Green Bay Packers: 4 Likely Salary Cap Cuts this Offseason

Sadly, instead of discussing an upcoming Super Bowl matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs, we are moving on to the offseason. And one of the bigger storylines this offseason includes how teams are going to manage what is likely a shrinking salary cap.

Prior to the 2020 season beginning, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to potentially reduce the salary cap as low as $175 million in 2021 because of COVID-19 and the lack of fans in the stands. This would be down significantly from the $198.2 million it was at this year.

Now, this doesn’t mean that the cap will fall to $175 million; it could be anywhere in between. And if you’re looking for some good news, Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated recently posted an article suggesting that the salary cap may be closer to $198 million than the $175 million floor.

However, for the time being, this is only speculation, and in all likelihood, the Green Bay Packers are going to have to make some difficult decisions this offseason to create cap space. And that means veteran cuts.

When looking at the Packers’ 2021 roster on Spotrac, there are four players in particular who didn’t necessarily have the best 2020 seasons and come with bigger cap hits than dead cap hits.

For those unfamiliar with those terms, the cap hit is what’s on the books for that season and counts towards the salary cap. The dead cap hit is what’s still owed to the player from the signing bonus that has already been paid out. When the cap hit is larger than the dead cap hit, it can be advantageous for the team to move on from that player to save some cap space.

So with salary cap guru Ken Ingalls projecting the Packers at $41.7 million over the 2021 salary cap, if it does in fact fall to the $175 million mark, it’s going to be a busy offseason for Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball—which means these four players have likely played their final snaps in Green Bay.

Green Bay Packers IDL: Dean Lowry

In terms of cap savings, Lowry provides the smallest boost of the players on this list. According to Spotrac, his cap hit in 2021 is $6.3 million, and he has a dead cap hit of $3 million, thus creating an additional $3.3 million in cap space. If this was a normal year, my gut says they’d keep Lowry and add another interior defensive lineman to reduce his role. But this year, I believe Green Bay takes the additional $3.3 million instead.

Lowry was awarded a contract extension after a strong 2018 season; unfortunately, in 2019 and 2020, he didn’t make the same impact. According to Pro Football Focus ($), he totaled 21 pressures this season — the same as 2019 — but only 16 run-stops, which was down from 27.

For comparison sake to 2017, that season, Lowry had 493 defensive snaps and logged 19 pressures, three sacks, and 19 run-stops. With over 200 more snaps in 2020, his numbers were almost identical.

Ultimately, Green Bay will move on from Lowry, take the cap savings, and hopefully bring in a legitimate difference-maker or at least a younger player with more upside on a cheaper deal.