Packers free agency predictions: Does TE Tyler Davis return?

Paul Bretl | 2/19/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In the coming weeks, I will take a closer look at the Packers pending free agents in my ‘Re-sign or Let Go and Prediction’ series.

For each free agent I will make a case as to why the Packers should re-sign them and I’ll also discuss why the Packers would let them walk and play elsewhere. Then at the end, I’ll make my prediction.

This will be my third offseason doing this series and through the first two, I’ve gotten 24 of the 27 predictions correct.

Up next, let’s take a closer look at whether or not tight end Tyler Davis will return for the 2025 season. If you missed our other previews, you can find them below:

Eric Wilson
Isaiah McDuffie
Robert Rochell
TJ Slaton

Why the Packers will re-sign Tyler Davis

Tyler Davis has unfortunately suffered season-ending injuries in August of each of the past two seasons. In 2023, it was an ACL injury and a shoulder injury in 2024.

“Just some bad luck,” said Davis after the 2024 season. “Worked really hard to get back and I’ve worked really hard to get back this year too. It’s not like it’s a foreign process to me. I’m putting everything into this rehab like I did the last one. Made the best of the worst. Everything’s moving in the right direction.”

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Rewinding to the 2022 season, Davis had carved out roles on this Packers team. On offense, he was utilized primarily as a blocker, but he does have the athletic upside to be more than just a traditional in-line blocking tight end. We saw this during training camp last season prior to his shoulder injury, where he was filling the H-back role and being moved around the formation.

Davis biggest impact, however, came on special teams where he led the team in snaps during the 2022 season, and played across five of the six different phases. Whatever role Rich Bisaccia needed Davis to fill, he did so, and did it well.

“To some degree, we lost our right hand,” said Bisaccia in August of 2023. “He’s an exceptional special teams player, someone you can count on in every critical situation. I haven’t gotten very comfortable with not having Tyler Davis.”

So why would the Packers bring Davis back?

For one, while Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave are at the top of the tight end depth chart, there are still two roster spots available and Davis can provide competition for Ben Sims and John FitzPatrick. While PFF’s grading system is far from the be-all-end-all in terms of evaluation, for what it’s worth, Sims ranked 59th out of 84 tight ends in run-blocking grade and FitzPatrick often played just a few snaps per game.

Again, rewinding to training camp last summer, I thought Davis was the better and more consistent blocker compared to Sims at that time. Then there is the special teams value that he brings and from a contract standpoint, this is a low-risk move for the Packers. Davis’ next deal will likely be around league-minimum and come with little guarantees making it easy to get out of if he doesn’t make the 53-man roster.

But in addition to all of that, and not to be overlooked, Davis means a lot to that tight end room as well. Over the last two seasons, as he’s rehabbed from those injuries, Davis has continued to be a steady presence around this Packers team.

“When you have two season-ending injuries like that, you can fold-up your (expletive) and pack it up and go home or you can go to work like he does every single day and continue to progress and get better and be a good teammate,” said Tucker Kraft of Davis. “He is the same guy every day and that’s what you got to love about Tyler Davis.”

Why the Packers won’t re-sign Tyler Davis

After two season-ending injuries with Davis not having seen an NFL regular season snap since 2022, there is certainly some unknown when it comes to what to expect from him moving forward.

Couple that with Davis being 28 years old this season and, in the past, having a limited role on offense, the Packers could choose to roster younger, more high-upside players at the tight end position. Oftentimes, when it comes to these back-end roster spots–and we’ve seen Brian Gutekunst do this often with players like Kadeem Telfort, Caleb Jones, Brenton Cox and others–teams want developmental talent in order to take a swing on turning that potential into a future contributions.

As we look at the Packers’ current 90-man roster, they already have six tight ends as well. So adding Davis to the mix makes seven, and that’s a hefty tight end depth chart numbers-wise, even for OTAs and training camp where expanded rosters are needed. Is the trickle-down effect of having that many tight ends then reduce the Packers’ willingness to add a late-round pick or UDFA to the mix?

In what is a well-established room with Kraft leading the way, the Packers using a back-end roster spot for a veteran in Davis, who has a niche role on offense and is a core special teams contributor over the upside and potential of a younger player is a bit against the grain when it comes to how we’ve seen Gutekunst operate.

From a roster-building standpoint, would Gutekunst take one year of Davis over the future upside of a younger player like FitzPatrick, for example, when it comes to trimming the roster to 53 players? There’s a balance to walk in that regard, when it comes to short-term contributions versus potential long-term upside.

Prediction: Packers re-sign Tyler Davis

The fact that the Packers already have six tight ends on the roster, coupled with where Davis is at in his career relative to how we’ve seen Gutekunst construct rosters previously, the unknown that comes after missing time, and the relatively smaller role he’s played previously, all of that does give me some hesitation with this prediction. However, the reasons to re-sign him end up out-weighing the reasons not to.

While not everything, I do think his locker room presence within that tight end position does factor in. As mentioned, although we don’t know how quickly he can return to form after missing all that time, he has the ability to really push Sims for playing time, and when it comes to unlocking more opportunities for Kraft within the offense, the Packers need a stronger blocking presence at the tight end position outside of what Kraft provides.

Then there are the special teams contributions, which can’t be overlooked with Bisaccia as the special teams coordinator. And lastly, the contract. As I highlighted already, there’s really no risk for the Packers to bring him back with Davis’ deal coming with minimal salary cap impact and being one that will be easy to get out of if Green Bay releases him.

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