Packers losing grip on Chillar

The Green Bay Packers may not be able to lure free agent linebacker Brandon Chillar away from the Arizona Cardinals now that wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has agreed to a blockbuster four year $40 million restructured contract.

"Over the final two years of his old deal, Fitzgerald was scheduled to make $14,592,500 in 2008 and $17,355,000 in 2009," reports John Clayton of ESPN. "That put the team in a tight cap bind -- with less than $400,000 of cap room remaining -- so signing players was tough until they struck a deal with Fitzgerald. They had only 48 players on their roster and only 16 players on defense."

That puts the Cardinals in position to be able to sign Chillar who they were reportedly high on when he visited them a little over a week ago. Chillar would also be able to step into the starting lineup in Arizona now that Calvin Pace has left the team for greener pastures via free agency.

The Packers are left with few other options in free agency to add a strong side linebacker. In fact, the Packers have to to sign their own free agent backup in Tracy White.

This could be an idication that the Packers would like to add some depth to the linebacking corps via the April draft.