Like Detroit, Green Bay had two 1st-round picks in 2022. Unlike Detroit, the Packers didn’t pick up the fifth-year option on both players.
Like the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers made two selections in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Unlike the reigning NFC North champs, the Packers didn’t exercise the fifth-year options on both of their selections.
Thursday’s deadline for teams to pick up those fifth-year options passed without the Packers deciding to use only one. Green Bay did pick up the option on DT Devonte Wyatt, but declined to exercise the option on LB Quay Walker. Wyatt was selected at No. 28 while Walker was the 22nd pick, which Green Bay acquired from the Raiders in the pre-draft trade for WR Davante Adams. The Packers duo were college teammates at Georgia.
That stands in stark contrast to the Lions, who picked up the options on DE Aidan Hutchinson and WR Jameson Williams last week. Detroit’s duo is now under contract through the 2026 season, though all the players are eligible for contract extensions at any time.
Wyatt has five sacks in each of the last two seasons but earned a lower AV (Approximate Value) than Detroit’s Levi Onwuzurike in 2024. His fifth-year option will pay Wyatt $13.9 million for 2026. Walker has topped 100 total tackles in all three of his seasons, but Green Bay found his option value of $14.7 million too high. Off-ball linebackers are not separated from pass-rushing OLBs in the option formula, which worked against Walker. Lions fans probably know Walker best for his ejection for shoving a Lions trainer in the 2022 season finale, the game where Kerby Joseph ended Aaron Rodgers’ time in Green Bay by picking off his last pass.
The rest of the NFC North gave up on their first-round picks from 2022 long ago. The Bears had packaged their first-round pick in 2022 as part of the bounty sent to the New York Giants to select QB Justin Fields in the 2021 draft. Minnesota’s Lewis Cine, taken 32nd overall with a pick the Lions traded to the Vikings to select Williams, is now on his third team (the Eagles) since August and has played in just 11 career games.