General manager Brian Gutekunst will inevitably have some tough roster calls to make over the next few months, and the process starts this week with the OTAs.
The Green Bay Packers are always looking for competition. The premise is that getting multiple players to fight for spots will bring the best out of everyone, and that's how you build the best version of your roster. Eventually, that also causes some surprising outcomes.
Go back to 2016, for instance, and the Packers shockingly cut guard Josh Sitton right before the regular season. Let's not pretend something so drastic will happen again this year, but many veteran players are under real risk of getting cut depending on how these battles shake out. Therefore, let's discuss some of them ahead of OTAs
.
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DT Karl Brooks
The Packers traded Colby Wooden
away this offseason, but they drafted Chris McClellan and signed Javon Hargrave in free agency. New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon
plays more odd fronts than Jeff Hafley, so interior defensive linemen who can eat blocks instead of just penetrating are more relevant. To make things more complicated for Brooks in a certain way, he achieved the proven performance escalator, which elevates his base salary - his new cap hit is $3.727 million, but there are no extra guarantees.
If Brooks doesn't prove he can be an impactful part of the rotation, it will be hard to justify his salary - and ultimately, his roster spot.
CB Carrington Valentine
The Packers tried to avoid starting Valentine last season, but injuries forced their hand throughout the season. This year, they cut Nate Hobbs and signed Benjamin St-Juste, who's more effective playing as a boundary corner - and that's not great news for Valentine
. The Packers drafting Brandon Cisse and Domani Jackson puts more pressure over the former seventh-rounder. Just like Brooks, Valentine also reached the PPE, so his salary cap jumped to $3.7 million.
LB Ty'Ron Hopper
The Packers had multiple opportunities to show faith in Hopper, but they did the exact opposite. This offseason, the front office knew it would be hard to keep Quay Walker, so they proactively traded for Zaire Franklin. At this point, it's hard to justify Hopper's spot, even though he's a former third-round pick.
Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper are the starters, and Isaiah McDuffie is the immediate backup. For special teams, the position room has Nick Niemann and Kristian Welch. At this point, Hopper is a situational special teamer and developmental off-ball linebacker, but that's a difficult proposition entering his third NFL season.
