With the Packers losing tight end Tom Crabtree to the Buccaneers, Green Bay could now be more willing to keep tight end Jermichael Finley.
Decision day comes on March 27th. That’s the 15th day of the 2013 league year, and also the day on which Finley earns a $4.45 million roster bonus. If the Packers want to avoid paying it, the Packers need to dump him before that date.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, there have been no recent developments. Other than, of course, the departure of Crabtree, which could be a factor in the final analysis -- especially since the Packers wanted to keep Crabtree. (Of course, if they wanted to keep him badly enough, they would have used a restricted free agency tender.)
In December, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Packers had decided to part ways with Finley. McGinn has since reported that the Packers are torn.
Mixed signals also have come from Finley’s camp as to whether he would take a pay cut. Finley has said he won’t, but his agent, Blake Baratz, has suggested a greater degree of flexibility.
The total events of the past week point to, at a minimum, a reduction in Finley’s pay. The free-agency market generally has been a disaster, and it makes no sense to pay a tight end with a habit of dropping passes and griping to the media total compensation of $8.25 million in 2013.