Report: Packers, Rodgers Talking Restructure

While one window has closed, there is an opening to create a large amount of salary cap space.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and the agent for quarterback Aaron Rodgers have engaged in talks toward restructuring the MVP’s contract with a goal of creating salary-cap space, according to NFL Network’s Mike Silver.

The Packers got under the salary cap by the start of the league-year on Wednesday but don’t have the space to make a splash in free agency. A restructure could help create that space.

One deadline to maximize that opportunity has come and gone. Rodgers had a $6.8 million roster bonus that was due on the third day of the league-year. Turning that into signing bonus would have given the Packers $4.53 million of additional space for 2021 but added $2.27 million much to his 2022 and 2023 cap charges.

Negotiations, therefore, have turned to his base salary of $14.7 million. The Packers could cut his base salary all the way to the league minimum of $1.075 million, then turn the remaining $13.625 million into a signing bonus. That would create $9.085 million of space for 2021 but, in turn, would increase his 2022 and 2023 cap charges by about $4.54 million per season.

For general manager Brian Gutekunst, the challenge is the tightrope act of playing to win today while remaining fiscally competitive in the future.

Spotrac, using a cap estimate of $209 million for 2022, has the Packers $4.25 million over the cap. That’s with only 28 players on the roster. Five of those players – Rodgers, defensive tackle Kenny Clark, left tackle Bakhtiari and outside linebackers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith – have cap charges topping $19 million. And that doesn’t even include receiver Davante Adams, who is due a contract extension with his current deal expiring after the upcoming season. Remember, the offseason salary cap is based on there being 51 players on the roster. That means Green Bay is over that projected cap and 23 players short of that roster threshold.

Using Rodgers’ contract to create space for the upcoming season would only add to the stress of the 2022 season.

Rodgers, who turned 38 in December, isn’t as concerned about future salary caps. He badly wants to add a second Super Bowl championship to his resume. While Gutekunst has mostly kept last year’s team intact, with All-Pro center Corey Linsley being the lone major loss, additional talent could help the Packers get over the hump after losing to Tampa Bay twice last season.

Gutekunst spoke forcefully after the season that Rodgers was the team’s quarterback for 2021 and beyond.

“We’re really excited not only for next year but the years to come,” Gutekunst said. “He’s playing at such a high level that he always has, and I think this year was a special team. It didn’t finish like we wanted to finish, but I think everybody’s purely motivated to get back. I don’t think there’s anything that we have to do (to assure him of his future). He’s our quarterback and he’s our leader.”

Money, however, would assure that commitment. That doesn’t necessarily mean more money for Rodgers. Rather, a bold restructure of Rodgers’ contract for 2021 would help insure his return for 2022. As currently constructed, the Packers would create more than $22.6 million of cap space by releasing Rodgers after the 2021 season but absorb $17.2 million of dead cap money. The aforementioned restructure would push that dead-money figure to almost $21.75 million.