Packers Clips
With a trip to free agency roughly 12 hours away, linebacker Eric Wilson decided to stay where he has been.
Via Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, the Vikings and Wilson have agreed to terms on a three-year, $22.5 million deal. Of that amount, $12.5 million is fully guaranteed.
The 31-year-old Wilson appeared in all 17 regular-season games last season, starting 16 of them.
He arrived in Minnesota as an undrafted free agent in 2017. After four seasons with the Vikings, he signed a one-year deal with the Eagles. A Week 1 starter in 2021, he was released after only seven games. He finished the year with the Texans.
Wilson spent the next three seasons with the Packers. In his first two years, he appeared in 30 games with no starts. In 2024, he appeared in all 17 games, with 12 starts.
Last year, he signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal to return to Minnesota.
Not many guys see their biggest NFL payday on the other side of 30. Wilson has — and it ensures (given the guarantees) that he’ll have at least two more years with the Vikings.
With the so-called legal tampering period opening on Monday and with illegal tampering already running rampant, the Packers played beat-the-clock with one of their own.
Per multiple reports, the Packers have agreed to terms with offensive lineman Sean Rhyan on a three-year, $33 million deal with a maximum value of $39 million.
Rhyan opened the year as the starting right guard. He became the starting center after Elgton Jenkins suffered a season-ending injury in November.
The re-signing of Rhyan moves the Packers closer to a split with Jenkins, who is due to make $19.6 million in 2026, the final year of his contract. There has been talk of a potential trade, but it’s hard to imagine anyone taking on that financial obligation.
Rhyan arrived as a third-round pick in 2022. He started every game at right guard in 2024. For his career, Rhyan has 47 regular-season appearances and 28 regular-season starts.
The Raiders wanted two first-round picks and a player for defensive end Maxx Crosby. They ultimately settled for a pair of first-round picks from the Ravens.
The Cowboys apparently tried to land Crosby with a reduced offer of their own.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Dallas was willing to send a first-round pick in 2026 (12th overall), a future second-round pick, and a veteran player to Las Vegas.
The notion that the Cowboys tried to make a big swing for a pass rusher contradicts the “stop the run” excuse-making from owner/G.M. Jerry Jones, after he cried “uncle” at the end of the multi-month standoff with Micah Parsons. But Jones surely was intrigued by the possibility of getting Crosby’s remaining four contract years, at an average payout of $29 million per year. (And Jones undoubtedly believed he could talk Crosby into not expecting an adjustment to a deal that has been leapfrogged by other players — and by $10 million per year after Parsons signed with the Packers.)
The Cowboys have worked hard to convince themselves, and everyone else, that they won the Parsons trade. The mere fact that they made a play for Crosby is a concession that they need a high-end, veteran pass rusher after losing the chess match that played out throughout the 2025 offseason, the entirety of training camp, and most of the preseason.
Every team would benefit from a high-end veteran pass rusher. After quarterback, a player who can affect the quarterback is the most important position in football, one that transcends the stat sheet because it forces an offense to always know where that player is and to divert other players to slowing him down.
It also accelerates the clock in the quarterback’s head, prompting him to possibly make bad decisions before the walls cave in.
Last year, the Cowboys made a bad decision to negotiate directly with Parsons, to take the position that he verbally agreed to a deal, to refuse to engage with his agent, and eventually to not pay one of the best players in all of football. The fact that they were willing to give up nearly as much as they got for Parsons proves it.
On the eve of free agency, the Packers are bringing in a linebacker.
According to multiple reports, Indianapolis has agreed to trade Zaire Franklin to Green Bay in exchange for defensive tackle Colby Wooden.
Franklin, 29, recorded 125 total tackles with seven tackles for loss and six quarteback hits in 2025. He also had 2.0 sacks, five passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Franklin led the league with 173 total tackles in 2024, earning his first Pro Bowl berth. He was also a second-team AP All-Pro selection.
Franklin has been remarkably durable in his eight-year career, missing just one game for which he was eligible since entering the league as a seventh-round pick in 2018.
He has two years remaining on his contract.
Wooden appeared in all 17 games with 16 starts in 2025. A fourth-round pick in 2023, Wooden has appeared in 47 career games with 17 starts. He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Green Bay acquiring Franklin likely means the club will not retain pending free agent Quay Walker.
Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary posted on Instagram a farewell message to Green Bay. And then he deleted it.
Now, someone is getting out the word that Gary’s account was hacked. Multiple reports have tweeted the claim, citing an unnamed source.
If it was, Gary quickly regained control of his account. If it was, someone took the time to make a graphic with a five-paragraph message that reads like a legitimate goodbye.
As hacks go, then, this one was about as boring as they get.
Gary is due to earn a non-guaranteed base salary of $18 million in 2026, with $800,000 in per-game roster bonuses and a $700,000 workout bonus. He has a cap number of $28 million.
There’s no trigger that would require the Packers to make a quick decision on his future once the 2026 league year begins.
Packers defensive end Rashan Gary is on the way out of Green Bay. Maybe.
Gary posted on social media that he is leaving the Packers, although he later deleted the post.
It seems likely that Gary was told he will be released unless the Packers can find a trade partner willing to take on his $19.5 million non-guaranteed pay for 2026. But he may have thought better of making that public while he and his agent try to determine the best deal they can get elsewhere.
In his deleted post, Gary said it had been an honor to be a Packer.
“Green Bay — When I got the call in 2019, it was one of the greatest moments of my life, and it always will be,” Gary wrote. “The opportunity to represent Green Bay and Packers Nation across the country and around the world is something I will never forget. Like all chapters in life, this one has come to an end. I want to thank everyone who supported me and my family throughout the years. The love, the energy, and the memories mean more than words can explain. On to my next stop nowhere near done yet. All 6'5", 275 can’t wait.”
Plenty of teams will be interested in the 28-year-old Gary, who has played all seven of his NFL seasons in Green Bay.
Bob Harlan, who served for 19 years as president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, has died. He was 89.
The team announced Harlan’s passing on Thursday.
“The Packers family was saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Harlan,” Packers president and CEO Ed Policy said. “Bob was a visionary leader whose impact on the franchise was transformational. From his inspired hiring of Ron Wolf to turn around the club’s on-field fortunes to his tireless work to redevelop Lambeau Field, Bob restored the Packers to competitive excellence during his tenure and helped ensure our unique and treasured flagship NFL franchise was on sound footing for sustained generational success.”
Harlan was hired by the Packers in 1971, as the assistant General Manager. He became the team president and CEO (the highest position in the publicly-owned franchise) in 1989. The team quickly reversed two decades of on-field struggles, becoming a perennial contender and appearing in two Super Bowls before his retirement in 2008.
For 13 straight seasons, from 1992 through 2004, the Packers finished at .500 or better.
Harlan is survived by his wife, Madelaine, and six children. His son, Kevin, is a prominent sports broadcaster. Another son, Bryan, is a sports agent whose clients include Giants coach John Harbaugh.
Preseason practices will be a family affair for the Cardinals and Packers.
The Packers are planning to host a joint practice with the Cardinals in Green Bay before the teams meet in the final week of the preseason, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN. That means new Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur will be on the practice field with his brother, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.
The full preseason schedule has not been announced, but the league sometimes gives an initial heads up to teams about what to expect, and the Cardinals and Packers have apparently been told they’ll be meeting in the final preseason game.
The LaFleur brothers will not face off in the regular season, as the Cardinals and Packers don’t play this year. Jim and John Harbaugh are the only brothers ever to have coached against each other in the regular season, and also the only brothers ever to have coached against each other in the postseason.
The Packers have made a move for some cap room.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Green Bay has restructured safety Xavier McKinney’s contract, converting $4.25 million in salary to a bonus.
McKinney is under contract through 2027 after signing a four-year deal with Green Bay in free agency during the 2024 offseason.
In 2025, McKinney recorded 107 total tackles with 10 passes defensed, one forced fumble, and two interceptions in 16 games.
Hopefully, Ben Johnson has an alibi.
Via Fox 11 in Green Bay, Lambeau Field was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon due to a fire in one of the locker rooms.
Sprinklers had activate before firefighters arrived, and most of the blaze had been extinguished. The rest of the fire was quickly neutralized.
A crew from Fox 11 observed the removal of a burned plastic storage bin from the stadium.
The fire remains under investigation. It happened in a third locker room, used neither by the Packers nor by the visiting team, that was built in 2024 at a cost of roughly $5 million.
