As the Green Bay Packers continue to work on reaching the NFL’s salary cap by Wednesday, there are other reasons the Packers will likely field a significantly different roster this year. For one, the Packers finally decided to fix their woeful special teams unit. To do so they signed for Las Vegas interim head coach and special teams coaching veteran Rich Bisaccia.
To get Bisaccia they had to make him the league’s highest paid special teams coordinator. I have to believe that they also told him they will try to get him the types of players he needs to be successful. To me that means we are going to see a lot of guys replaced on the bottom half of the roster. Bisaccia’s hiring will likely have an effect on the type of players the team will be looking to draft next month as well.
The Packers’ special teams aren’t likely to influence the betting lines, but with betway you can check the odds and do all your online betting in one place. Casino and other games are available as well. The odds may not reflect it, but improved special teams will most definitely improve the Packers odds of winning the Super Bowl.
So who gets axed?
The Packers have 24 free agents with varying degrees of restrictions. Some are unrestricted free agents, some are restricted and some are exclusive rights free agents. Players designated exclusive rights free agents merely need to be tendered an offer. They are then no longer able to negotiate with any other team. The Packers have seven of those players but only three of them I think could possibly be tendered. Those would be safety Henry Black, linebacker Krys Barnes and tight end Dominique Dafney. But if none of the seven were tendered it wouldn’t surprise me, either.
The Packers only have two restricted free agents and they are wide receiver Allen Lazard and left tackle Yosh Nijman. The Packers will likely offer both of those players one of the various tenders available to them. Lazard is at least a dependable wide receiver who knows the system. Nijman is an up-and-coming player who probably should have started the playoff game against the 49ers. I hope they are able to retain both of these guys. Both can play special teams.
Free to go
The Packers have 14 unrestricted free agents. Of course one of those, wide receiver Davante Adams was effectively taken off the market with the non-exclusive rights franchise tag. I can’t see any team giving up two number ones for a 30-year old receiver who wants to be the highest paid player at his position.
Of the 13 remaining players DeVondre Campbell is the one the Packers need to bring back the most. I would also like to see them try to get Robert Tonyan back. It sounds like he is recovering nicely from his ACL injury last year and will be ready to go sooner rather than later.
Two other guys, cornerback Rasul Douglas and punter Corey Bojorquez, would be nice to have on the roster again this year. I think with good coaching Bojorquez could be one of the best punters in the league. He should want to stay now that Bisaccia is here.
There are a couple of other guys like Lucas Patrick and/or Chandon Sullivan that it would be nice to see return. But nobody would lose any sleep if they didn’t. And I’m guessing the odds at betway won’t be changing, either.
I think the Packers will have a lot of new faces for a team not rebuilding. Going to be fun to watch free agency unfold this week.