Schefter: Packers’ Rasheed Walker could take a 1-year deal

On the radio with ESPN Milwaukee, ESPN’s Adam Schefter gave us all an update on Green Bay Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker and his status in free agency. Right now, Walker is by far the best player left in free agency, according to consensus rankings, who has yet to sign with a team by the second day of the new league year.

Here’s what Shefter had to say about the Walker situation:

There were not a lot of teams in the left market to begin with. There were only a few like Cleveland, Detroit, a few others. What happened is there were not a lot of teams, and I think he’s now gonna look to a one-year deal. A one-year deal to put himself in a good situation and go back into the market next year.

The good news for Packers fans here, who are hoping to cash in on a high draft pick, is that the only number in a player’s contract that matters in the compensatory draft pick formula is a player’s average per year (APY). As long as Walker can get market-value cash flow in that one-year deal, there’s nothing to worry about.

What I will say, though, is that there were really three markets that blew up last year: offensive tackle (Dan Moore Jr. making a $20.5 million APY after leading the NFL in sacks allowed), off-ball linebacker (non-Pro Bowlers were able to hit $15 million APY) and cornerback (average cornerbacks made $18 million APY, including Paulson Adebo coming off a broken leg). As we wrote about after the first day of the legal tampering period, the market has pushed back on pricing at both off-ball linebacker and cornerback this free agency cycle.

Walker was thought to be the only offensive tackle of his caliber on the market this year, so I honestly wouldn’t make too much about what other tackles made in free agency. He’s the only tackle in his tier (young and a true starter), so those other data points won’t help inform us of Walker’s market.

I will say, though, that since he’s still out there, I could see a world where the league pushes back on tackle pricing, which might get Walker under the $20.5 million APY Moore received. If that’s the case, Green Bay’s projected third-round pick, which we assumed the team would be getting for Walker based on contract projections coming into free agency, could be pushed to a fourth-round pick. We’ll all find out together whenever Walker signs.

Post pandemic, teams have been spending 10 percent more in cash on player payments than their overall cap number in a single year, even though cap space has been going up about $25 million per year. At least as of now, it looks like this trend of borrowing is reversing a bit after six seasons. Because of that, some of these “bad deals” that were signed in 2025 are no longer being used as the baseline for 2026 contracts, which was the reality before the league’s financials became more conservative. A bad deal used to set a player’s floor for the next season. This year, teams are saying, “Yeah, well, we wouldn’t have done that deal; This is our price.”

What Walker is probably facing right now is teams saying, “Hey, every starting tackle coming off a rookie deal can’t get the Dan Moore Jr. contract.”