Now that minicamps have concluded, we finally have an official record of all of the contracts that undrafted free agents have signed this draft cycle. Yes, it does take this long for all of the official numbers to be reported in.
We’ve touched on some of the numbers that the Green Bay Packers’ undrafted free agents signed for, but now we can compare apples to apples, seeing where they end up on the curve of other players signed at their positions this offseason. Wonder where the Packers’ undrafted players rank
at their positions in terms of guaranteed money? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive in.
Kyron Drones, QB, Virginia Tech
- $5,000 guaranteed
- 10th of 12 UDFA quarterbacks
In the quarterback market, there were really six players who received big guaranteed money (north of $200,000). Everyone else received $15,000 or less, to put into perspective of how big the dropoff was between that group of six and the second half of the class. The quarterbacks who got significant guarantees were Jalon Daniels, Jack Strand, Luke Altmyer, Joey Aguilar, Miller Moss and Haynes King.
Kyron Drones wasn’t given big guarantees, but the Packers have clearly had their eyes on him. He was a pre-draft visitor for the squad.
Jaden Nixon, RB, UCF
- $15,000 guaranteed
- 18th of 29 running backs
12 running backs made at least $90,000 this class, then there was a pretty significant dropoff after that. Jaden Nixon is roughly in the middle of the pack among running back guarantees, but it’s worth noting that Damon Bankston, an undrafted signee for the New York Giants who took a pre-draft visit with the Packers this offseason, signed for $115,000. Nixon is making just 13 percent of Bankston’s guarantees, so don’t be surprised if Bankston ends up back on Green Bay’s radar after roster cutdowns. We’ve seen pre-draft visitors start their careers with other franchises and find their way back to the Packers before.
J. Michael Sturdivant, WR, Florida
- $215,000 guaranteed
- 12 of 66 receivers
This was a big spender for the Packers. For perspective, the highest-paid free agent (in terms of guarantees) for Green Bay in 2025 was defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse, who had $165,000 guaranteed on his rookie deal. Receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who was projected to be a draft choice by many, got a bit more than that.
He’s technically the 12th highest-paid UDFA receiver (in guarantees), but he’s closer to making as much as the second-highest guaranteed receiver ($277,500) than the 15th ($135,000). It was pretty tight at the top of the UDFA receiver market, and Sturdivant was among the top players in the group.
R.J. Maryland, TE, SMU
- $15,000 guaranteed
- 17 of 30 tight ends
R.J. Maryland, son of former Packer Russell Maryland, is making middle-of-the-pack money for a UDFA tight end. Maryland looked like a borderline top-100 pick at one point in 2024 before suffering an ACL tear that required him to wear a long knee brace for the 2025 season. He did not look like the same athlete on film in 2025, but he tested well pre-draft, so Green Bay is probably rolling the dice on a return to form from him.
Worth noting here is that the Packers were willing to pay UDFA tight end Eni Falayi at least $125,000 guaranteed, more than eight times what Maryland received, but Falayi failed his physical upon reporting to Green Bay. Since being let go with an injury designation, Falayi has yet to sign with another NFL team.
Josh Gesky, G, Illinois
Dillon Wade, G, Auburn
- $215,000 guaranteed
- t-21st of 64 offensive linemen
Let’s talk about these two together, since they are making the same money and roughly play the same position. Both Josh Gesky and Dillon Wade project best to guard at the NFL level, but Wade has been a player who has actually been very versatile at the college level, while Gesky was exclusively a guard.
For whatever it’s worth, I’ve heard that Illinois’ staff was very high on Gesky (who visited the Packers pre-draft) and were telling scouts that he was a better player than J.C. Davis, who ended up being an NFL draft pick. Early in camp, though, it was Wade who got the nod with the second-team offensive line over Gesky. Pads aren’t even on yet, but it’s worth keeping an eye on that battle, as the bottom of the offensive line depth chart is certainly not decided yet.
If you wanted to know: The UDFA with the most guaranteed money (by far) was Oregon tackle Isaiah World, who tore his ACL in the Ducks’ final game of the year. He signed for $534,000 guaranteed with the Los Angeles Chargers. For perspective, the second-most guaranteed money that a UDFA offensive lineman received was Ryan Schrenecke at $282,500.
Dylan Barrett, G, Iowa State
- $15,000 guaranteed
- t-45th of 64 offensive linemen
Third in the pecking order among Packers UDFA offensive linemen is Dylan Barrett, who got 7% of the guarantees that Josh Gesky and Dillon Wade received. He was a true guard at Iowa State, even in a part-time role.
Nyjalik Kelly, EDGE, UCF
- $262,500 guaranteed
- 11th of 33 edge rushers
Nyjalik Kelly was a pre-draft visitor for the Packers and received big-time money to sign with Green Bay. While he’s ranked 11th among edge rushers, there’s nearly a $100,000 difference between the 11th and 12th slot. Like J. Michael Sturdivant, he was basically the cheapest of the high-end options before guarantees started to fall off a cliff.
Another UDFA edge rusher who made the trip to Green Bay pre-draft was Central Michigan’s Michael Heldman, who signed with the New Orleans Saints for $267,500 guaranteed, around what Kelly signed for. If I had to guess, the Packers ultimately chose Kelly over Heldman. For added perspective, draft pick kicker Trey Smack, a sixth-round pick, only got $206,532 in guaranteed money on his four-year rookie deal.
T.J. Quinn, LB, Louisville
- $165,000 guaranteed
- 7th of 34 linebackers
The top five linebackers in the UDFA class made about $260,000 each, but Packers signee T.J. Quinn is at the top of the second tier of the group. Quinn was described to me as an undersized workout warrior who wasn’t on many radars before his pro day. He was also a pre-draft visitor, so Green Bay has had his name circled for a while.
Marlon Jones, CB, Vanderbilt
- $0 guaranteed
- t-48th of 48 cornerbacks
Marlon Jones wasn’t part of the Packers’ initial UDFA class, as he was only signed in mid-May. Jones transferred from Eastern Washington, where he was an all-conference player, before landing at Vanderbilt. Shortly before moving to Nashville, though, Jones was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
While he was able to make a return to the field in 2025, after missing the 2024 season, Jones only played about 10 snaps a game on defense for the Commadores. Clearly, the Packers are hoping he returns to his 2023 production, when he returned two interceptions for touchdowns. He had three interceptions in three consecutive years at EWU.
Jones didn’t sign for any guaranteed money, though. Green Bay probably didn’t view cornerback as a significant post-draft need, which is why they didn’t sign someone in April or early May, because they selected South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse and Alabama’s Domani Jackson in the draft.
For what it’s worth, the Packers brought in two cornerbacks for visits who ended up being UDFAs. They were Malcolm DeWalt IV, who signed for $140,000 guaranteed, and D’Arco Perkins-McAllister, who signed for $175,000.
Murvin Kenion II, S, Nevada
- $10,000 guaranteed
- t-21st of 29 safeties
Nevada safety Murvin Kenion, who is a 2018 high school graduate, wasn’t guaranteed much by the Packers, but I actually liked the film that I saw of him. He’s certainly an older prospect, as Green Bay lists him as the same age as offensive lineman Sean Rhyan, who is already on his second NFL contract, and a year older than edge rusher Lukas Van Ness, but there’s something there. Keep an eye on him this preseason.
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If you want to do some comparison shopping, below is a graph on how the Packers rank among NFL teams for their overall undrafted free agent guarantees. The average NFL team spent $1.2 million guaranteed on their UDFA class, in total, around what Green Bay spent ($1.1 million). The graph below shows how much teams guaranteed per player and how many UDFAs they signed.
95 percent of the Packers’ UDFA guarantees were spent on 5 of their 11 signings: EDGE Nyjalik Kelly, WR J. Michael Sturdivant, G Josh Gesky, G, Dillon Wade and LB T.J. Quinn. In general, Green Bay spent around the middle of the pack (per player) and had a slightly below-average free agent class in terms of the number of players signed.
Before 2025, when the Packers spent on DT Nazir Stackhouse, LB Jamon Johnson and S Jonathan Baldwin II, Green Bay historically didn’t spend much guaranteed money on free agents, relying on their track record of UDFAs making the 53-man roster and pre-draft visits to convince undrafted players to sign with the green and gold. Recently, though, they’ve gone from the basement of the league in UDFA guarantees to just about average over the course of three draft cycles.
