Packers: Restructuring Dean Lowry’s contract creates cap room

With such limited salary cap space, the Green Bay Packers need to find as many ways as possible to create some room.

One of the easiest ways to do that is to push some money into future years by restructuring contracts. The Packers, like just about every team around the NFL, have already restructured a few deals this offseason.

We can now add defensive lineman Dean Lowry to that list.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Packers have converted $3.11 million of his $4.11 million salary into signing bonus, which has created $2.49 million in cap room. Every little helps given the team’s current cap situation so this move makes sense.

Due to the pandemic, the salary cap was lowered for the 2021 season as revenues around the league have fallen. When many contracts were signed over the past few years, nobody could have guessed this would happen. The salary cap would rise most years so the fact it’s actually gone down has had a major impact.

The Packers’ salary cap situation is still, to put it kindly, a mess. According to Over The Cap, they sit just $4.93 million under the cap. More roster moves might be needed in the near future to create some more room.

It’s for this reason that it’s hard to see Green Bay trading for superstar wide receiver Julio Jones. While there’s always a way when it comes to the salary cap, the Packers would need to take some big risks and push a lot of money out into the future just to make a trade a possibility.

Never say never, of course. Maybe the Packers decide to go all-in and build around Aaron Rodgers, but that would be a tough move to pull off.

With so many star players on big deals, the Packers remain limited when it comes to making roster moves due to the salary cap, but Lowry’s restructure helps them this year.