Green Bay Packers: Six free agents they should consider signing

Alex Okafor, OLB, Arizona

2016 Statistics (231 snaps): 13 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery

PFF Rankings: 72.5 (overall); 73.4 (pass rush), 50.5 (run defense), 51.1 (coverage)

Okafor is a completely different situation than Ware or Freeney. Those guys have been elite pass rushers for most of their careers and, now on the back-end after over a decade of playing, are still quality contributors.

Okafor is nowhere close to having that sort of resume. He’s at least 8 years younger than either of those two, and his best season (2016) is worse than any season either Ware or Freeney has had. His failure to become a consistent contributor during most of his young career has forced the Cardinals to search for other places for pass rush consistency (including to Freeney himself at one point).

As a 26 year old player though, Okafor represents the highest potential of any of these players; while we know what Freeney and Ware will probably give, Okafor’s possibilities are not capped. This is a player who just had by far his best-graded season by Pro Football Focus’s metrics, and one who has had a season with 8 sacks previously. The talent and ability to be an impact pass rusher are there.

Usually, this sort of player would lead a market, but multiple factors could leave Okafor in a slightly less satisfying position.

For one thing, Okafor has lost significant time to injury at multiple points in his career (in four seasons, he’s missed 22 out of 64 possible regular season contests). Granted, most of that was from his lost rookie season, but lesser issues have taken games away from him every year. Another thing is he’s never been a high-snap participant; his highest showing comes in just under 700 snaps in 2014, which was about 65% of his team’s defensive snaps. There could be a worry of him holding up in a role which expects him to pick up close to 1,000 snaps.

Perhaps most importantly, there are multiple other worthy pass rushers available. After all the franchise tags have been doled out, Perry probably leads that list. Lorenzo Alexander burst out of nowhere to have double-digit sacks in 2016, and could see a big payday for it. Jabaal Sheard is a decent-quality piece who could easily get paid at a level above his average yearly production. Veterans like Chris Long and Charles Johnson could be decent pickups for favorable prices in the right schemes.

The only problem with this logic is how much money many teams have to dole out, but even that may not be as simple as it seems. Many of those teams with large cap space could sit out on signing big, risky contracts with someone like Okafor. Teams like Cleveland won’t spend heavy just to chase mediocrity. Others (including Green Bay) tend to focus mostly on signing their own guys and racking up compensatory picks for those who are let go.

The likelihood of Okafor coming to Green Bay is pretty low. But if they were to decide not to bring back either of the Perry/Peppers combo, there is a real void left in their wake. They could just wait for a compensatory pick or two next year, just like they’ve always done with talented players leaving.

But if Okafor ends up not being part of the huge spending at the start of free agency, he could find himself grasping at straws, possibly willing to do what countless players before him have done: take a small deal, attempt to have a great year, and get himself right back out there for free agency again this time next year with much higher value.