Green Bay Packers Cut ’em or Keep ’em & Prediction: Christian Kirksey
By Paul Bretl
With the salary cap projected to fall from $198.2 million to around $180 million — although that’s not official — due to a lack of fans in the stands this past season, the Green Bay Packers find themselves about $20 million over the salary cap. This means that cuts, restructures, and extensions will have to be made in order to free up that additional cap space.
As far as cuts go, there are several players that I believe could end up being cap casualties this offseason in an attempt to shed that excess salary cap. So as we continue on with the “Cut ’em or Keep ’em & Prediction” series, one of those players who Green Bay could move on from in exchange for some cap savings is linebacker Chrisitan Kirksey.
Below you can find the first two parts of this series:
Why the Green Bay Packers could keep Christian Kirksey
2021 Cap Hit: $7,609,375
It was in Week 15 against Carolina that the Green Bay Packers made a change on defense, moving Krys Barnes to the Mike linebacker and Christian Kirksey to the Will. In a new role and with less playing time, we saw a much more impactful Christian Kirksey.
Over Green Bay’s final five games, Kirksey recorded two sacks compared to just one over the previous eight games, along with 10 pressures compared to 11 during that same eight game stretch. Kirksey would also allow only nine receiving yards on seven receptions and came away with an interception. Not to mention that he was the Packers’ highest-graded defender by Pro Football Focus in the NFC Championship Game.
New defensive coordinator Joe Barry is a former linebackers coach, and he is bringing in a Vic Fangio-style of defense where the linebacker plays a more important role than what it has in Green Bay in the past. The hope would be that Barry would help Kirksey build off of his performance from last season, and perhaps an entire year as the weakside linebacker would lead to a much greater impact.
Why the Green Bay Packers will cut Christian Kirksey
2021 Cap Savings: 5,609,375
While Kirksey was able to finish the season strong, he struggled for much of it up to that point, and again, missed some time with an injury. He also saw his role reduced, and rookie Krys Barnes was given play-calling responsibilities on defense.
Although the Green Bay Packers haven’t typically valued the linebacker position, we do have to wait and see if that changes with the new defensive system in place. However, even if that is the case, I don’t believe that Brian Gutekunst has any issue going into next season with Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin as his primary linebackers.
Barnes has shown that he can be effective against both the running and passing games, and he has no problem wearing the green dot. Martin still has to refine his game, but the flashes and play-making ability are certainly there. On top of that, the two come with a collective cap hit in 2021 of less than $2 million.
There are also some talented linebackers in this year’s draft class if the Packers do want to try to upgrade or add depth.
Prediction
Ultimately, the Green Bay Packers are going to move on from Christian Kirksey. Even with how well Kirksey finished last season, Barnes is going to be the top linebacker entering 2021 and taking a cap hit of over $7 million for a linebacker that played less than 50 percent of the defensive snaps in those final games is a hefty price tag—especially in this unusual cap year.
Like I said, I imagine Gutey and company are comfortable heading into the new season with Barnes and Martin. But if they feel the need to address the position, they can turn to the draft for a player with more upside and on a cheaper deal than what Kirksey had.