I figured I'd copy my post from the other thread into this one:
Here's a list of our free agents from earlier this season:
A.J. Hawk** LB 26 4 $4,123,750
Cullen Jenkins** DE 29 6 3,200,000
Tyrone Williams** CB 27 3 3,043,000
Daryn Colledge** G 28 4 1,759,000
Jason Spitz C-G 27 4 1,759,000
Atari Bigby S 28 4 1,699,500
Will Blackmon S 25 4 1,176,000
John Kuhn FB 27 4 1,176,000
Mason Crosby K 25 3 1,101,000
James Jones WR 26 3 1,101,000
Charlie Peprah S 27 4 630,000
Allen Barbre T-G 26 3 550,000
Desmond Bishop LB 26 3 550,000
Korey Hall** FB 27 3 550,000
Brandon Jackson RB 24 3 550,000
It's funny to me that he put "Tyrone" instead of "Tramon" Williams. This list is lacking Sam Shields and a few other mid-season acquisitions.
I've been thinking about the impending free agents almost all of yesterday because I really want to keep a lot of players.
The WR situation is going to be interesting. I've heard conflicting reports about Driver retiring--the guy said he wanted to play until he's 40 but now that he's won a Super Bowl guys like Peter King are saying he might call it a career. Now if we lose Driver were left with only Jennings and Jordy on our roster with Swain and Jones as FA's (although Swain is an exclusive-rights FA).
In my opinion, regardless of what happens to Driver, we keep Jones unless he doesn't want to stay. Jones dropped his way out of a big contract on the free agent market. If he had caught those easy touchdowns (he had like 4-5 this year at the least) he may have found it easy to bolt to another team for the big bucks. But I don't think there are many teams willing to pay for his inconsistency. Because of that I think we'll be able to offer Jones around what he'd get on the FA market so unless Jones wants to leave or we don't want him anymore I think we keep him.
Swain is a different story. The guy is great for our special teams and has been fifth on the depth chart. He won't break the bank so we'll probably keep him around to battle it out in training camp another year.
I also don't understand all the anti-Jackson sentiment on the board. If Grant comes back healthy we have a legitimate tandem with him in Starks. Jackson won't command a lot of money on the open market because his best assets are as a third-down back. In our offense, especially with how pass-happy we've been, a reliable third-down back is almost as important as a straight running back. Jackson knows the offense, has a knack for picking up the blitz and is extremely efficient on screens and underneath passing routes. I don't know why we wouldn't keep him, especially because not a lot of teams will want to pay for him. Grant, Starks, and Jackson sounds like a great depth chart at RB.
However, if we keep three RB's one of our FB's has got to go. What's interesting is that Kuhn and Hall's contracts are both up but Johnson's isn't. If I were to guess a FB that would be cut it would probably be Johnson, even though I love the guy. He just doesn't fit our offense very well--he'd be amazing in a power running scheme but we rarely utilize that if at all in our system. Plus, Kuhn's versatility and Hall's abilities on special teams will definitely factor in here. I count on only having two FB's on the roster this season.
The mention of locking up Tramon Williams was huge but they failed to mention what happened with Bishop. Now that Desmond is here to stay we have an interesting situation on our hands. Barnett has been on IR for the majority of the last two seasons. Two of our other ILB's just signed 4-year deals in the last two years (Chillar and Bishop). Hawk's salary jumps from 3.5 million to 10 million this season and with the leadership he's shown I can't see how he doesn't get his deal restructured. So what does this mean for Barnett? Is he going to get cut? Traded? Do we try switching one of our ILB's to the outside? This is by far the most interesting contract situation in my mind.
Jenkins is the toughest nut to crack here. He's the only free agent we have that will have a steep asking price. Add that to the fact that he's just turning 30 and you have a guy that's going to be getting the last contract of his career. He wants that financial stability. I would love to keep him--whenever him on Matthews are on the field at the same time it's hard not to notice how much more effective our pass rush is--but I just don't know if it's in the cards. If we keep Green we'll have Neal, Green, Raji, Pickett, Wilson and Wynn on the d-line. It will be much weaker without Jenkins and I trust that Ted Thompson will do everything in his power to get a deal done but I just don't see Ted Thompson matching Jenkins probable asking price.
Our guard situation is also a bit interesting. Spitz and Colledge are both up for free agency and our line isn't getting any stronger or younger. Because of Spitz' injuries I can see him getting a training camp contract if he wants to compete for the job again this summer. For Colledge it's a bit tougher. He seemed a bit miffed when we made him sign his tender last year so I think he may not even want to stay here. Offensive lineman are always a hot commodity so I expect someone to overpay for Colledge if he gets to free agency. I really don't see us keeping him.
And what about Atari? Well, we've had Collins and Peprah play solidly this last year (Peprah is a free agent too) and we'll be getting Morgan Burnett and Anthony Smith back from injury. Bigby has also struggled with injuries in the past and, like Colledge, he was forced to sign his tender last year. I feel we'll let him explore the market and sign with another team if he chooses too. I don't think we'll be actively trying to keep him but if he falls back into another Green Bay training camp I wouldn't be surprised.
Last but not least Aaron Rodgers guitar partner and long snapper extraordinaire Brett Goode will probably be re-signed.