GREEN BAY — If Bryan Bulaga is going to return to the Green Bay Packers, the veteran offensive tackle will likely have to take a hometown discount — much like wide receiver Randall Cobb did on Saturday night with his new deal.
Cobb agreed to terms on a reported four-year, $40 million deal that includes $17 million in guaranteed money — but he likely would have made significantly more had he waited until the unrestricted free-agent market opened on Tuesday afternoon and signed elsewhere. One NFL source said Cobb left upwards of $2 million per year on the table by re-upping with the Packers.
That's likely what Bulaga will have to do as well, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Silverstein reported that Bulaga is seeking a deal that averages between $7 million and $8 million per season, an amount the Packers are unlikely to pay.
Instead, an NFL source said the Packers would like to sign Bulaga, their 2010 first-round pick, to a deal similar to those signed by Dallas Cowboys right tackle Doug Free (three years, $15 million, $6 million guaranteed) and Houston Texans right tackle Derek Newton (five years, $26.5 million, $10 million guaranteed).
Jacksonville, Washington and Tampa Bay are reportedly interested in Bulaga. Players' agents were free to begin talking with outside teams starting Saturday afternoon, although players cannot sign contracts with teams outside of their current club until Tuesday at 3 p.m. Central Daylight Time.
Bulaga's line mates, including right guard T.J. Lang and left tackle David Bakhtiari, have each expressed public hope on their Twitter accounts that their friend will be re-signed.
After suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries — a hip injury midway through the 2012 season and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2013 Family Night Scrimmaeg — Bulaga bounced back to start 17 of the Packers' 18 games last season, missing one start (against the New York Jets in Week 2) after suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his surgically-repaired left knee in the Sept. 4 regular-season opener at Seattle.
The Packers' starting offensive line — Bakhtiari, left guard Josh Sitton, center Corey Linsley, Lang and Bulaga — formed the best unit the team has had during two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers' tenure as the starting quarterback.
Should Bulaga depart, the Packers would have to fill his right tackle spot with Don Barclay, a restricted free agent who is coming off a torn ACL himself but started in Bulaga's place after the 2012 and 2013 injuries; third-year lineman JC Tretter, who was set to be the starter at center before a preseason knee injury; or a lineman selected in the April 30-May 2 NFL Draft. Each of the past two years, a rookie — Bakhtiari in 2013, Linsley last season — has started on the Packers' offensive line.
"Obviously my relationship with these guys that I play with, it's great. Our families are very close — T.J., Josh, Dave, Corey, everyone's very close. It's a close group," Bulaga said on Jan. 19 as he cleaned out his locker following the team's season-ending loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. "So from that standpoint, I mean, yeah, you'd love to stay next to the same guys for your entire career. You've seen what we've been able to do this season, just keeping guys together for consecutive games.
"But at the end of the day, you have to realize that this is a business on both ends. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. We'll see what happens. I don't know what's going to happen."
Jason Wilde wrote: