Packers re-sign linebacker Eric Wilson, according to Eric Wilson

Green Bay is bringing back another core special teamer who is capable of pitching in on defense.

The Green Bay Packers need bodies at linebacker after moving to a 4-3 base defense, and on Thursday the team has reportedly added some valuable veteran depth. The Packers have finally re-signed Eric Wilson, according to a post on Wilson’s own Instagram account:

Wilson will return to Green Bay for a third consecutive season after 2022 and 2023 campaigns that saw him become one of the team’s most critical special teams contributors. He led the team in special teams snaps last season with 308 after finishing sixth on the team the previous season. Wilson also pitched in on defense more significantly in 2023 than in his first year with the Packers, totaling 121 defensive snaps (about 11% of the team’s total). Those snaps often came as a result of the Packers needing reinforcements at linebacker, with both Quay Walker and De’Vondre Campbell missing some time with injuries.

Both Wilson’s role in 2023 and his experience as a full-time starter for the Minnesota Vikings in 2020 suggest that Packers see him as a valuable depth linebacker in addition to his special teams contributions. Wilson played more than 1,000 snaps on defense in 2020, posting three interceptions, a forced fumble, and three sacks.

The most memorable play — and surely the most important — in Wilson’s Packers career came in this year’s Divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. Wilson came up with a critical recovery of a Keisean Nixon fumble on a long kickoff return in the third quarter. The Packers took back a lead a few plays later, though they were unable to hold on for a victory.

Wilson is eligible for the NFL’s veteran salary benefit, a salary-cap mechanic that allows teams to absorb a salary cap hit lower than a player’s actual compensation, and a one-year contract under this provision is likely to be the deal that Wilson has signed. As a seven-year veteran, Wilson’s league-minimum base salary would be $1.21 million; under the veteran salary benefit, he could receive an additional $167,500 in compensation (as a signing bonus, for example) while only costing the Packers $985,000 against the salary cap — the league minimum salary for a two-year veteran.

The Packers will still have work to do to build up the linebacker room, but they at least have some solid depth back in the fold, along with another key member of Rich Bisaccia’s special teams group.