Packers Can Now Create More Cap Space Reworking Lazard’s RFA Deal
By Paul Bretl
Now that Allen Lazard has officially put pen to paper and signed his restricted free agent contract for the 2022 season, the Green Bay Packers have the option to rework it as a way of creating more cap space.
Per the CBA, with the Packers placing a second-round tender on Lazard earlier this offseason, his contract for 2022 is worth $3.986 million, and since it is a one-year deal, that entire figure is also the cap hit since there are no additional years to push any cap charges towards.
However, if the Packers want to lower Lazard’s 2022 cap hit, they can do so by adding voided years to his contract.
Voided years are essentially dummy years added to a contract means solely for bookkeeping purposes. If, for example, the Packers add three voided years to Lazard’s contract, this allows them to convert a portion of his $3.986 million salary — which all has to hit the 2022 books — into a signing bonus, which provides Green Bay with the flexibility to push some of those cap charges into the voided years, thus lowering the current year’s cap hit.
Instead of recognizing the entire cap hit this year, on paper, Green Bay now has four years (2022 plus 3 void years in this example) that they can spread some of the cap charges into.
By Ken Ingalls’ projections, the Packers can create around $1.5 million in additional cap space for this season if they choose to max out their savings opportunity with Lazard’s contract.
Now, it’s important to know that those voided years don’t actually extend Lazard’s contract. His deal will still be up following the 2022 season, at which point, all those cap charges pushed into future years will accelerate and come due on the 2023 books.
This is a strategy that we’ve seen the Green Bay Packers frequently use the last two offseasons as they worked their way around a tight cap situation. They even did the exact same thing that I described above with Robert Tonyan in 2021, who was also playing on a restricted free agent deal.
With $16.96 million in available cap space at the moment, according to Over the Cap, understandably so, you may be wondering why the Packers even need to create cap space at this time.
Well, the big reason is that there are still upcoming expenses that aren’t yet accounted for in that $16.96 million figure.
As Ken Ingalls will point out, some of those unaccounted-for expenses include signing a practice squad, which will eat up about $3.5 million in cap space. Second-round pick Christian Watson is still unsigned, and his contract will count towards roughly $1.85 million in 2022 cap space.
That salary cap calculation above also includes just the top-51 contracts on the roster, but of course, there are 53 players on an NFL team, which means you can tack on another $1.65 million in incoming cap charges as well.
Potential practice squad elevations over the course of the season will account for almost $1 million. Per-game bonus potential for players is around $1.93 million. While having $5 million in reserves for in-season spending so that the Packers can acquire players like Rasul Douglas, Whitney Mercilus, and Snacks Harrison, among others, as they have in the past.
Add it all up and the Green Bay Packers’ effective cap space at this time, according to Ken’s projections, equals $2.731 million in available space. So while adjusting Lazard’s contract maybe isn’t an absolute must, it’s a move that I imagine is on Brian Gutekunst’s and Russ Ball’s radar.
The cap charges discussed also don’t take into account any potential free agent additions that the Packers may still make this summer. Just last June, we saw Green Bay sign De’Vondre Campbell and Dennis Kelly–two players who went on to play key roles on the 2021 team.
When it comes to cap-saving moves that the Packers have left at their disposal, outside of a few unlikely cuts, reworking Lazard’s contract is one of the few bigger moves that they have left. Now we will wait and see if it’s another cap-creating maneuver they choose to take advantage of.