Free agency comes with risk. Every team knows that. It’s why Ted Thompson very rarely spent big money in free agency while the general manager in Green Bay.
GM Brian Gutekunst made it clear he’d be more willing to use free agency than Thompson, and he proved it by signing tight end Jimmy Graham and Muhammad Wilkerson last March.
After one season, neither move worked out the way the Packers had hoped.
Let’s be clear, both signings were very different. Graham was the biggest risk with the Packers offering the five-time Pro Bowler a three-year contract worth $30 million.