Green Bay Packers: 10 Biggest Cap Hits in 2020

These 10 players for the Green Bay Packers come with the largest salary cap hits for the 2020 season.

This offseason has been a bit different for the Green Bay Packers and a less exciting one for the fans. However, this was to be expected.

It’s often a forgotten element in football but the salary cap plays an enormous role in dictating how a team approaches each offseason. And for the Packers, the 2019 offseason and the 2021 offseason have limited what they can do right now.

Of course, we all remember last year when Green Bay signed Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner to $182 million worth of contracts which naturally limits the amount of cap space they have this year.

And on top of that, if we look ahead to next offseason, with Corey Linsley, David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Aaron Jones, and Kevin King as pending free agents, Green Bay has to be mindful of what they do now, to be sure that they have cap space available to re-sign as many of those players as they can.

So with those two factors being big reasons that the Green Bay Packers have less spendable cap space this offseason, let’s take a look at which 10 players are taking up the most cap space in 2020.

10. Lane Taylor – $5,487,500

This is a bit of a tough one to swallow given that barring an injury, Lane Taylor is going to be a backup this season. There has been a lot talk this offseason that the Green Bay Packers could move on from him, whether that be via a trade or simply cutting him, which would result in roughly $4 million in cap savings.

However, there is no such thing as too much offensive line depth and with this being the final year of Taylor’s contract, they could hang on to him as an insurance policy.

9. Kenny Clark – $7,690,000

As of now, this cap hit is nothing compared to what it is going to be when Clark gets his new contract. 2020 is the final year of his rookie deal and GM Brian Gutekunst mentioned earlier this offseason that they are looking into getting a contract extension completed. Bringing Clark back is obviously a no-brainer but it is going to come with a big cap hit.

8. Billy Turner – $8,100,000

While Billy Turner was an upgrade over Byron Bell at right guard, his play for much of the season was average to below average. And given that in 2021 his cap hit is more than his dead cap hit, 2020 could very well be a make or break season for him.

7. Adrian Amos – $9,650,000

During the 2018 season, the play from the safety position was an utter disaster, but Adrian Amos brought some much-needed stability to the position. Certainly money well spent last offseason.

6. Corey Linsley – $10,500,000

Linsley comes with a fairly hefty cap hit this season and some even speculated that Green Bay might move on from him since this is the final year of his deal and doing so would result in roughly $8.5 million in cap savings. However, he’s been very durable over his career, he’s one of the better centers in the game, and of course, he has a strong connection with Aaron Rodgers.

5. Preston Smith – $13,500,000

12 sacks and 23 quarterback hits in 2019. Just like Adrian Amos, this was money very well spent.

4. David Bakhtiari – $14,700,000

Bakhtiari has been one of, if not the, best left tackle in the game for a few years now. He is one of the most important players on this team and while 2020 may be the final year of his current contract, I can’t envision a world that he isn’t brought back.

3. Davante Adams – $16,475,000

Davante Adams has developed into a top-3 receiver in this league and I don’t even want to know what this Packers’ passing game would have looked like last season without him.

2. Za’Darius Smith – $17,250,000

Worth. Every. Penny.

1. Aaron Rodgers – $21,642,000

Of course, as is the case with most NFL teams, the largest cap hit belongs to the quarterback. Now there are going to be some upset about what Rodgers is making and the amount of this cap hit, but I mean, he’s Aaron Rodgers and he is still plenty capable of quarterbacking this team to a Super Bowl.

All salary cap info courtesy of Spotrac