The Green Bay Packers don't appear finished putting together the roster they hope will finally get them back to the Super Bowl. While the team has drawn quite a bit of praise for its performance in the Free Agent market and through the draft, one area the franchise still needs to improve is up front. Ted Thompson appears to understand that need as new reports surfaced Friday morning the Packers are looking at free agent center Cody Wallace.
Green Bay might be dumpster diving
Wallace, who has spent the last four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers could be had for a rather modest contract.
The center is still recovering from a knee injury that shortened his 2016 season. Because of this, it's not clear just how much he would be looking for in a new deal. It's also not clear whether the Packers would be tabbing Wallace for a starting job, or whether he would add some additional depth on the offensive line.
#Packers #Saints among teams to inquire about former #Steelers C Cody Wallace. Free agent says he's still rehabbing knee injury
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 19, 2017
It's possible the team is doing a bit of "dumpster diving" with Wallace, hoping to find a team's cast off that could still play and be an effective contributor in the 2017 season. Just because Wallace is another team's refuse right now, doesn't mean he couldn't end up being something special for the Packers, as long as he can get himself healthy.
Jeremy Fowler from ESPN has reported Green Bay is one of at least two teams who has inquired of the former Steeler. Wallace is still in the middle of his rehab but has said he believes he will be ready to go when the new season kicks off.
Will competition cause the Green Bay Packers to look elsewhere?
Yet another question arising from the Packers' inquiring into Wallace is whether or not they are willing to get into anything resembling a bidding war for the veteran lineman.
In addition to the Pack, it appears the New Orleans Saints are interested. Green Bay has already shown this offseason it prefers to stay away from those kinds of bidding wars for injured players in the case of Eddie Lacy and Adrian Peterson (though it's not clear just how interested the team was in the former Viking at any one time).
Wallace might be attractive to Thompson and company because he has filled both a role as a starter and as added depth over the course of his career. In 2015, he started all 16 games for the Steelers but has bounced back and forth on the depth chart with Pittsburgh as the Tampa Bay Bucs and Detroit Lions. With the season rapidly approaching, it stands to reason we should see movement on this issue, one way or another from the Packers relatively soon.