Green Bay Packers: 4 Likely Salary Cap Cuts this Offseason
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers OT: Rick Wagner
Like Christian Kirksey, Rick Wagner was just signed last offseason as well. And although the NFC Championship Game didn’t go well, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well Wagner played this season.
While playing mostly right tackle with some snaps at left, Wagner gave up three sacks this season — two of which came in the NFC Championship — 19 pressures and was called for just one penalty in 445 pass-blocking snaps. On top of that, he also ranked eighth among all tackles in ESPN’s pass-blocking win rate metric.
But when David Bakhtiari is back on the field, Wagner would become a backup once again with Billy Turner at right tackle. Additionally, my expectation is that the Packers are going to draft a tackle early this year. It’s a deep tackle class, and they should have the opportunity to find a swing tackle for 2021 and a hopeful starter in 2022.
By moving on from Wagner, Green Bay will save almost $4.3 million in cap space. If they were to keep him, his cap hit would be $6 million–a steep price for a likely backup.