Packers will have to restructure their way under the salary cap
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers again find themselves in a tight salary cap situation this offseason. And once again, to get out of it, they are going to kick the can down the road by restructuring numerous contracts.
Over the Cap has the 2023 salary cap projected to be $225 million, and by their calculations, the Packers are $16.28 million over at the moment. This figure also doesn’t include the cap space needed to sign the draft class, any free agents, the practice squad, or having space available in-season for any potential additions.
Needless to say, there is work to be done by Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball. As the Packers did in 2021, they’ll become cap solvent through contract restructures.
"“With the way we’re doing things lately, we’ll probably restructure everybody and try to keep making some room,” said Gutekunst last Friday via SI."
Green Bay does have several contract restructure candidates, most notably David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Kenny Clark, and Jaire Alexander, all of who have cap hits over $20 million for the 2023 season and either a sizeable base salary or bonus that can be reworked.
In short, a contract restructure will take a portion of a player’s base salary or roster bonus, for example, and convert it to a signing bonus. While the cap hit from either a base salary or roster bonus is on the books for the current year, the cap hit from a signing bonus can be spread out over the life of the contract–thus lowering it in 2023.
Another tactic that we will probably see the Packers use again is voided years. This is a bookkeeping measure that, on paper, adds additional years to the deal. This strategy could come in handy with someone like Jones, whose contract is up in 2024, which limits how much the current cap hit can be reduced by a restructure since there is only one year for the cap charges to be pushed to. However, if void years are added on for 2025 and 2026, the Packers now have three years to spread the cap hit over from the restructure rather than just one–further reducing the current year’s cap charges.
Now, it’s important to note that in this example, Jones’ contract is still actually up after the 2024 season. This is not an extension. Once his deal is complete after the 2024 season, or if the Packers were to cut him early, the cap charges pushed to those voided years all come due in the season that his contract is terminated.
Other players who could be contract restructure candidates include Preston Smith, Rasul Douglas, Pat O’Donnell, and Darnell Savage, if the team wishes to use voided years.
Creating cap space via contract restructures isn’t the only way for the Packers to clear some cap charges. A contract extension for Rashan Gary is another likely option. If Green Bay can find a partner, trading Savage would free up almost $8 million this season, but at least at this time, that doesn’t seem like a move the Packers are willing to make.
There are also veteran cuts that can be made, but as I wrote about recently, the Packers are lacking significant cap-saving moves in that regard. This is also a team that wants to compete, regardless of who is at quarterback, so moving on from players like Jones or Bakhtiari, makes no sense if that is indeed the case.
Through primarily contract restructures, the Packers have enough cap-cutting moves at their disposal to get into the green and take care of their expenses. But with that said, this is going to be another offseason where I wouldn’t expect much to take place in free agency.