{"id":667132,"date":"2026-01-10T21:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667132\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:44:17","slug":"nfl-wild-card-round-free-agents-to-watch-in-packers-vs-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667132\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Wild Card Round: Free agents to watch in Packers vs. Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL’s oldest rivalry will take center stage in Wild Card Weekend, with the seventh-seed Green Bay Packers<\/a> visiting the second-seed Chicago Bears<\/a>. Saturday night’s game will kick off at 7 p.m. CT\/8 p.m. ET, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the New Orleans Saints<\/a> won’t be involved, each team has some free agents to keep an eye on ahead of March’s signing period. The Saints are going to be active spenders with estimations of $144 million in salary cap space for 2027 and $271 million in 2028. Expect the Saints to tap into that cap space by backloading contracts like they’ve done before. Here’s who could be on their radar.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers free agents<\/p>\n

WR Romeo Doubs. You’d think the Saints want to draft a receiver to pair with Chris Olave, but Doubs could make sense in free agency depending on what his market looks like. Like Olave, he has a history of concussions that could turn off some teams. He’s still an effective wideout with 22 touchdown catches over the last four years.<\/p>\n

QB Malik Willis. Willis could be the top quarterback in free agency. He won’t be a target for the Saints but he could land in the NFC South depending on what the Atlanta Falcons’ new brain trust (led by Matt Ryan) is planning. Willis has done really well on limited snaps.<\/p>\n

OL Sean Rhyan. Rhyan has started games at right guard, center, and left guard for the Packers, and he has a lot of value as a utility player. He could be a sneaky-good pickup for the Saints if the Packers let him reach free agency; they’ve targeted similar players like Dillon Radunz, Lucas Patrick, and Will Clapp but Rhyan is just 25 years old.<\/p>\n

Other free agents to watch: LT Rasheed Walker, LB Quay Walker, EDGE Kingsley Enagbare<\/p>\n

Chicago Bears free agents<\/p>\n

S Jaquon Brisker. The Saints nearly drafted Brisker a couple of years ago, but they ended up picking Alontae Taylor right behind him and signing Tyrann Mathieu a few days later to address their need at safety. Brisker struggled with injuries earlier in his career but has played in all 17 games this season. He’ll turn 27 in April and is entering his prime.<\/p>\n

WR Olamide Zaccheaus. New Orleans has had problems maintaining depth in the receiving corps for a few years now, and while he isn’t exactly a walking highlight reel, Zaccheaus is a steady veteran who won’t break the bank. The 109-game veteran would be a better choice for a backup than someone like Dante Pettis or Kevin Austin Jr.<\/p>\n

Other free agents to watch: CB Nahshon Wright, DT Andrew Billings, TE Durham Smythe<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: NFL Wild Card Round: Free agents to watch in Packers vs. Bears<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL’s oldest rivalry will take center stage in Wild Card Weekend, with the seventh-seed Green Bay Packers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[14134,12836,254,391,6000,9270,6843,7729,7,4609,2714,345,4096,10142,4097,2859,10378,896,55,6,11501,468,3993,3995,7727,116,8530,95037,8532],"class_list":{"0":"post-667132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-alontae-taylor","9":"tag-andrew-billings","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chris-olave","13":"tag-dante-pettis","14":"tag-dillon-radunz","15":"tag-durham-smythe","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-free-agency","18":"tag-free-agents","19":"tag-green-bay-packers","20":"tag-kingsley-enagbare","21":"tag-lucas-patrick","22":"tag-malik-willis","23":"tag-matt-ryan","24":"tag-nahshon-wright","25":"tag-new-orleans","26":"tag-new-orleans-saints","27":"tag-nfl","28":"tag-olamide-zaccheaus","29":"tag-quay-walker","30":"tag-rasheed-walker","31":"tag-romeo-doubs","32":"tag-sean-rhyan","33":"tag-the-nfl","34":"tag-tyrann-mathieu","35":"tag-wild-card-weekend","36":"tag-will-clapp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115872993435686851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}