The Green Bay Packers restructured the operations of David Bakhtiari, Adrian Amos, Preston Smith and Billy Turner, re-signed Aaron Jones and will soon extend Za’Darius Smith’s contract. Before Adams will end up getting a new deal.
The last big decision the Packers have when it comes to free agency? Aaron Rodgers.
More specifically, the Rodgers contract and how the Packers want to use it or not.
Extending the Smith agreement, as Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday, will likely create enough maximum margin to reach the new Jones deal under the salary cap on Wednesday at the start of the new league year. The Packers could create even more space by expanding Adams, who enters the final year of his 2021 contract.
But no contract gives the Packers more potential buying power in free agency than the quarterback deal.
According to Over the Cap, packers could create up to $ 14-17 million in maximum space by restructuring or expanding the Rodgers deal, which includes a $ 6.8 million list bonus and a base salary of $ 14 million. $ 7 million in 2021. Both amounts can be turned into a signing bonus to create maximum space, or the Packers could add years and money to the bid to lower their cap in 2021
Do packers want to pull the money out of Rodgers ’offer and bet on it all this year, using the boundary space created to chase one or two key agents? Or will the Packers abandon the deal, knowing that Rodgers will be owed large sums of money in the coming years and keep their financial options open in the quarterback position beyond 2021?
Rodgers’ limit will increase to nearly $ 40 million by 2022. Adding more money to the deal – with three years left – is a risky plan for a team with a lot of money committed to the limit next year. Packers may be comfortable with their current cork situation and don’t want to touch the Rodgers deal. They could settle for sitting down and waiting for any possible business after the first waves of free agency.
It is also possible that Rodgers ’deal will be the team’s triumph. If the team includes one or two large free agents, packers can quickly create the maximum space needed to do something by reworking the Rodgers deal.
A restructuring or extension could give the 2020 NFL MVP the financial commitment past 2021 he wants, an added bonus when it comes to playing with his deal. But every dollar pushed into the future also complicates a possible transition to Jordan Love, and the Packers may not be ready to close that door.
Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball have done an admirable job working through the team cover issue without removing the list. The core of this team remains. Corey Linsley is likely to leave, but he could be the only key player to leave. This is an amazing result for a team that was handcuffed by the cap that came in the month.
With much of the work in the rearview mirror, packers have to decide whether leaving the Rodgers deal alone or using it to create free agency spending options is the best plan for 2021 and beyond. It is a complicated and multilayered decision. And it’s the biggest one left for the Packers.