Offseason to-do list: Green Bay's restricted free agents, part one

We’ve covered the Green Bay Packers’ unrestricted free agents. That was fun (at least for me) and fairly easy to do.

This is where it gets tricky. Hopefully, I can make this both brief and understandable.

As of now, the league and the player’s union are extremely far apart on a new CBA. In the event they fail to reach an agreement, there will be no salary cap next season and any player with less than six years of league service will be considered a restricted free agent (players like John Kuhn and Spencer Havner, although they have less than six years each, apparently don’t apply as they signed one-year free agent deals). In that case, Green Bay will have 10 restricted players and it will be able to tender them for compensation at one of four levels (the Packers get seven days to match any deal signed by a restricted free agent):

• A first-and-third round pick (players receiving this tender last season were paid $2.792 million)
• A first round pick (players receiving this tender last season were paid $2.198 million)
• A second round pick (players receiving this tender last season were paid $1.545 million)
• A basic tender, in which case Green Bay would receive a pick from the round that player was originally taken in. They would get no compensation if the player was an unsigned free agent (players receiving this tender last season were paid $1.01 million)

If a new CBA is reached – again, a longshot at best at this point – these players will, with a few exceptions, become unrestricted free agents. If that happens, Green Bay would have to hand out a lot more dough. In other words, a capless 2010 could work to the Packers’ favor as it would allow them to either bring players back at a cheaper rate or receive, possibly, very good compensation via the draft.

I sincerely hope you were able to follow that. If not, let us know and I’ll try to explain it better.

Anywho, let’s take a look at the players headed for restricted free agency. I’ll use the same format I used with the unrestricted free agents, only this time I’m listing the players in alphabetical order. Again, this thing was too long to run as one post so I broke it up into two parts. Part two will run later today (I promise).

As always, enjoy.

• Strong safety Atari Bigby – Bigby made $1.55 million last season on a restricted free agent tender. This past season can only be described as so-so for Bigby. Yes, he showed some flashes of his outstanding 2007 form with some big hits, some decent run support and four interceptions. But those four picks came against Detroit, Seattle (two) and Arizona in a game the Cards basically punted. Bigby also struggled in his tackling and was caught flat-footed in coverage far too often. Injuries were a factor again as Bigby missed three games and had to leave the wild card loss with an injury. He’s earned one more look, but legitimate competition should also be brought in. Verdict: Place a second-round tender on Bigby 
• Cornerback/return specialist Will Blackmon – Blackmon made just over $649,000 last season in the last year of his rookie contract. Injuries, injuries, injuries – that’s pretty much the story with Blackmon. He’s shown some flashes as a returner and a corner, as we all know, but he just can’t stay healthy long enough to do anything really meaningful. As of now, he’s missed 31 of a possible 64 games as a pro. The team must find a more stable answer at both spots as counting on Blackmon just doesn’t make sense at this point. Verdict: Shake hands, thank him for his service and send him on his way
• Left guard Daryn Colledge – Colledge made just under $866,000 last season in the last year of his rookie contract. If Bigby’s career has been up-and-down, Colledge’s has been that times 10. It’s an every-other-year thing with Colledge. He had a strong rookie year in ‘06, then was pretty bad in ‘07 before becoming, arguably, the team’s most dependable lineman in ‘08. You thought he’d build on that this season, with it being a contract year and all. But he just didn’t. His disastrous time at left tackle early in the year seemed to really rattle him, even when he was moved back to his more familiar spot at left guard. He was equally weak in pass and run blocking and you could argue that his holding call in overtime cost the Packers a win in the wild card game. He could keep the trend going and have a good 2010 season, but can you really risk that with so many other players deserving new deals? I say no. Someone else deserves a chance. Verdict: Shake hands, thank him for his service and send him on his way

Again, part two will run later today. Make sure to check back.

-Chris Lempesis