GREEN BAY, Wis. -- In the wake of the Green Bay Packers' gut-wrenching, season-ending loss to Arizona, T.J. Lang found himself thinking about the future. Not just the immediate future, knowing that next season's roster will obviously be different than the one that went into Saturday night’s 26-20 overtime loss in the NFC divisional playoffs, but thinking slightly further down the line, too.
More specifically, down the offensive line.
While Lang wasn’t sure whose contracts essentially expired the moment Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald scored the decisive touchdown -- “I don’t really know the list of free agents off the top of my head,” the Packers' veteran right guard said -- he did know this: He, Pro Bowl left guard Josh Sitton and left tackle David Bakhtiari are all entering contract years in 2016 and will be headed for unrestricted free agency if they don’t get extensions before this time next year.
In addition, center/jack-of-all-trades JC Tretter, who like Bakhtiari was a fourth-round pick in 2013, will also be in the final year of his deal, meaning four of the team’s top six linemen are approaching free agency sooner than some might realize.
In the shorter term, the Packers head into this offseason with 18 free agents. Of those, 14 are unrestricted (cornerback Casey Hayward, running back James Starks, wide receiver James Jones, fullback John Kuhn, kicker Mason Crosby, defensive tackles B.J. Raji and Letroy Guion, outside linebackers Nick Perry and Mike Neal, tight end Andrew Quarless, backup quarterback Scott Tolzien, backup tackle Don Barclay, long-snapper Brett Goode and safety Sean Richardson); two are restricted (guard Lane Taylor, outside linebacker Andy Mulumba) and two are exclusive-rights (tight end Justin Perillo, safety Chris Banjo).
The team took care of its top free-agent priority, keeping defensive lineman Mike Daniels off the market by signing him to a new four-year, $41 million deal during the season. Would the Packers do the same for Bakhtiari or their veteran guards?
“It would be awesome,” Bakhtiari replied.
Bakhtiari showed his value when he missed three games -- the final two regular-season contests and the team’s Jan. 10 victory at Washington in the wild-card round -- with a sprained ankle suffered Dec. 20 at Oakland. Tretter helped his cause by playing well in Bakhtiari’s place when coach Mike McCarthy gave him the left-tackle nod against the Redskins.
“I’m just going to keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing,” Bakhtiari said. “You talk about money and it being the last year of my deal, but I’m going to give it everything I’ve got every season.”
Sitton, a 2008 fourth-round pick, and Lang, a 2009 fourth-rounder, have never reached free agency before.
In September 2011, Sitton signed a five-year extension which, coupled with the year he had left on his rookie contract, amounted to a six-year, $34.95 million deal and included $8.9 million guaranteed. He’s set to make $5.9 million next season.
In August 2012, Lang signed a four-year extension that, combined with the remaining year on his rookie deal, became a five-year, $22.06 million contract and included $5.5 million in guaranteed money. He’s set to make $4.6 million in 2016.
Sitton, who is headed to his third Pro Bowl later this month, turns 30 in June; Lang turns 29 in September.
If general manager Ted Thompson doesn’t extend either of the two guards during the 2016 season, he would be in the same position he was in 2005, his first year as GM. That year, Thompson allowed both starting guards to walk as free agents -- three-time Pro Bowler Marco Rivera went to Dallas, while Mike Wahle signed with Carolina and went to his first Pro Bowl.
Their departures broke up what arguably was the Packers’ best offensive line -- Chad Clifton at left tackle, Wahle at left guard, Mike Flanagan at center, Rivera at right guard and Mark Tauscher at right tackle -- since the Lombardi Era.
“You just don’t know,” Lang said. “You just don’t know.”