Another disappointing playoff loss may lead to the Green Bay Packers reversing a trend. According to a report, the team is looking to be more active on the free-agent market.
“There certainly are some indications that the Packers might be a little more aggressive in free agency this year,” Ian Rapoport said on NFL Network. “From what I am told, I would think the Packers are going to try to get some free agents this year, along with trying to re-sign Jared Cook.”
This would certainly be a break from the recent trends of Green Bay and general manager Ted Thompson. But in truth, the deviation is necessary.
The Packers have now made the playoffs in eight straight years. In all but one of those years, the season ended with a frustrating playoff loss. Even with those losses, Green Bay has generally been one of the NFL’s more conservative teams in the free-agent market.
That puts the Packers in a spot where it’s hard to improve. Since Green Bay is a perennial playoff team, it’s rarely in position to select the blue-chip studs available in the draft. But since the team usually is a tier or two below the NFL’s best, being so conservative in the free-agent market is not justifiable.
The Packers have plenty of places to improve. They don’t need to be the NFL’s most-active team in free agency. But with some well placed aggression, Green Bay could take a step up and be one of the NFL’s elite teams in 2017.