Green Bay Packers: 5 Top targets in 2020 NFL free agency
By Joe Kipp
The Green Bay Packers have a few holes to fill this offseason. Here are five players that should be top targets in 2020 NFL free agency.
The 2019 season was extremely kind to the Green Bay Packers. Led by first-year coach Matt LaFleur, Green Bay finished 14-4 (including playoffs), falling just one game short of the Super Bowl. The fatal flaws of the Packers were exposed in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, but luckily there’s some top players available in 2020 NFL free agency to aid in a quick turnaround.
One of the biggest holes on the entire team lies at the inside linebacker position. Even with Blake Martinez finishing second in the NFL in total tackles (155), the position was a clear weakness, particularly in coverage. Martinez was on the field for 596 coverage snaps during the 2019 season but finished with just one pass defensed.
Martinez is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and the likelihood of the Packers re-signing him to a contract is slim. Green Bay has never historically valued the inside linebacker position anyway, and with Martinez’s expected price tag we can expect the Packers to let him sign elsewhere in 2020.
On the other side of the ball, wide receiver remains a huge concern for the team moving forward. Outside of Davante Adams, no player on the entire Packers roster finished with over 500 receiving yards in 2019. A superstar at the position, Adams missed four games but still finished with 997 receiving yards.
It’s likely the Packers will use a high draft pick on a receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft, but signing an experienced veteran isn’t the worst idea either. We saw what happened this past season when the team went into the season with just one veteran receiver (Adams), so it’s not out of the question that the team would sign a veteran play maker in free agency.
General manager Brian Gutekunst has shown the willingness to spend in free agency, evidenced by the signings of Jimmy Graham, Muhammad Wilkerson, Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Billy Turner and Adrian Amos over the past two seasons.
Based on that alone, the Packers are likely to be active in free agency once again this coming March. Here are five top targets for the Green Bay Packers in 2020 NFL free agency.