The Packers entered the off-season needing to cut around 50 million off the salary cap before March 16th. March 16th is designated as the new league year and all teams needed to be salary cap compliant by then. These eight moves got them where they needed to be:
1. Kenny Clark
It all started with Kenny Clark restructuring his deal. The Packers converted base salary and a roster bonus into a signing bonus. They also tacked on two void years to Kenny Clark’s deal. Adding void years allows teams to spread the salary cap out over more years, thus lowering the yearly total. Clark’s base salary and void years added up to 13.6 Million. Total Cap savings: $10,892,000.
Total Savings: 10,892,000
2. Aaron Jones
Aaron Jones did essentially the same thing as Kenny Clark. The Packers converted base salary and a roster bonus while adding on void years. Jones’ total cap savings were $3,052,000.
Total Savings: $13,944,000
3. David Bakhtiari
The only difference between Bakhtiari and the first two were no void years were added onto the end of his contract. However his base salary and a roster bonus were converted into a signing bonus. Total Savings: $7,710,000.
Total Savings: 21,654,000
4. Extending Preston Smith
The Packers made a big commitment to Preston Smith this off-season. They signed him to a 4 year 52.5 million dollar deal. This extension lowered his cap hit for the 2022 season from a massive $19.7 million dollars. The total savings: $8,260,000.
Total Savings: $29,914,000
5. Releasing Za’Darius Smith
Although painful for some. the release of Za’Darius Smith was a necessary one. Based on 2021 production and 2022 cap hit, it just wasn’t going to work. His release alone cleared $14,576,000.
Total Savings: $44,490,000
6. Releasing Billy Turner
Releasing Billy Turner felt like a cap casualty more than anything else. He contributed to the offense last year and provided great depth on the offensive line. However Green Bay remains confident in their abilities to keep manufacturing offensive lineman in house. Cap savings: $2,668,570
Total Savings: $47,159,000
7. Extending Aaron Rodgers
The biggest move of the off-season came with extending Aaron Rodgers. It was the one that we had been waiting to hear about and it did not disappoint. This extension dropped his 2022 cap hit from $46.7 million to $28.5 million. Cap savings: $18,100,588
Total Savings: $65,259,588
8. Reduction of Randall Cobb’s contract
On March 16th, deadline day, Randall Cobb agreed to take a pay cut to stay on the Packers. While the official number has yet to be released, we were told that it is approximately $5,500,000.
Total Savings: $70,759,588
It was also reported this morning that the Packers cleared $4.7M of cap space by restructuring Adrian Amos’ deal.
Final Total Savings: $75,459,588
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