1 free agent who can help fill Green Bay Packers’ biggest offseason need

The Green Bay Packers are coming off a 2024 season that saw the team continue the positive momentum from a shocking 2023. Head coach Matt LaFleur led the franchise to an 11-6 record, an improvement from 2023’s 9-8 finish. In addition, quarterback Jordan Love saw his QBR skyrocket to fifth in the NFL in year two as a full-time starter. The Packers had to scratch and claw for every win in the NFC North, the best division in the league in 2024.

Unfortunately, the season ended on an anti-climactic note with a 22-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the eventual Super Bowl winner. Jordan Love significantly struggled in this clash of the NFC’s No. 2 and No. 7 seed. This was surprising considering the 26-year-old’s debut the previous postseason, where he made fans quickly forget that his team did not have Aaron Rodgers under center.

But against the Eagles, Love threw three interceptions and could not find a consistent target to rely on as he was under duress. Ultimately, Green Bay did all the little things wrong against the worst team to do that against.

With far and away the youngest roster in the postseason in 2024, there’s still an exciting young core that this franchise can build around going forward. However, this group is still trying to make that good-to-great jump. To do that, Green Bay needs to provide more help for Jordan Love, the player who will play the biggest role in that improvement.

The Green Bay Packers need to improve at wide receiver

While the Packers have done a solid job surrounding Jordan Love with a competent roster, the wide receiver position has largely stalled over this past season. Jayden Reed has been Green Bay’s leading wideout over the past two years. The 24-year-old could become a clear-cut No. 1 target in the future. However, the Packers are in a spot with their salary cap where they can immediately boost this room.

And there were times later in the year against elite NFC opponents, where Reed or Romeo Dobbs struggled to get open in these high-profile matchups. With Jordan Love on the books to the starter in Green Bay for the foreseeable future, the franchise needs to do everything it can to elevate him.

The former first-round pick has shown the ability to grow into a season and peak at the right time. However, the playoff loss was a bitter reminder that Love and this offense need to hit another level in their development. This coming year needs to be the season where that jump takes place. To kickstart it, Green Bay must boldly add a No. 1 wide receiver who can elevate this group to that next level.

The Packers need to sign Tee Higgins

Tee Higgins is the guy Green Bay needs to sign this offseason. Aside from his rookie year, the Bengals wideout has been the No. 2 target in Cincinnati behind superstar Jamar Chase. The 26-year-old, however, has been a model of consistency since he was drafted in 2020 and an elite red-zone weapon.

At 6’4, 219 lbs, Higgins has the physicality and ability to win 50-50 matchups that the wideouts on the Green Bay Packer roster lack right now. The former Clemson Tiger has an elite catch radius and solid, albeit not breakaway, speed when in single coverage. 2024 would’ve been Higgins’s best season yet if it weren’t for some health setbacks. Tee caught 73 passes for 911 and a career-high ten touchdowns in just twelve games of action.

Higgins is projected to command $30 million a year, which is a hefty price for someone who does not have extensive experience as a No. 1 option. The Packers would likely have to pay that should they want him, with fierce competition expected for Tee if the Bengals cannot franchise tag him. But this is the kind of risk a team takes when trying to vie for a Super Bowl title, and the Packers are in a financial position where they can take this leap.

Green Bay is primed to become a Super Bowl contender next season

Tee Higgins has been a model professional and part of a positive locker room culture his whole college and professional career. Heading into a franchise like Green Bay with its stability and an elite offensive mind in Matt LaFleur should unlock the 26-year-old’s remaining potential. Jayden Reed is an absolute burner, so pairing him with Higgins gives Green Bay an elite versatility at the top of this core that it did not have before, even with Christian Watson on the roster.