Here’s Packers’ Cap After Potential Raises, Releases

The Packers have a projected $27.69 million in salary-cap space but that doesn't tell the whole story.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – General manager Brian Gutekunst’s free-agent spending spree played a major role in the Green Bay Packers going from two years out of the playoffs to a surprise trip to the NFC Championship Game.

Gutekunst figures to be aggressive in free agency again but won’t have the same financial latitude as a year ago. The Packers opened the 2019 league-year with $35.62 million of cap space. The salary-cap Web site OverTheCap.com projects the Packers will have $27.69 million of cap space, based on a projected league cap of $200 million. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story.

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Running backs Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones are due hefty pay raises under the league’s proven-performance escalator. Fourth-year players who were selected in the third round or later and meet certain playing-time thresholds will have their base salaries increased to the minimum restricted free-agent tender. That number hasn’t been decided but was $2.025 million last year. That’s about 250 percent of what Williams ($876,498) and Jones ($785,487) were set to make. Those fourth-year raises will lop at least $3.26 million off the pile of available cap dollars.

Then, there are free-agent re-signings. That wasn’t a concern last year, when Gutekunst let Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb go and there was no one worth keeping from the doomed 2015 draft class. On Friday, Gutekunst signaled he’d like to keep right tackle Bryan Bulaga and kicker Mason Crosby.

“I think there’s going to be a little bit more restrictions if we’re able to do everything we want to do with the guys who are here already, to be able to do something like we did last year,” Gutekunst said on Friday. “Saying that, I think there will be plenty of opportunity for us to improve our football team, whether it be strictly in unrestricted free agency, there are other ways. We’re pretty sound financially right now to do what we need to do to get where we need to go.”

That’s because, near the end of the season, Gutekunst created more than $11 million of cap space by restructuring quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ contract. He could create more by releasing tight end Jimmy Graham and guard Lane Taylor. Graham’s cap number for 2020 is $11.667 million; releasing him would save $8 million. Taylor’s cap number is $5.925; releasing him would create $4.55 million.

Starting with that projected $27.69 million of cap space and taking into account the PPE for Williams and Jones and the potential releasing of Graham and Taylor, the salary-cap starting point for free-agent re-signings and signings would be a bit less than $37 million.

Finally, there’s a long-term contract extension for defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Clark is scheduled to play this season under the team’s fifth-year option, a guaranteed $7.69 million. Presumably, an extension would have a smaller Year 1 cap number in exchange for higher numbers down the road.

“I think it’s important,” Gutekunst said of extending Clark during the offseason. “Kenny is a big part of what we do, very important to our defense. I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to come to some agreement at some point. These things don’t happen quickly, usually. But I think the idea was always sometime this offseason we would start to approach that, and we will.”