Packers: Billy Turner restructure creates more cap space

Blink and you might miss a Green Bay Packers roster move.

It’s been a busy 24 hours for the Packers who have restructured a few contracts to get under the salary cap. They’ve taken another step towards that goal by restructuring Billy Turner’s deal.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Packers are “doing a simple restructure” with Turner.

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel added that part of Turner’s $5.53 million salary has been converted into signing bonus. The exact numbers aren’t clear yet, which will determine how much cap room the Packers have created.

But as Silverstein notes, the previous moves made had Green Bay close to getting under the salary cap. It’s entirely possible this restructure with Turner gets them over the line.

That doesn’t mean the roster moves will be over just yet, however.

While it’s possible Green Bay has created enough room to get under the salary cap for now, the team will still need more cap space to make moves this offseason. From signing the 2021 draft class to any re-signings the team makes (including restricted free agents such as Robert Tonyan), the Packers will need to create some more space.

That’s especially true if they plan to be active participants in free agency. While we shouldn’t expect them to hand out big contracts like they did early in free agency two years ago, they should look for affordable moves.

But even if they make a few cap-friendly moves in free agency, the Packers will still need more cap space to make it a possibility.

To this point, general manager Brian Gutekunst and executive vice president and director of football operations Russ Ball have done a good job of finding creative ways to create cap space.

We’ll await the full details on Turner’s restructure, but it could be enough to get the team under the salary cap.