While none of them will be playing in the Super Bowl, Green Bay Packers have seen some free agents slip through the cracks in the past few years of free agency. Who is to blame? Ted Thompson deserves a piece of the blame as the choices of ‘who to pay versus who to let go’ were not always the best. Mike McCarthy deserves another part because his coaching staff limited the potential of these players. That said, we need more context when breaking down a list like this from Evan Silva of Rotoworld. On paper, this looks awful, but when thinking through it a bit, there are things worth mentioning about each player.

Notable Free Agents #Packers let walk over last 3 offseasons:

CB Casey Hayward
S Micah Hyde
C J.C. Tretter
TE Jared Cook
EDGE Julius Peppers
G T.J. Lang
S Morgan Burnett

— Evan Silva (@evansilva) January 23, 2019

Casey Hayward: Yes, he turned into a savage playing for San Diego. Hayward had every opportunity to be that player in Green Bay. People thought he would be that guy after an awesome rookie year. He struggled to stay on the field, and Green Bay believed Damarious Randall/Quinten Rollins were the future after big rookie years. In his last year in Green Bay, Hayward did not record an interception or a fumble. Capers could be at fault for his defense, but there was nothing to say Hayward needed to stay on the team.

Micah Hyde: Again, this is a Capers issue versus Thompson issue. Hyde moved to free safety in 2017 at Buffalo. That changed his career dramatically as he made the Pro Bowl and was one of the best safeties in the league. Capers had a knack for playing guys out of position, and Thompson/McCarthy could not see that nor they believed him.

J.C. Tretter: Now, he can play guard, but the natural position for him is Center. Tretter would be a significant upgrade at guard for the Packers with Lane Taylor and Bryon Bell, yet, what if Tretter told the team he wanted to play center somewhere? Corey Linsley is one of the better centers in the league, so, Tretter moving on as a cause of him being too good to be a backup.

Jared Cook: Granted, he had one of the best postseason catches in recent Packers history, but Cook’s year for the Packers wasn’t much at all. He only had 377 yards and played in 10 games. Cook’s career took a turn for the better in Oakland. Also, McCarthy’s system could be to blame considering players like Marcedes Lewis discuss how tough it is for tight ends.

Julius Peppers: He couldn’t play as a 3-4 EDGE. Peppers was too slow to do that at his old age. He moved back to being a 4-3 defensive end, and it extended his career. Again, I fail to see how that’s the Packers fault.

T.J. Lang – Arguably the biggest miss on this list for the Packers because Green Bay struggled at guard. Yet Lang has only played 19 games in the last two years. The problem with signing interior linemen to big deals is they always seem to break down. See, Sitton, Josh for more details on that.

Morgan Burnett – Green Bay could have used him especially at the price Pittsburgh got him at last offseason. Burnett did not play that well for Pittsburgh last season, but he said to the media that he played out of position all year.

Silva is a good dude and an excellent NFL writer but listing out notable guys that left the Packers is somewhat reckless. There are causes for all of these guys and cases to be made on why they left the team. Can we excuse signing Nick Perry to a big deal? Nope, not really. Packers didn’t have enough youth in their coaching and front office leading to some of these failures.

Charlie.