Packers 2025 NFL free agency targets after playoff loss to Eagles
01/13/2025 09:31 PM
The Green Bay Packers can’t keep the status quo heading into the 2025 NFL season. One would have to think General Manager Brian Gutekunst knows that after watching the Packers get beat pretty handily by the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round this past weekend, but it’s a point that can’t be brought up enough in the wake of that loss.
The Packers undoubtedly have a Super Bowl window open. Things are going to be tough with the Detroit Lions finally clawing their way out of the NFC North’s basement into massive relevancy and there’s hope for bright futures for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears as well.
The Packers are going to have to scratch and claw to win the NFC North in 2025, which is something they haven’t done since 2021, mind you. That’s also not to mention ascending teams in the NFC like the Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons, and you know the old guard of the Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, and Seattle Seahawks that aren’t going to be going away any time soon.
The NFL is a stacked and competitive league. From a fan standpoint, that parity is arguably the best part of the product. Any team has a chance to win it all during any season.
For team builders, however, that means the pedal can never be taken off the metal. Gutekunst made two huge additions to the team last offseason with running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney, but he has to keep building this offseason.
The Packers have always been a draft-and-develop type organization, so that’s going to continue with the young cornerstone pieces like Jordan Love, Tucker Kraft, and Edgerrin Cooper, but the Packers need to go into free agency and really make another splash this offseason.
The good news? Gutekunst and the Packers will have roughly $60 million in cap space this offseason, so they can be big spenders. The below three players need to be at the top of the Packers’ wish list.
D.J. Reed can be the Packers new big-time cornerback
Free agency is fun for fans because you get to watch your favorite team spend a bunch of money that’s not your own in the hopes of making drastic improvements. There is an art to free agency, though, and the Packers have been great at that through the years. They don’t often spend a ton of money, but when they bring players in, they’re either legitimate stars who can move the needle or they’re ascending stars who are ready to take the next step.
Cornerback D.J. Reed fits that second mold and with the Packers facing a ton of uncertainty at the cornerback position, he fits the bill as well. Jaire Alexander is injury prone and he’s due over $30 million over the next two seasons on his contract. There is a potential out in that contract that would allow the Packers to get out from under it with just a $19 million dead cap hit, so moving on from Alexander and bringing in Reed could help Green Bay get better at the position right away.
Even better would be if the Packers could restructure Alexander’s deal and then roll with him and Reed in 2025.
Reed has been overshadowed as a member of the New York Jets because Sauce Gardner is in their secondary, but he notched 52 tackles and 11 passes defended this season, and he has six interceptions in his seven-season career. He’s a gamer and could be a great addition to Jeff Hafley’s aggressive defense.
The Packers would benefit greatly from the addition of Tee Higgins
The Packers desperately need a No. 1 receiver who can take over a game and become Love’s go-to guy when the chips are on the line, and Tee Higgins is going to be the best wideout available this offseason.
The Packers took a chance by bringing in the hands-down best safety in the NFL last offseason in McKinney, and it worked out in a huge way for their defense. Now Gutekusnt can do the same thing with Higgins on offense.
Even in the shadow of Ja’Marr Chase, he notched 73 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns this season for the Cincinnati Bengals. He has two 1,000-plus yard seasons in his five-year career, and he’s averaged nearly seven touchdowns a season since entering the NFL out of Clemson as a second-rounder in 2020.
The addition of Higgins could revolutionize head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense, and it would certainly help the development of Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed.
Malcolm Koonce is a low-risk, high-reward pass rusher
Sometimes you have to find a “diamond in the rough” that you can get for a good value in free agency, and pass rusher Malcom Koonce represents exactly that for the Packers.
Koonce suffered a season-ending knee injury just days before the Las Vegas Raiders’ season opener, so he never got to show off what made him such an exciting pass-rushing prospect for the Raiders toward the end of the 2023 season.
A former third-round pick out of Buffalo, Koonce finished 2023 with 43 tackles, eight sacks, and three forced fumbles. He was supposed to be a featured player across from Maxx Crosby on the Raiders’ defensive line, but the injury stole that from him and Vegas in 2024.
Still, the injury happened long enough ago that he should be fully healthy by the time the 2025 season rolls around, and the Packers could offer Koonce a one-year “prove it” deal to see if he can recapture that 2023 form.
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