The Green Bay Packers are proud of their idea of “draft and develop.” Part of this is figuring out which draft picks to keep and which ones to let go when their rookie contracts are up.
The Packers get this right most of the time. They don’t usually pay too much to bring back their own free agents, but they almost always get new contracts for their star players.
But sometimes, they are wrong. Which four past draft picks do the Packers wish they could get back this season?
Corey Linsley
It’s easy to see why the Packers decided to move on from Corey Linsley. They didn’t have much room in their pay cap, and Linsley was about to turn 30. But when they tried to find someone to take his place, the Packers made a mistake.
In that year, Green Bay picked Josh Myers in the second round. Myers is a good starter, but he hasn’t been reliable enough. Creed Humphrey was picked by the Kansas City Chiefs one pick later. He has already been to the Pro Bowl, made the second-team of All-Pro, and won the Super Bowl.
In 2021, Linsley’s first year with the Los Angeles Chargers, he was named to the All-Pro second team and to the Pro Bowl. Even though they had good reasons for leaving him behind two years ago, the Packers miss him.
Davante Adams
Davante Adams wanted to leave Green Bay in March 2022, so he was moved to the Las Vegas Raiders. If the Packers had given Adams the deal he earned during the offseason before, things would have been different. Adams would probably still be playing for the Packers if they had just given him a fair deal.
Adams is one of the Packers’ best wide receivers of all time, and he is near the top of the leaderboards for receiving in every area. Pro Football Reference says that Adams has the fourth-most receiving yards, the second-most receiving scores, and the second-most receptions in the history of the Packers franchise.
In his first year with the Raiders, he caught 100 passes for 1,516 yards and 14 scores. This earned him first-team All-Pro honors for the third year in a row and a spot in the Pro Bowl for the sixth year in a row. The Packers’ attack, according to bookies’ stats on bet on nfl games online, struggled without him for most of the season.
Adams is still the league’s best wide receiver. If the Packers had signed him back, they would have made sure that Jordan Love had a strong WR1 in his first year as the Packers’ starting quarterback. This would have made his job easy. When Adams signed his deal and left Green Bay, the Packers did everything wrong.
Jamaal Williams
Two years ago, when Jamaal Williams was a free agent, the Packers let him go. He then signed with the Detroit Lions. AJ Dillon has done a good job as the No. 2 player behind Aaron Jones, but the Packers miss Williams’ all-around game.
Last season, the Lions gave Williams a bigger role, and it paid off in a big way. Williams had by far the most carries of his career, and he used them to get 1,066 yards and the most rushing scores in the league (17). Williams had a very good year.
Green Bay could have paid for him to come back, so it’s not like they couldn’t. Spotrac says that Williams’ deal with the Lions was worth $6 million over two years. Since then, he has signed a $12 million deal with the New Orleans Saints for three years.
Last season, Williams’ rushing numbers were the best of his career. This showed that he could be a key player in an offense. He can also catch passes well. In his career, he has caught passes for 1,191 yards and eight scores.
Jamaal Williams has a lot of fans. He is a good player and a good friend, and he always has a good mood. On offense, Williams is missed by the Packers. With the Saints, he should have a great season.
Micah Hyde
Despite leaving the Packers six years ago. Micah Hyde’s still one of the best safeties we have in the NFL. Packers not re-signing the talented 32-year-old is the team’s biggest free-agent mistake in recent years.
Hyde played well in Green Bay before he finally reached his full ability with the Buffalo Bills. He played for the Packers for a long time and did a lot of different things on defense and special teams.
Hyde was a safety and cornerback for Green Bay’s defense. Over four seasons, he stopped 24 passes and picked off eight balls. Even though he only started 33 of the 63 games he played for the Packers, he still did that well. He was also great on special teams. Over the course of two seasons, he returned three punts for scores.
In 2017, the Packers did not re-sign Hyde, and he went to play for the Bills. Since then, he has been named to the All-Pro second team twice and played in the Pro Bowl in 2017. Hyde has played for the Bills for six years and has stopped 35 passes and picked off 14 passes.
Hyde and Jordan Poyer both joined the Bills in the summer, and there hasn’t been a better pair of safeties anywhere else in the league. Even after the Packers moved on from Hyde six years ago, he would still start in their defense.
