Green Bay Packers: Two Surprise Cap Saving Cuts Before Week 1
By Paul Bretl
We’ve seen the Green Bay Packers make surprise cuts in the past, while I would consider it unlikely, here are two possible cap casualties this summer.
Considering that the Green Bay Packers take the practice field for the first time on Saturday, there’s already been quite a bit of talk about their 2021 offseason. They, of course, have five big-name free agents to tend to, they once again aren’t going to have a ton of spendable cap space, and there is the possibility that the salary cap decreases due to lost revenues in 2020.
Put all of that together, and Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball are in-store for a tricky offseason ahead.
This is why earlier in the offseason, the Green Bay Packers didn’t spend big money in free agency, and moving forward, they’ll have to try to roll over as much salary cap as possible from 2020. And there are a few ways to do that.
They could kick the can down the road like the Kansas City Chiefs have recently with some contract extensions. What this does is it often lowers the cap hit in the current season and spreads the money out in the coming years. Upcoming free agents David Bakhtiari and Kenny Clark, who have cap hits in 2020 of $14.7 million and $7.9 million, respectively, are extension candidates.
Another move that could be made is that Green Bay could still make some surprise cuts as long as the player’s dead cap hit is less than their salary cap hit. This is a precedent that has been set in the past by both Ted Thompson and Gutey.
Under Thompson, we saw the Packers move on from Josh Sitton, which came as a shock. And just last offseason, Gutey did the same with Mike Daniels. No one outside of the organization really saw these moves coming, but Green Bay was clearly comfortable with the moves, and they were able to save some money as well.
So as we look at the Green Bay Packers’ roster heading into training camp, while I expect both of these players to be on the Week 1 roster, I do believe that there is a possibility that either player could be cut as well, even if the chances are small. Here are two names to keep your eyes on.