Green Bay Packers & Aaron Rodgers “Working On” Restructure

This past Friday was the deadline for the Green Bay Packers to restructure Aaron Rodgers’ $6.8 million roster bonus to help create some needed cap space in 2021. However, that deadline passed, and all $6.8 million will now count towards this year’s cap.

This has led to some speculation that the Green Bay Packers want to keep their options open and not add to Rodgers’ already steep $39.85 million cap hit in 2022 so that they can potentially get out of his contract at that time with $17.2 million in cap savings, according to Over the Cap. And who knows, maybe that is the case.

But in addition to that roster bonus, Rodgers also has a $14.7 million base salary that can be restructured as well. The benefit of a restructure is that Green Bay could convert up to $13.62 million of his base salary to a signing bonus, which is paid to Rodgers right away, but the team can then prorate that amount over the life of the deal.

This would allow the Packers to spread $4.54 million in cap charges to 2022 and 2023, thus lowering Rodgers’ cap hit in 2021 by $9.08 million. The downside is that Rodgers’ $38.85 million cap hit in 2022 and his $28.35 million cap hit in 2023 would both increase by that $4.54 million figure.

Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal reported in early March that the Green Bay Packers had approached Rodgers about a restructure shortly after the season ended.

Then on Monday, Mike Silver of the NFL Network, reported that the Packers and Rodgers were “working on” a restructure and that it was a “tricky situation.”

What will be telling from this and what makes the situation “tricky” is how Brian Gutekunst and Co. view the final years of Rodgers’ contract. If they want the option to move on from him a year from now, then this may end up being a fairly small restructure. On the flip side, if they convert the max amount of his base salary or even extend him, then that tells us that Rodgers very likely isn’t going anywhere–at least not any time soon.

And speaking of an extension, Jason Fitzgerald from Over the Cap made an interesting point after Silver’s comments. When it comes to restructuring Rodgers’ base salary, the Green Bay Packers don’t need his permission to do so. In fact, it’s something that they can do quite easily. So Jason infers that perhaps Green Bay is looking to add voided years to his deal, or maybe an extension is in the works–which would really help them clear some cap space in 2021.

At this point, it still remains unclear what exactly is going to take place, but as the saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire, and there is a lot of smoke around these restructure talks with Rodgers between Wilde and Silver’s reports.

In addition to that, Green Bay is only $3.3 million under the salary cap, with additional expenses incoming. They need cap space for the draft class, the practice squad, the 52nd and 53rd players on the roster, along with needing reserves for any in-season spending and money for any free agent additions–which there will be, just hang tight. An extension for Davante Adams is another avenue that the Green Bay Packers have to clear some cap space as well.

With Rodgers coming off an MVP season and being in the highly quarterback-friendly Matt LaFleur offense, I don’t see his play falling off so steeply in 2021 that a year from now, we are wondering if it’s time to move on. So I have no problem with moving money into future seasons and losing some of that flexibility to move on from him. Now we wait and see if the Packers feel the same way.