Green Bay Packers tight end Robert Tonyan has an expiring contract and is headed for unrestricted free agency, but there’s optimism over his recovery timeline from last season’s ACL injury.
According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, both Tonyan’s camp and the Packers are confident he’ll be back on the field by the start of the regular season, and it’s even possible he’ll be ready to go by training camp in late July.
Tonyan, who turns 28 in April, tore his ACL at the end of a catch-and-run against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 28. He missed the rest of the season.
Tonyan would be roughly nine months removed from the injury by the start of training camp and over 10 months removed by the start of the regular season.
Over the first eight games of 2021, Tonyan caught 18 passes for 204 yards and two scores. The year before, Tonyan was a breakout performer for the Packers, catching 52 passes for 586 yards and 11 scores, tied for the most ever by a tight end in team history.
Barring a new deal with the Packers over the next five days, Tonyan will hit free agency and have the ability to sign anywhere. He could be a coveted asset in a tight end market that lost three players to the franchise tag this month.
According to Huber, quarterback Aaron Rodgers wants Tonyan back in 2022.
If Tonyan will be healthy by late summer, teams could be more interested in offering a lucrative multi-year deal, and the Packers don’t have much in terms of financial wiggle room. But would Tonyan be willing to return to Green Bay to play with Rodgers in an effort to rebuild his value?
The Packers are probably interested in the right price, given the team’s situation at tight end and the fact that Tonyan is already on the books for 2022.
He’ll be a free agent, but Tonyan will count roughly $1.9 million on the Packers’ cap this year dead money. The team added void years to his one-year restricted tender last year to help spread out the cap hit, but the structuring meant an acceleration of dead money onto the Packers’ cap in 2022.
Given the injury, Tonyan may not sign early in the process of free agency. But as a pass-catching tight end in a pass-happy league, he might not last long on the open market if he’s truly on the right track in his recovery from a major injury.
