Matt Flynn Doesn’t Receive Franchise Tag; Free Agency Bound

After four years as a backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Matt Flynn will leave the team and test the free agent waters. There were rumors that the team would slap Flynn with the franchise tag and attempt to trade him, but the franchise tag salary for a quarterback made that too big of a risk. The Packers are not in serious salary cap trouble, but are close enough to the cap that they could not afford to gamble on Flynn, and they would have been in trouble if they were unable to move him.

Flynn will hit the free agent market on March 13, and he's going to at least catch the eye of a number of teams who are in the market for a starting quarterback. His impressive performances against the New England Patriots in 2010 and against the Detroit Lions in 2011 will mean that there are likely a couple of teams willing to give him a chance to win a starting job. Flynn started the Packers' last game of the regular season in 2011 and threw a franchise record six touchdown passes.