GREEN BAY – The 2021 NFL season is almost here and with it comes the start of unrestricted free agency.
Beginning Monday, the Packers and the NFL’s other 31 clubs can open negotiations with outside free agents. Teams will then be permitted to enter into formal agreements with players at the onset of the new league year on Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT.
The Packers have 24 players with expiring contracts, including 14 unrestricted free agents who will count towards the compensatory formula if they sign elsewhere in the coming days and weeks.
In addition to their veterans with expiring deals, the Packers have six restricted free agents who must be extended tenders by Wednesday or they’ll be free to sign elsewhere as “street” free agents that do not count towards the compensatory process.
Those six players – tight end Robert Tonyan, defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster, safety Raven Greene, quarterback Tim Boyle, and cornerbacks Chandon Sullivan and Parry Nickerson – are eligible to receive one of three restricted tenders: first round, second round or right of first refusal.
All three tenders give the Packers the ability to match any offer sheet a restricted free agent executes with another NFL team. If Green Bay declines to match, it would receive draft-pick compensation corresponding to the first two tenders, but no compensation for the lowest tender.
Green Bay also has four exclusive-rights free agents (players with fewer than three accrued NFL seasons), who can be retained with a one-year tender at the league minimum.
Here’s a list of the Packers’ 24 pending free agents:
Unrestricted free agents (14)
Restricted free agents (6)
Exclusive rights free agents (4)