GREEN BAY, Wisconsin: Scrooge was haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol. The wage cap is haunted by the
Ghost of Contracts Past for the Green Bay Packers in 2024.
According to OverTheCap.com, the Packers have more than $46.5 million in dead money on their salary cap—more than the
Minnesota Vikings—making them the second-most in the NFL. That equates to 18.2 percent of the NFL salary cap of $255.4 million.
On June 1, when De’Vondre Campbell’s contract expires, that amount will surpass $50 million.
The Packers are in a strong position to continue adding players to their roster because they are now around $26 million under the cap
(not including Keisean Nixon’s contract). Still, if it weren’t for the financial consequences of aggressive cap management and
misfortune, they would be in excellent health.
Initially, the misfortune: David Bakhtiari signed a $92 million, four-year contract extension with Green Bay in November 2020. He
tore his ACL during practice less than two months later. The Packers released him on Monday, after he appeared in only one game the
previous season. Bakhtiari will count roughly $19.1 million into this year’s cap as a result of a few quota-saving restructures and
prorated signing bonus money from the initial agreement.
Running back Aaron Jones was also released by the Packers on Monday after they were unable to come to an agreement on a revised
deal. Even though Jones is scoring touchdowns for the Vikings, he will still count against the cap of nearly $12.4 million due to last
year’s restructure, which included the addition of three vacant years.
Security Last year, Darnell Savage was a player under the fifth-year option. The Packers added vacant years to the back of the contract
to comply with the cap. He will thus, while presumably starting for the Jaguars, count about $5.5 million against the cap.
Rasul Douglas, a cornerback for the Bills, will have $5.1 million deducted from his cap while intercepting passes.
The addition of vacant years made offensive tackle Yosh Nijman’s $4.3 million contract, which he signed as a restricted free agent last
summer, more cap-friendly. Hence, he will be worth roughly $2.5 million no matter where he signs during this year’s free agency.
Nixon’s one-year deal from the previous offseason was likewise made more cap-friendly by adding void years. His previous deal will
therefore be deducted from the cap by almost $1.5 million.
OverTheCap.com reports that the Packers’ salary cap totals $46,556,149 in dead money.
The Packers chose to release Campbell in order to have greater cap flexibility. On June 1, that action will be formally announced. His
$14.23 million cap charge will stay on the ledger until then. The Packers will absorb an additional $3.66 million in dead cap after June
1 in order to produce $10.57 million in cap room. This will raise the sum to almost $50.2 million.
The remaining $7.97 million of Campbell’s cap charge will be carried over to the 2025 cap as dead money.
Among the top 10 teams with the highest amount of dead money are the Vikings, Packers, and Lions. On the plus side of the ledger,
the Bears are ranked sixth.
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