Packers: Three worst contracts following 2021 season

Dean Lowry

It was a surprising move at the time when the Packers gave Dean Lowry a contract extension, and unfortunately they haven’t been proved right on this one. Lowry hasn’t lived up to his contract although he does remain a key player along the defensive line.

This offseason, the Packers restructured Lowry’s contract, a move that created some cap space for 2021 but pushed money into the future. A move that helped in the short term but adds to the problem later on.

It means that Lowry’s cap hit for this season is a manageable $3.81 million. However, that jumps up to $7.92 million next year. The Packers can roughly cut that in half if they decide to release Lowry in the offseason, but that would leave them with a dead cap hit of $3.99 million. It’s fair to say this situation could’ve been avoided had the Packers not given Lowry a big contract extension a couple of years ago.

Green Bay will need to make another move with Lowry’s contract next offseason. One option would be to move on, which leaves the dead cap hit noted above. Another option would be to offer him an extension, allowing the team to spread money out over multiple years and lower the cap hit in each season.