One thing that stuck out to me when the Green Bay Packers introduced Brian Gutekunst as general manger is this. He said we want to be in every conversation.
And maybe that’s an overstatement, because you don’t want to be in every conversation. You want to be in the conversations that you want to be in. Previously, under Ted Thompson, the Packers weren’t in any conversations. Or hardly any, as it were.
They’ve been in plenty since free agency opened. Now, they’re in another one. The Packers have apparently reached out to Tyrann Mathieu’s agent. Mathieu was released by the Arizona Cardinals Wednesday morning.
The Packers are in on CB Melvin, as previously reported, and have reached out to Tyrann Mathieu’s reps. They are also keeping tabs on Morgan Burnett & a another TE that’s on the market
— Joe Arrigo (@joearrigofsm) March 14, 2018
Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stuff in there. We already spoke about Rashaan Melvin. We also spoke about Morgan Burnett, who appears unlikely to be back with the Packers.
Then there are the two new developments. Mathieu, who would be akin to the signing of tight end Jimmy Graham on the defensive side of the ball, plays a hybrid cornerback/safety role. If the Packers are going to lose Burnett, could there be a better addition? Probably not.
Mathieu had 70 tackles, a sack, two interceptions, seven passes defended and a forced fumble in 2017. He was a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro in 2015.
But let’s temper our expectations here. The list of teams interested in Mathieu is going to be long. And that likely rules the Packers out because someone is going to pay the Honey Badger an absurd amount of money.
As for this other tight end, we’ll see. The Packers were reportedly interested in Carolina Panthers tight end Ed Dickson, but that was before they signed Graham. Perhaps another interesting option is former first-round pick Eric Ebron, who was released by the Detroit Lions on Wednesday. Ebron hasn’t exactly blown the doors off with the Lions, but he did catch 53 for 574 and four touchdowns in 2017. He had more than 700 yards in 2016.
Everyone thinks the Packers need to add a receiver after releasing Jordy Nelson. They already have that guy in Graham. Maybe they’ll find another one with a similar game.