Twelve million a year for a cornerback who’s been largely mediocre his first four years in the league? A massive four-year, $77 million contract for a left guard who’s been slightly above average?
Those are the contracts Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst handed out for guard Aaron Banks and cornerback Nate Hobbs Monday during the NFL’s ‘legal tampering period.’ And those moves had much of Packer Nation scratching their collective heads.
In fairness to Gutekunst, when he has dipped into free agency, he’s been remarkably successful.
In 2019, Gutekunst signed linebackers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, safety Adrian Amos and offensive lineman Billy Turner within a two-hour window. That quartet helped the Packers reach the NFC Championship Game two straight years, and earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021.
NFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021.
In 2024, Gutekunst hit home runs by signing running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney. Gutekunst is crossing his fingers he’ll get similar bang for the buck from Hobbs and Banks.
The addition of that duo capped a busy start to free agency in Green Bay.
The Packers also lost defensive tackle T.J Slaton to Cincinnati, won’t make a run at center Josh Myers and will cut or trade cornerback Jaire Alexander — possibly before the new league year arrives Wednesday afternoon.
Here are my first impressions, second thoughts and the third degree on Green Bay’s early moves in free agency.
ADDITIONS
AARON BANKS, LG
At this time last year, the Packers gave safety Xavier McKinney a four-year, $67 million deal and he rewarded them with a Pro Bowl season. To the surprise of many, Gutekunst gave Banks $10 million more than that.
At this point in his career, there’s nothing to indicate that Banks will be live up to that massive contract.
The 27-year-old Banks was a second round draft pick by San Francisco in 2021 (No. 48 overall). Banks appeared in nine games as a reserve during his rookie season, then made 43 starts over the last three years.
In that time, Banks has been a solid, but far from spectacular starter.
According to Pro Football Focus, Banks allowed just one sack in 775 snaps last season. PFF also had Banks ranked 37th out of 135 guards in run blocking and 77th out of 135 guards in pass blocking.
Over the last three seasons, Banks played 88.3% of the snaps in 2022, 78.5% in 2023 and 71.8% in 2024.
“We’re always going to continue to address the offensive line because there’s just never enough of them,” Gutekunst said at the NFL Scouting Combine last month.
Banks has played primarily left guard with the 49ers, which means Elgton Jenkins will likely move from that spot to center. Josh Myers — Green Bay’s center the past four years — is expected to depart in free agency.
So by signing Banks, the Packers are tinkering with two spots on their offensive line.
“I think historically and I think with our group right now, we’ve worked really hard to be versatile, so that whatever comes, whether it’s injuries or whether we’re going through this period of time and we have to make some decisions, we have a lot of guys who can play multiple positions,” Gutekunst said. “But I like the versatility of our guys.
We’ve got a lot of guys that can play four spots – a couple guys who can probably play all five. So, we work really hard on the guys that we bring into that building to have the versatility to do that.”
NATE HOBBS, CB
Talk about your rags to riches story.
Las Vegas selected Hobbs in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. His rookie contract was four years and $3.78 million
Now, Hobbs is the 21st-highest paid cornerback in football after signing a four-year, $48 million deal with Green Bay.
Hobbs made 38 starts and played 51 career games at primarily slot corner for the Raiders. He also missed 16 games in the last three years due to injury.
Hobbs had three interceptions, three forced fumbles, 19 passes defensed, 14 tackles for loss and 281 tackles during his four years with Las Vegas.
Pro Football Focus gave Hobbs an overall grade of 61.4 last season, which ranked 110th out of 223 corners. His run defense grade was 100th overall and his coverage grade ranked 103rd.
Hobbs allowed nine touchdown passes and a passer rating of 102.1 during with the Raiders. He also had 50 career missed tackles, an unsightly miss rate of 15.7%.
In 2024, though, Hobbs allowed a respectable 31 catches for 280 yards in 318 coverage snaps.
The Packers are expected to trade or release cornerback Jaire Alexander as early as Wednesday, when free agency officially begins. Hobbs is then likely to move to the perimeter to replace Alexander, which will allow Green Bay to leave second-year man Javon Bullard at slot corner.
While the Hobbs deal seems pricey, the devil is always in the details.
Hobbs received $16 million guaranteed in a signing bonus. He’ll also receive a $6.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the new league year in 2026.
The base salaries for Hobbs, though, are just $1.2 million in 2025 and $1.8 million in 2026. Those numbers then ballon to $9.05 million in 2027 and $9.7 million in 2028.
So if the Packers aren’t enamored with Hobbs after a year or two, they’ll have an easy out.
Grade: C+
SUBTRACTIONS
T.J. SLATON, DT
n, Slaton told me: “I know a lot of guys get real excited about free agency. That’s not me. I’m not excited at all. I’d like to be here. This feels like home to me.”
Well, we all know money talks. And it spoke loudly to Slaton, who signed a reported two-year, $15.1 million deal with Cincinnati.
From Green Bay’s perspective, letting the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Slaton walk makes perfect sense.
The 2025 NFL Draft is loaded with defensive line prospects and the Packers will likely replenish the position that way. And while Slaton was a key cog in Green Bay’s much improved run defense last year, he certainly wasn’t a difference maker.
Slaton played 39.2% of the defensive snaps in 2024 and had 30 total tackles (15 solo), one sack and 13 pressures. In 68 career games in Green Bay, Slaton had 134 total tackles, two sacks and was never part of a turnover play.
You can’t pay everyone that hits free agency. And Green Bay should be able to find its next Slaton for half the price — or even less.
Grade: B
JOSH MYERS, C
The signing of Banks means Myers will be in a different uniform next season.
While Myers hasn’t found a new team yet, he should do fairly well on the open market.
Myers missed just one game in the last three seasons. And his snap counts in that time were 99.7% in 2022, 99.4% in 2023 and 93.0% in 2024.
Myers battled a torn pectoral injury the final six games of the 2024 season and wore a brace on his left wrist the last eight games. In that time, Myers missed just one game, proving himself to be the ultimate tough guy.
He also allowed only one sack and five quarterback hits in 2024.
Myers is just 26 and is entering his prime. He and quarterback Jordan Love had terrific chemistry. And he could prove tougher to replace than many think.
I can’t say enough good things about Josh Myers, not only as a player but as a leader,” Gutekunst said in January. “He really does embody kind of a Green Bay Packer and what we’re looking for and how they’re wired.”
When it came time to write the checks, though, Gutekunst chose to spend his money on Banks, meaning Jenkins will likely be the Packers’ center in 2025.
It’s risky business moving on from Myers and replacing him with someone that has just four career starts at center
Grade: D+
JAIRE ALEXANDER, CB
Late Tuesday evening, Alexander was still a member of the Packers. By Wednesday afternoon — the start of the new league year — there’s a good chance Alexander might have been traded or released, which will give the Packers an additional $6.8 million of salary cap space.
Gutekunst was holding out hope he could land a late round draft pick for the oft-injured and problematic cornerback before releasing him. No matter how it comes about, getting Alexander out of Green Bay will be addition by subtraction.
In three of the last four seasons, Alexander has played seven games, or fewer due to injury and suspension. And in that time, Alexander has missed 34 of a potential 68 games.
In 2024, Alexander missed 10 games due to quadricep and groin injuries, as well as a torn posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee. Alexander last took the field on Nov. 17 against Chicago, played just 10 snaps due to a knee injury and was never heard from again.
Somehow when the season ended, though, Alexander said: “You don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say. … I don’t have anything good to say.”
Right now, the best thing the Packers can say is, “Goodbye!”
Grade: A+
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
The Packers remaining free agents include cornerbacks Eric Stokes, Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell, linebacker Eric Wilson, tight end Tyler Davis, tackle Andre Dillard and running back A.J. Dillon. No one from that list is a high priority.
Green Bay’s greatest needs after the initial free agent flurry are wide receiver and defensive end.
The Packers missed out on wideouts Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay), D.J. Metcalf (Pittsburgh) and Davante Adams (Los Angeles Rams). So with a hodge podge of remaining players at this position, look for Green Bay to select a receiver or two early in next month’s draft.
The same is probable at defensive end, where the Packers must add players to the underwhelming duo of Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness. While Gary made the Pro Bowl in 2024, his play has been inconsistent. Van Ness, on the other hand, has just been consistently subpar
