Packers let three contracts void: What does that mean?

Sunday was the deadline for the Green Bay Packers to extend or adjust the contracts of offensive tackle Yosh Nijman, safety Darnell Savage, and cornerback/kick returner Keisean Nixon. Now, these deals have voided, and all three players will hit the market as unrestricted free agents.

The biggest impact for the Packers is that the dead money will accelerate. Everything the Packers have already paid, but hadn't hit the cap yet, will do in 2024. And it's a significant amount: $5.456 million for Darnell Savage, $2.543 million for Yosh Nijman, $1.48 million for Keisean Nixon.

At first, the main question is if the Packers will simply let them go. If Green Bay was to keep them, after all, it could make sense to agree to a new deal before the void date to keep the prorated money stretched — the team could save $7.1 million to keep these three players by doing that.

That's certainly a consideration, but it doesn't end that.

Can they still keep them?

Yes, and there's internal precedent for that. In 2021, the Packers added void years to the deals of several players and let them all expire. However, they ended up re-signing tight end Robert Tonyan and linebacker De'Vondre Campbell.

Analyzing the 2023 cap situation, it would make sense to find a deal before the void date, for sure, but this was just a soft deadline. The Packers can still keep these players if they want to.

Why would they wait

There are two main reasons for the Packers to simply wait and let the contracts void. The first one is more practical. The players themselves have little reason to re-sign now, unless the Packers give them exactly what they wanted. Since the season is over anyway, there is no more injury or bad performance risk in play, it's much better for the players to hit the open market and see what they can get.

So for the Packers, keeping them before the void date would probably mean paying something above the market value, and this is something the front office tends to avoid. If these players hit the market and can't get more than what the Packers are willing to pay, re-signing is a possibility again.

The other factor is more theoretical — or philosophical. Historically, the Packers tend to be a "pay as you go" team in terms of cap management. Obviously, the approach changed from 2020 to 2022 because of the pandemic hit on the salary cap and the twilight years of Aaron Rodgers' career, but for the most part the Packers don't like to exaggerate moving money around.

So even if the Packers want to keep one or more of these players, they will absorb what has already been paid and move forward with an eventual new contract.

Scenarios

It's hard to be certain about it from the outside, but Keisean Nixon is probably the player Green Bay would want back the most. He's been an All-Pro returner two years in a row and starter at nickel corner in 2023. If they can find a medium-term extension, it could work for everyone involved.

Darnell Savage could also be back, but it depends on the internal evaluation of his fit with the new defense. Theoretically, Jeff Hafley's scheme is even better for Savage than Joe Barry's, but the Packers will have to address the situation and compare Savage's market value to other safeties.

Yosh Nijman is the least likely re-signing among the three, since he was just a swing tackle even after David Bakhtiari got hurt. That means two things: first, the Packers don't value him that much. And second, he's played well enough in the NFL for some other team to be willing to pay him starting tackle money.

It's hard to read the tea leaves in Green Bay, but the void deals don't necessarily mean these three players can't return in 2024. It just became more expensive in this year's salary cap.