ESPN Projects What Rashan Gary’s Next Deal Looks Like for Packers

With Jaire Alexander recently receiving his contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, the next player in store for a big payday is edge rusher Rashan Gary.

Since his rookie season in 2019, which included only 256 total snaps, Gary’s role has increased with each passing season, and as a result, so has his production. It culminated with him being one of the most productive edge rushers in football in 2021, totaling 87 pressures, the third most among edge defenders, and 12 sacks, according to PFF ($$). Gary would also rank first in pass-rush productivity–an efficiency metric.

Much like Alexander, the Green Bay Packers picked up Gary’s fifth-year option for the 2023 season, which comes with a guaranteed salary of $10.89 million. Also, like Alexander, my guess is that next offseason, and prior to Gary’s fifth year beginning, the team is going to sign him to a long-term contract.

So what might that deal look like for Gary and the Green Bay Packers?

Recently, Brad Spielberger of PFF joined forces with ESPN ($$) to project how much Gary could make on his next contract. The end result from Brad’s projection was a five-year deal worth $130 million — or $26 million per year — and $45 million guaranteed.

While I just said that I don’t expect this deal to take place until next offseason, Brad made an interesting point in that if the Green Bay Packers wait, Gary’s price tag may only go up–especially if he’s able to repeat his 2021 performance.

Based on the 2022 contract figures, at $26 million per year, Gary would become the third highest paid edge rusher in football, behind only TJ Watt at $28 million per year and Joey Bosa at $27 million.

As I discussed in a recent article of mine, the Green Bay Packers roster in 2023 is going to be very top-heavy from a salary cap perspective, with the six largest cap hits on the team accounting for $137.7 million, per Over the Cap.

Now, of course, there are cap-saving moves that can be made, whether it’s contract restructures, cuts, or tacking on more voided years. However, with how the Packers typically backload their contracts, a deal like the one described above for Gary would in all likelihood save Green Bay cap space in 2023, rather than him playing on that fifth-year option, where the team has to absorb the entire $10.89 million cap hit in a single season.

With all of that said, the Green Bay Packers having to pay top-dollar for Gary, along with any other players that they drafted, is a good thing–it means the team has really good football players. Not to mention that edge rusher is also a premier position in this game.

Gary’s cap number this season is only $5.05 million, so as I already mentioned, I do expect the Packers to hold off on an extension until next offseason since adding new money to the contract at this point would increase his cap hit for 2022, and Green Bay just doesn’t have much cap space to work with.

But regardless of when a new deal is agreed upon, Gary has put himself in position to be one of highest paid edge rushers in the game.