A look at the Packers salary cap situation heading into Week 1

The Green Bay Packers entered the 2022 NFL offseason once again in a salary cap crunch.

However, between the contract restructures in which they kicked the salary cap can down the road, the Aaron Rodgers’ extension, trading away Davante Adams, as well as releasing Za’Darius Smith, among other moves, the Packers found themselves with a decent amount of cap space to operate with.

So now with Week 1 of the regular season on the horizon, where do the Packers currently stand from a salary cap standpoint?

Ken Ingalls, who independently tracks the Packers salary cap situation, currently has the Packers with $5.87 million in available cap space.

In short, the 53-man roster accounts for $175.58 million and the 16-player practice squad $3.31 million. There is also $6.18 million in cap space going towards reserve — or injured — player costs (more on that in a minute).

Other cap charges that Ken has taken into account include dead money on the books for 2022 from players who were either cut — the aforementioned Za’Darius Smith — or had voided years added on to their previous contracts. There is also a minimal offseason workout charge accounted for as well. Combined, these costs accounted for $25.3 million in cap space this season.

Add all of the expenses that we just discussed up and subtract the total from the Packers’ adjusted salary cap in 2022 of $216.25 million, and they are left with that $5.87 million figure in cap space.

However, we aren’t quite done yet. That may be what the Packers have available at the moment, but other expenses will be incurred this season, such as per-game bonus potential for some players as well as practice squad elevations, in which those players get the all-important game-day roster check rather than what they are typically paid to be on the practice squad.

According to Ken, those two items will account for $2.88 million in cap space this season. So the Packers’ effective — or true — cap space is actually only $2.99 million.

Now, bouncing back to those reserve player costs, the Packers can create an additional $4-5 million in cap space, by Ken’s calculations, by reaching IR settlements with players who were injured during training camp. The players who fit into this category include Shawn Davis, Innis Gaines, Akial Byers, and Ishmael Hyman, among potentially others.

Having that available cap space will come in handy when the Packers look to make an in-season addition to this team, something they have often done under GM Brian Gutekunst. Last season alone, a few examples included Whitney Mercilus, Jaylon Smith, and Rasul Douglas.

Injuries can change the landscape of the roster and create needs that may not currently exist, but two positions the Packers could look to address at some point this season based not the current construction of the depth chart are edge rusher and safety, where experienced depth is very much lacking.

In terms of adjustments to contracts, there really aren’t any significant moves available to the Packers–they’ve exhausted all of them. So assuming they clear that $4-5 million in cap space from those injury settlements, they’ll have in the neighborhood of $7-8 million in cap space to work with this season–which should be enough to operate with.