ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is reporting that the Green Bay Packers will not tender restricted free agent running back Emanuel Wilson, and The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman is reporting the same situation for safety Zayne Anderson, who was fifth on the team in special teams snaps played in 2025. This shouldn’t come as a shock, as we’ve projected that the team might only tender swing tackle Darian Kinnard if they do tender any of their restricted free agents this offseason.
It was recently announced by the league
that the minimum cost to tender a restricted free agent to a one-year deal (the first right of refusal tender) is $3,520,000. Teams can also place second-round ($5,767,000) and first-round ($8,046,000) tenders on players. The names of these tenders have to do with what rights the team has if their player is poached by another squad after the tender is placed.
For example, the first right of refusal tender is just the baseline salary minimum (non-guaranteed) that a player is owed for the tendering team to have the ability to match a contract offer that the player receives. A second-round tender means that the team offering a contract to a tendered player must give up a second-round pick if the player signs with that new team, and the same is true for a first-round pick for the first-round tender.
These are the only three price points for restricted free agents, who qualify by having their contract expire but before they’ve accrued the four necessary years to become unrestricted free agents. Unrestricted free agents are generally what people think of when they think of free agency. They are free to sign with whoever, whenever they’re either 1) released or 2) their contracts expire at the start of the new league year (March 11th).
If a restricted free agent isn’t tendered, he will eventually become an unrestricted free agent.
Here are Green Bay’s restricted free agents this year and how many snaps they played in 2025:
- RB Chris Brooks – RFA (433)
- OL Darian Kinnard – RFA (361)
- RB Emanuel Wilson – RFA (351)
- DE Arron Mosby – RFA (238)
- S Zayne Anderson – RFA (228)
- TE Josh Whyle – RFA (227)
- DE Brenton Cox Jr. – RFA (103)
I expect all, except maybe Kinnard, to be allowed to hit unrestricted free agency. After that, conversations could begin with these players coming back to Green Bay in 2026 at a lower rate than $3.5 million.
