Signing Austin Hooper won’t be cheap for the Green Bay Packers.
According to Michael Silver of NFL Network, Hooper – a potential primary target of the Packers in free agency – is expected to reset the tight end market in free agency, with the belief now that Hooper will become the new highest-paid player at the position in both average salary and total guarantees.
As it stands now, Jimmy Graham leads all tight ends in average salary ($10 million), while Trey Burton holds the crown for most guarantees ($22 million). The Packers gave Graham a three-year, $30 million deal in 2018. The same year, Burton signed a four-year, $32 million deal with the Chicago Bears.
Two years later, both teams will be in the mix for Hooper.
Silver mentioned the Packers, Bears and Washington Redskins as teams already expressing the most interest in Hooper, who caught a career-high 75 passes and went to his first Pro Bowl last season. Other teams are expected to join, especially with a weak class of incoming tight ends in the draft.
The Packers need more at the tight end position, especially if (or when) they release Graham, but GM Brian Gutekunst and cap manager Russ Ball will have to determine if getting into a bidding war for Hooper is worth it long-term.
A reliable and ascending player who is only 25 and fits a need position, Hooper checks all the boxes of the free agent profile the Packers targeted last season. But he’s not a dynamic athlete and might not be a field-tilting weapon, creating the need to balance his projected impact with the likely cost of acquiring him on the open market.
Hooper’s reign as the highest-paid tight end won’t last long, not with George Kittle and his mega extension waiting to get done.
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