Packers Have Started Pinching Pennies

The first hint of the challenging times that are ahead comes from how they handled their futures contracts.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When your team is projected to be in the neighborhood of $50 million over the salary cap, like general manager Brian Gutekunst’s Green Bay Packers, tough decisions must be made.

There are decisions involving players under contract, such as Aaron Rodgers and The Smith Bros. There are decisions involving high-profile free agents, such as Davante Adams and De’Vondre Campbell. There are decisions involving entire position groups, such as receiver, where there are three unrestricted free agents, a restricted free agent and an expensive veteran.

There are also smaller questions, such as what to do with the players on the 16-man practice squad.

Those are nickel-and-dime questions compared to some of the megabucks questions on the road to getting below the salary cap by the start of the league-year on March 16. But they are illustrative of the challenges that loom for Gutekunst.

Here was the season-ending practice squad, with what they will be designated from an experience perspective in 2022. They are listed by experience. Those with an asterisk were given a futures contract; the others are free agents.

WR David Moore, 5th season

LB Peter Kalambayi, 4th season

DL R.J. McIntosh, 4th season

TE Bronson Kaufusi, 3rd season

WR Josh Malone, 3rd season

DT Abdullah Anderson, 2nd season

OL Ben Braden, 2nd season

RB Kerrith Whyte, 2nd season

*QB Kurt Benkert, 2nd season

*OLB La’Darius Hamilton, 2nd season

*CB Kabion Ento, 2nd season

*OL Cole Van Lanen, 1st season

*C Michal Menet, 1st season

*S Innis Gaines, 1st season

*ILB Ray Wilborn, 1st season

*K JJ Molson, 1st season

Now, there’s a difference between accrued seasons (based on weeks on the roster, as listed above) and credited seasons (based on games played). Thanks to Ken Ingalls, an independent salary-cap analyst who studies the Packers, for helping me muddle through the differences and what they mean for player salaries.

A player with zero credited seasons will receive $705,000 for 2022. That goes up to $825,000 for a first-year player, $895,000 for a second-year player, $965,000 for Year 3 and $1.035 million for Year 4 through Year 6.

Gutekunst did not retain his five most-experienced players from the practice squad. That includes Moore, who flashed as a punt returner in Week 17, and Kalambayi, whose NFL resume consists of strong play on special teams. Remember, when coach Matt LaFleur spoke after the season, his focus on special teams was on personnel, not coordinator Maurice Drayton. Two players who could help weren’t brought back.

Re-signing Moore would have cost the Packers $1.035 million. Retaining McIntosh, Kalambayi, Kaufusi and Malone would have cost $965,000 apiece.

A pair of second-year players of note, Anderson and Braden, weren’t retained, either. Braden was in the running for a starting job during training camp and can play three positions. Anderson passed Jack Heflin on the depth chart down the stretch.

McIntosh and Anderson were practice-squad protections for the playoff game, meaning they couldn’t be poached by another team. In fact, McIntosh was protected throughout the second half of the season. So, the Packers saw value in him for this season. Just not for next season.

It's either one heck of a coincidence or Gutekunst was pinching pennies because, well, he needs to pinch pennies. Not keeping Moore, Kalambayi, McIntosh, Kaufusi and Malone saved the Packers $4.895 million of money, overall, and $1.37 million of cap space. (This time of year, only the top 51 players count on the cap, so those five would have knocked off five players making the minimum $705,000.) Keeping second-year players Anderson, Braden and White would have added even more to the cap.

Because they didn’t re-sign their entire practice squad, they’ll probably reel in a bumper crop of undrafted free agents to have their 90-man roster to take into training camp. As it stands, even if the Packers kept every one of their veteran free agents, a list headlined by Adams, Campbell, cornerback Rasul Douglas and tight end Robert Tonyan, they’d only have 66. If they wind up with nine draft picks (one for each round and two compensatory picks), they’d be up to 75 players.

Of course, there’s no way the Packers will keep every free agent. Even so, there would be room on the roster for 15 undrafted free agents. Last year, they signed seven.

Roster-building is always about give-and-take decisions. Finances are always a consideration, but they’ll be a bigger focus this year than ever before.