Green Bay Packers Free Up More Cap Space with Billy Turner Restructure

After a flurry of moves on Friday, the Green Bay Packers cut their salary cap deficit to just $2.35M. Yet still being in the hole, there is work and some financial maneuvering to be done.

Their latest move came to help with this was a reported restructure of Billy Turner’s deal, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, this is a restructure with two parts to it. The Packers took $1 million of Turner’s roster bonus, converted it to signing bonus, and prorated it over the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

This lessens Turner’s cap hit this year by $500,000 and adds to his $8.1 million cap hit in 2022 by $500,000—the other half of the prorated signing bonus. Bill also mentions that Turner converted a portion of his $4.525 million base salary to signing bonus as well, but that exact amount is unknown.

And remember, whatever is saved in cap space in 2021, has to be recognized in 2022, the final year of his deal.

After an up and down first year in Green Bay, this time a year ago I did question whether or not Turner would be on the Green Bay Packers’ roster in 2021. However, he exceeded the expectations of most this past year, providing stability at both guard and tackle positions.

According to Pro Football Focus ($), Turner took 367 snaps at left tackle, 246 at right guard, and 427 at right tackle. He allowed only four sacks — two of which came in the NFC Championship — and 30 pressures. Turner also ranked third out of all tackles in ESPN’s pass-blocking win rate metric.

Exactly how much cap space was saved with this move, we still have to see, but the Green Bay Packers are now a bit closer to being under. They have to be under the $182.5 million mark by next Wednesday when the new league year opens, and free agency begins. A few potential moves to keep your eyes on include extensions for either Davante Adams or Za’Darius Smith, along with a possible Aaron Rodgers’ restructure.