Tuesday Cheese Curds: How should the Packers spend in free agency?
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN - NOVEMBER 02: General manager Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers looks on prior to the game against the Carolina Panthers in the game at Lambeau Field on November 02, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty ImagesThe Packers can spend in free agency this spring. Not a lot, but they can, though it'll take some work to get there.
But what they should spend on is a tricky question. They can't spend as freely as they might like; don't expect an extravaganza as we saw in 2019, for instance. The Packers will need to be judicious with their dollars.
So where can they get the most bang for their buck? For my money, no pun intended, the Packers' best value spend would be at nose tackle, though we need to manage expectations.
There are no elite nose tackles in free agency. There's very little elite anything in free agency, for that matter; Leigh Steinberg's old quote about A+ contracts for B+ players" largely rings true. But the Packers have a better shot at finding competence in free agency than they do in the draft, where they'd likely have to spend a high draft pick to get someone worth having on the defensive line. The actually valuable big boys always go early, and the Packers, of course, do not have a first round pick.
The Packers can probably manufacture a center if they need one, either by bringing back Sean Rhyan or fudging their traditional draft rules a bit to nab a day three prospect who's a little undersized or a little under-athletic. But if the Packers want to shore up their biggest defensive weakness, they should go for the closest thing to a sure bet that they can find, and that's buying whatever defensive lineman most represents a proven performer" in free agency.
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