Green Bay Packers Restructure Za’Darius Smith’s Deal Rather Than Extend

In somewhat surprising news, it has been reported by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network that the Green Bay Packers have restructured Za’Darius Smith’s contract to free up cap space in 2021.

The surprising part — given the mechanics of how restructures and extensions work — is that they went with a restructure over an extension. An extension is what Tom Silverstein of the Green Bay Press-Gazette mentioned on Sunday as a possible follow up move to the Aaron Jones’ deal.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Green Bay Packers converted all of Smith’s $5 million roster bonus and $9.76 million of his base salary to a signing bonus and, in the process, freed up $7.38 million in cap space.

However, it’s important to note that any cap space saved in 2021 must be recognized in 2022, which is the final year of Smith’s current deal, and according to Over the Cap, he now has a cap hit of $28.1 million. This is why an extension made a lot of sense because that cap hit could have been spread out over additional years.

With Smith at 28-years-old, perhaps the Green Bay Packers want to see how he continues to perform before committing to more years and money. An extension is still in play next offseason.

Since stepping foot in Green Bay, Smith has been a leader on this team and was an important part of the culture change that took place in what had become a stagnant locker room. On the field, he was named an All-Pro in 2020 behind 12.5 sacks, while the year before, he should have been an All-Pro after tallying 13.5 sacks and a ridiculous 105 pressures–the most in the NFL.

Where the Green Bay Packers stand cap-wise at the moment, we don’t exactly know. The full details of Jones’ deal and Billy Turner’s restructure are still unknown, but it is believed that they are still at a few million dollars over.

With the new league year beginning this afternoon, Green Bay has to be under the cap by then, so expect another move or two to follow.