The Green Bay Packers has historically been a draft and development franchise. As important as getting good players is putting them in position to succeed and keeping them beyond the rookie contract.
For the most part, the strategy has worked, and the Packers are one of the most successful teams in recent history. But eventually, it’s natural that the philosophy will backfire sometimes.
Ahead of the 2025 NFL free agency, three former high draft picks have expiring deals with the Packers, and the most likely outcome for all of them is playing elsewhere next season.
RB AJ Dillon
The Packers themselves were not expecting to keep the former second-round pick AJ Dillon around last year, when he was also an unrestricted free agent. However, Dillon’s market wasn’t what he wished for, and Green Bay kept him using the unusual four-year qualifying offer. That means they paid him $2.575 million, but only the veteran minimum counted towards the salary cap. But Dillon hurt his shoulder in the preseason and missed the entire season.
Going into 2025, the Packers have a solid running back depth with Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson, and Chris Brooks, who all played at a good level in their specific roles. Moreover, third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd is returning from injury.
Maybe Dillon could accept a minimum deal to stay in Green Bay, but at this point it’s hard for him to even make the 53-man roster, let alone have a significant role on offense.
C Josh Myers
Another second-round pick that might be gone is their center, the only starting offensive player on the Packers who is slated to hit free agency. Internally, the Packers seem to like Myers more than most of the external public does, but that doesn’t mean they will be able to keep him around.
According to Spotrac, Myers is projected to receive a three-year, $23.2 million deal—$7.7 million in yearly average.
And that’s before considering that sometimes teams with a lot of cap space are fine overspending to get starting-caliber offensive linemen in free agency. Last year, for example, the New York Giants paid $10 million a year to get Jon Runyan.
The Packers already have a plan in place for the starting group, with first-round pick Jordan Morgan playing at guard, and Elgton Jenkins or Sean Rhyan moving from guard to center. The need to add interior offensive line depth is real, but Myers’ price is getting out of hand based on his limited performance.
CB Eric Stokes
This is a big case of “what could have been.” Stokes had a really good rookie year for the Packers in 2021, being a true CB1 after Jaire Alexander hurt his shoulder and missed the final 13 games of the regular season. But Stokes himself suffered serious knee and ankle injuries in 2022 and was never the same after that.
Last offseason, Green Bay correctly decided not to pick up Stokes’ fifth-year option, making him a free agent in 2025. And that solid process was proved right during the final year of his rookie deal, where he lost more and more space and finished the year behind Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine on the depth chart.
It’s difficult to know how much Stokes might get on the open market, because he is still 25 and plays a premium position. But the Packers can’t trust him, and anything much higher than a veteran minimum is a risk.
In 2021, after Kevin King’s rookie deal, the Packers surprisingly gave the former second-round pick a one-year, $6 million contract that always looked overpriced. Re-signing Stokes with a significant salary would possibly be making the same mistake again.