The Green Bay Packers have already made their first two cap saving moves of the season, restructuring the contract of edge defender Rashan Gary and with Preston Smith taking a paycut. But there are seven other potential moves to free up cap space — and this calculation doesn’t include quarterback Jordan Love, because he is slated to an extension and is a different circumstance.
With Gary, the Packers decided not to add void years, which is an indication that Green Bay is willing to stop pushing so much money to future seasons.
At the moment, the Packers can free up a max of $58.3 million in cap space without cutting anyone, just restructuring deals. However, that would demand two factors. First, players would have to agree to restructures to add void years — they are usually happy to do it, but David Bakhtiari is an exception. Not adding voids, the savings without releases could go up to $39.8 million.
Different circumstances
Younger players with longer deals are easier to touch, because the Packers will probably have them under contract for future years. However, this type of move is more difficult for older, expiring players.
For example, David Bakhtiari is projected to have a $40.018 million cap hit in 2024. If he agrees to a restructure with void years and without a real paycut, the Packers would open up more than $15 million in cap space this year, but every cent would hit the cap in 2025 — or it would be split between 2025 and 2026 with a post-June 1st designation. Therefore, it’s a move that doesn’t make much sense.
Aaron Jones and Kenny Clark are also entering the last year of their deals, and they are already projected to leave dead money behind in 2025 — new restructures, with or without adding void years, would make the dead money even higher. In these cases, the Packers would probably prefer an extension.
De’Vondre Campbell is in a different situation, because the Packers can touch his deal, and his contract goes through 2026, but there is also a realistic scenario in which the team just opts to cut him.
Packers potential cap moves:
RB Aaron Jones
- Current cap hit: $17.575 million
- Method: Converting $9.89 million from base salary to signing bonus + adding another void year
- Cap savings in 2024: $7.912 million ($7.417 without adding another void)
- Dead money in 2025: $14.543 million
LT David Bakhtiari
- Current cap hit: $40.018 million
- Method: Converting $18.99 million from base salary to signing bonus + adding four void years
- Cap savings in 2024: $15.192 million ($0 if not adding void years)
- Dead money in 2025: $15.192 million
LG Elgton Jenkins
- Current cap hit: $14.429 million
- Method: Converting $2.375 million from base + $5.1 million from roster bonus to signing bonus + adding two void years
- Cap savings in 2024: $5.98 million ($4.98 million without void years)
- Contract through 2026.
DT Kenny Clark
- Current cap hit: $27.49 million
- Method: Converting $14.34 million from base salary to signing bonus + adding another void year
- Cap savings in 2024: $11.472 million ($10.755 million without adding another void)
- Dead money in 2025: $25.219 million
LB De'Vondre Campbell
- Current cap hit: $14.23 million
- Method: Converting $5.74 million from base + $2.9 million from roster bonus to signing bonus + adding another void year
- Cap savings in 2024: $6.912 million ($6.48 million without adding another void)
- Contract through 2026.
CB Jaire Alexander
- Current cap hit: $23.981 million
- Method: Converting $5.525 million from base + $8 million from roster bonus to signing bonus + adding another void year
- Cap savings in 2024: $10.82 million ($10.143 million without adding another void)
- Contract through 2026.
Total savings with full void restructures: $66.2 million
Total savings without adding void years: $47.192 million
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