Packers free up $11.4 million in 2020 cap room, per report
By adjusting Aaron Rodgers’ contract, the Green Bay Packers have reportedly saved over $11 million in cap room for 2020.
The Packers have a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback moving towards the end of his prime. They’ve paid big money in free agency, and it’s worked. They have won the NFC North title, sit at 12-3 and have the chance to secure home-field advantage in the postseason.
A championship window is open, but that might not be the case four or five years from now. The opportunity to win is now.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Packers have made adjustments to Aaron Rodgers‘ contract, allowing them to free up $11.4 million in cap room for 2020.
The Packers converted $14.26M of Aaron Rodgers’ 2020 $19.5M roster bonus into a signing bonus, which allows that money to prorate over five seasons, including 2019.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 27, 2019
The Lions did the same with Matthew Stafford’s 2020 $6M roster bonus.
GB creates 11.4M in 2020 cap, DET $4.8M.
That’s potentially significant for the short-term future.
With more cap room available in 2020, GM Brian Gutekunst will have a better chance to re-sign some key players on the roster. Bryan Bulaga and Mason Crosby are among the free agents in 2020, and David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Corey Linsley and Kevin King all become free agents in 2021.
If Gutekunst is able to free up some more cap room in the offseason, which can be done by releasing Jimmy Graham and Lane Taylor, for example, the Packers could once again be active in free agency. Perhaps not to the extent we saw this past March, but enough to make improvements to the roster prior to the draft.
Making this move may also indicate the Packers are planning to offer new deals to a couple of players in the near future. Time will tell.
The Packers needed to create some more room in cap space for the upcoming offseason, and this is one of many ways they can do so. Gutekunst put together an excellent offseason in 2019, and it’s going to be fun to see how he plans to continue to improve the roster as we enter 2020.