NFL teams continue to maneuver in anticipation of the start of the 2026 league season and the start of free agency. Not wanting to get lost in the shuffle, the Green Bay Packers Zaire Franklin trade sent a message to not only their fans, but their pending free agent, Quay Walker. The latter is poised to hit the market on March 9th, and based on this recent move, it’s clear that the Packers have no interest in bringing him back.
This is clearly a business decision, and nothing personal towards Walker, who has led the team in tackles every year, since the team took him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Packers declined to exercise his fifth-year option last offseason, as that would have cost the team $14.75 million against the cap in 2026. It would have given them an extra year to work out a long-term deal, but it seems they never had any interest in a long-term marriage to the linebacker.
At 25 years old, Walker is expected to be a hot commodity on the market. NFL.com has him listed as the tenth best free agent on the market, and his new contract will likely be four years, and average between $15-20 million per season. Despite his production, the Packers are nearly $2 million over the salary cap and would not be able to sign Walker in order to keep him, even with a backloaded deal.
Packers Zaire Franklin Joins Micah Parsons and Edgerrin Cooper
Green Bay dealt for Parsons last season, sending the Dallas Cowboys defensive end Kenny Clark and Green Bay’s first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 in exchange. After acquiring Parsons, the team then inked him to a huge, four-year, $188 million deal ($47m/year). He lived up to it that first year, recording 48 pressures and 12.5 sacks on the year.
Second-year middle linebacker Edgerrin Cooper played alongside Walker in the middle of the field, as a ball hawk and run stopper. He recorded 118 tackles on 1,046 defensive snaps in 2025. That’s a tackle on 11.3% of his snaps. He will play the same role in 2026, but the team knew they would be without Walker, who averaged a tackle on 14.2% of his snaps, and made the move to bring in Franklin.
The former Syracuse Orangeman comes over from the Colts, making just $7 million this season and $9 million next year. He represents a significant value over Walker. Franklin did have a down year last season, recording 125 tackles on 1,134 snaps (1%). He had more than 165 tackles in each of the three seasons before that. The Packers have to hope that he can either return to form or he can fill Cooper’s role, who will step up his game to fill Walker’s.
Green Bay still has salaries to shed, but this swap of Franklin for Walker at least ensures they get the monetary break without sacrificing production. New defensive coordinator Jonatahn Gannon has one less thing to worry about, but there is still plenty of work assembling a team that can do better than 9-7-1 in 2026.
