner, and those rumblings only got louder when Alexander told reporters on locker cleanout day: “I don’t even know if I’m going to be here”.

If Alexander did end up staying in Green Bay, Gutekunst might be content to take the bulk of his current corner group into 2025.

Keisean Nixon has shown he can be serviceable on the outside, while Carrington Valentine has shown real promise, and the Packers also have multiple options in the slot between Nixon, Javon Bullard and Kalen King, who spent this year on the practice squad.

Sticking with Alexander would be making a bet he can finally stay healthy after several injury-plagued years, but is not out of the question if Gutekunst does not like what he sees in the upcoming free agent class.

But if Alexander departs, it makes the rest of the room look a lot weaker, as they all get thrust into more prominent roles. At that point, Gutekunst would have little choice but to try to find a solution in free agency, as well as likely the draft.