Green Bay Packers Post June 1st Salary Cap Update
By Paul Bretl
It was a frugal offseason for the Green Bay Packers. Here is an overview of their current salary cap situation post-June 1st.
Green Bay entered the offseason well below the salary cap, so as they’ve done in previous offseasons, they restructured their way to salary cap solvency, pushing nearly $50 million worth of cap charges into future seasons to keep players like David Bakhtiari, Preston Smith, De’Vondre Campbell, Aaron Jones, Rasul Douglas, and others.
However, even in doing so, they still had limited spending power in free agency. Following the trade of Aaron Rodgers, the Packers took on $40-plus million in dead cap. Outside of signing long-snapper Matt Orzech to a three-year deal, every free agent signing made by Green Bay was a one-year contract. The largest cap hit that they took on belonged to Keisean Nixon at only $2.7 million.
Could the Packers have been more aggressive in the free-agent market? Probably. But I imagine not knowing what was going to happen with Rodgers played a factor, and the Packers are also facing the consequences of past offseasons with $57.14 million in dead cap on the books just in 2023. Spending less in 2023 puts them in a better spot in 2024 when hopefully, they will be in a better position to compete.
This is the balance that the Packers have to strike this offseason. Making sure that they have enough around Jordan Love so that he can find success as a starter, but also recognizing that they most likely aren’t competing at a high level this season either, and trying to position themselves better to do so in 2024 and beyond.
Currently, Over the Cap has the Packers with $16.56 million in available cap space, which is actually the ninth-most in the NFL right now. But keep in mind, there are still some incoming expenses that aren’t accounted for in that figure.
Ken Ingalls, who independently tracks the Packers’ salary cap situation, factored in the cap cost to sign Green Bay’s first four draft picks and assumes that the Packers will want $5 million in reserves for any in-season spending, so they can make additions throughout the year.
He also accounted for Rashan Gary getting an extension, which actually creates $3.02 million in cap space by his projections, and the 52nd and 53rd players on the roster because offseason cap calculations only take into account the top-51 contracts.
When all that math is worked out and the aforementioned inputs are taken into consideration, Ingalls projects that, as of now, Green Bay has $4.2 million to spend. So not exactly a ton, but it’s not as if there are many big-money options still available, and it’s also possible the Packers feel their roster is pretty well set as well. Also, keep in mind that whatever the Packers don’t spend in 2023 is then carried over to 2024, further helping next year’s cap situation.
Outside of the Gary extension, the Packers really do not have any salary cap-saving moves left at their disposal. There are a few minor restructures they could do with Jon Runyan’s or Pat O’Donnell’s contracts, but nothing of significance. The other hot talking point since we are beyond June 1st is that Green Bay could trade or cut David Bakhtiari and save $2.25 million in cap space. But to me, that isn’t worth it whatsoever. Any success that Love is going to have this year starts with the offensive line, and while Zach Tom and Yosh Nijman are capable options at left tackle, this unit is worse without Bakhtiari.
Positions that the Packers could still potentially add to are a veteran quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, and interior defensive lineman. I believe that they will keep the door open at these positions heading into training camp, but at least for the time being, Green Bay seems prepared and willing to weather the storm that comes with relying on so many young players at these positions.
With help from NFL Trade Rumors, below are the top remaining options at each of those positions:
Wide Receiver
DeAndre Hopkins
Jarvin Landry
Kenny Golladay
Julio Jones
Demarcus Robinson
Byron Pringle
N’Keal Harry
Quarterback
Teddy Bridgewater
Carson Wentz
Tight End
MyCole Pruitt
Maxx Williams
Geoff Swaim
Marcedes Lewis
Eric Tomlinson
Cameron Brate
Interior Defensive Lineman
Chris Wormley
Dawuane Smoot
Matt Ioannidis
Shelby Harris
Akiem Hicks
Corey Peters