Not that this is priority No. 1 when it comes to free agents, but the Green Bay Packers haven’t tendered safety Chris Banjo.
That’s interesting, since he’s the team’s only exclusive rights free agent. That means he can’t sign anywhere else unless the Packers relinquish his rights.
Banjo wasn’t a big contributor in the trash heap that was the last line of the Packers defense. He did, however, contribute on special teams.
Banjo, who made the team as a tryout player, had 19 tackles and two passes defended in 457 snaps. Ten of those tackles came on special teams.
It’s probably not a huge surprise that Green Bay isn’t doing much with their pending free agents — of which there are 20 — right now. They’ve been focusing on the college all-star games, which begin this week.
Banjo’s agent, John Biggins, expects a decision in the affirmative before the league year begins in March.
“I expect him to be back,” Biggins said. “He had a good year. He was one of the top special-teams contributors the coaches told him during the exit interview that he tied for first in production on special teams, which measures tackles and blocks. I think he tied with Jarrett Bush, so that’s huge for him. We fully expect for him to be back.”
Since the Packers finished in the bottom half of the league in special teams rankings again this year, it would probably behoove them to re-sign a guy that can actually help in that area.