GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Most of the buzz around free agency comes in the first couple of days, but don’t be surprised if the Green Bay Packers take their time, especially considering they’ve already re-signed three key players: Mike Daniels, Letroy Guion and Mason Crosby.
Last year, they managed to retain several of their key free agents even though they were the only team in the league not to sign an unrestricted free agent from another team.
With the free-agency negotiating period underway and the new league year to start Wednesday, when teams can begin signing free agents from other teams, it’s a good time to review how things played out in free agency last year.
As a reminder, last offseason teams were allowed to begin negotiations with other teams' free agents on March 7, but could not sign them until March 10. With that in mind, here's the timeline of how things happened in 2015:
Staying
March 7: Receiver Randall Cobb signed a four-year, $40 million contract a few hours after his agent was able to start fielding offers from other teams. Cobb later revealed that at least five other teams made pitches to him before he decided to come back to the Packers.
March 8: Quarterback Scott Tolzien signed a one-year, $1.35 million deal that ensured the Packers would not bring back Matt Flynn and paved the way to draft Brett Hundley, who likely will replace Tolzien as Aaron Rodgers’ backup.
March 10: Right tackle Bryan Bulaga signed a five-year, $33.75 million deal just hours before he would have hit the open market, ensuring the Packers would have their entire starting offensive line intact.
March 31: Defensive tackles B.J. Raji and Guion both sign one-year deals after receiving little or no action on the free-agent market. Raji had missed all of the previous season because of a biceps injury, while Guion had been arrested earlier in the offseason.
April 13: Fullback John Kuhn returned for a one-year, $920,000 contract.
Going
March 10: Cornerback Davon House signed a four-year, $24.5 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars on the first day of free agency. The Packers made House an offer, although it was for significantly less money.
March 16: Cornerback Tramon Williams leaves to sign a three-year, $21 million contract with the Cleveland Browns. The Packers had made Williams an offer in the neighborhood of between $4 million and $5 million per season.
April 1: Backup linebacker Jamari Lattimore signed a one-year, $825,000 contract with the New York Jets.