Almost 18 percent of the Green Bay Packers’ salary cap in 2023 will be tied up in nine players that won’t (or are unlikely to) play for the team this season.
Adding in the $40.3 million in new dead money as a result of trading Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, the Packers now have a little over $57.1 million in total dead money sitting on the salary cap for 2023.
The other eight players creating dead money are the result of either releases or voided contracts, which accelerate bonus money paid onto the cap.
The run down:
Aaron Rodgers, $40,313,750 (trade, Jets)
Adrian Amos, $7.950,000 (void, free agent)
Dean Lowry, $3,007,875 (void, Vikings)
Jarran Reed, $1,492,000 (void, Seahawks)
Randall Cobb, $1,391,668 (void, free agent)
Marcedes Lewis, $1,050,000 (void, free agent)
Mason Crosby, $1,005,000 (void, free agent)
Robert Tonyan, $500,000 (void, Bears)
Amari Rodgers, $461,782 (released last season)
Total: $57,143,579
For reference, the biggest individual cap hit in the NFL for 2023 is Patrick Mahomes at $39,693,381, so the Chiefs are counting less on the cap for the 2022 NFL MVP than the Packers are for the new quarterback of the Jets.
The Packers’ four biggest cap hits in 2023 (David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary and Jaire Alexander) equal $55,889,014. Again, same premise: the Packers have four elite players counting less on the cap than nine players who won’t be in Green Bay in 2023.
According to Over the Cap, the Packers have roughly $156.8 million tied up in player contracts for 2023 but only $11 million in total cap space ($224.8 million salary cap) because of the dead money sitting on the cap.
It’s possible Amos, Cobb, Lewis or Crosby could return on a new deal, but the Packers are limited in cap space and looking to get younger and cheaper around new starting quarterback Jordan Love.
The price in the present is expensive, but it’s necessary after years of pulling cap levers in an attempt to keep a contending roster together around Rodgers. The Packers are transitioning, not only at quarterback but on the financial side. Rodgers will be completely off the books by 2024, and the team is now position to get back to a healthy cap situation as soon as 2025.
The Packers paid with credit cards between 2020 and 2022. Now it’s time to start paying off the bill, with a big chunk coming in the form of dead money on the cap in 2023.
