Green Bay Packers: Will We See Any More Contract Extensions?

The Green Bay Packers have now locked up Kenny Clark and David Bakhtiari. Will we see any more contract extensions this season?

Even before the 2020 season began, there was already a lot of focus on the Green Bay Packers’ 2021 offseason and their upcoming free-agent class. And for good reasons, this group is loaded with key players.

Before any contract extensions took place, Green Bay’s upcoming free-agent class was made up of Kenny Clark, David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Kevin King, Corey Linsley, and Jamaal Williams. But after Bakhtiari’s recent extension that made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in football, you can scratch him off that list, along with Clark who received his extension over the summer.

So that leaves Jones, King, Linsley, and Williams all hoping that they might be the next player to receive a new contract. But the big question is, will any of them?

Jones and Green Bay have reportedly been in contract talks since the spring, and over the last two seasons, he has certainly shown his value to this team. I mean, this offense looks much different when he is on the field compared to when he’s off. However, he does play what may be the most replaceable position in football, and with Spotrac projecting that Jones’ next contract pays him an average annual value of $13.3 million, that is likely way too steep for the salary cap conscious Green Bay Packers.

Before the season, you could make the argument that given his position, Kevin King was the third most important free agent behind Clark and Bakhtiari, especially with how well he played in 2019. But the injury bug has bitten again, and at this time, a contract extension seems too risky given all the games King has missed in his career.

Meanwhile, Linsley is putting together an All-Pro caliber season, which means he will command a hefty – and well-deserved – contract, but in terms of replaceability, Green Bay already has a few options on the roster in Elgton Jenkins, Lucas Patrick, and rookie Jake Hanson.

Lastly is Williams, who may get a new contract if Jones goes elsewhere, but I’m not sure that he’s someone you prioritize as a mid-season extension candidate either. Rather you see how free agency unfolds.

So having said all of that, while I’m not going to completely shut the door on any of these players being brought back, as there’s always that possibility, I do believe that there won’t be any more contract extensions this season, and each player will hit free agency. This is in part due to the reasons that I gave above but also reading the tea leaves after GM Brian Gutekunst’s recent comments about free agency (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN):

"“The players that might become available to us during the March period may be a little different than it has in the past, and we want to have some flexibility to do those things if we can,” he said. “So I think it’s a combination of that. We’ve always believed that we’d like to take care of our own first — that’s very important to us. But we’d also like to have some flexibility to see what the market might bring in March.”"

Due to lost revenue from no fans – or limited fans – in attendance at games this season, the salary cap could drop as low as $175 million in 2021 from where it currently sits this season at $198 million. This means that teams, including the Packers, will have to take some cost-saving measures this offseason, which could lead to a number of proven veterans being released. And in a year where NFL teams don’t have the same money to allocate towards free-agent contracts, players may be more likely to take short term deals and then hit free agency again when the cap returns to its usual state. Baseball’s free-agent class faces a similar dilemma.

This is why Gutey wants to remain “flexible,” as he put it, heading into the offseason. He feels that there is a strong possibility that he will be able to fill some of the roster holes with experienced and proven players who might not otherwise have been available if it wasn’t for these unique circumstances, and he could potentially do so at a relatively cheap price.

With Clark and Bakhtiari, the Green Bay Packers did what they had to do, which is keep both of those players in Titletown for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the projected salary cap situation, you find a way to keep those two in Green Bay no matter what. But with the other four pending free agents, that’s not necessarily the case, given their cost and replaceability.

With what will undoubtedly be a unique offseason that will certainly be challenging, on the flip side, it will also present opportunities that may not have been there under normal circumstances. So understandably, Gutey wants to keep his options open and see how things play out. Meaning, I think we’ve seen the last major contract extension of the regular season.