Packers salary cap update after restructuring David Bakhtiari’s contract
The Green Bay Packers created more salary cap space for 2023 on Friday.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Packers restructured David Bakhtiari’s contract, a move that lowers his cap hit for next season.
Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported that this move saved the Packers around $7.5 million on the 2023 salary cap.
#Packers did not add any void years to David Bakhtiari's contract, per source. It was a simple restructure, converting his March signing bonus and a large portion of his base salary into a $15.035 million signing bonus. The restructure saves about $7.5M on their 2023 cap.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) March 10, 2023
The Packers have been busy making moves to clear cap space. They will need that cap space for any free agency moves they make, as well as signing their upcoming rookie class.
What does restructuring Bakhtiari’s deal mean for the Packers’ salary cap in 2023?
According to Over The Cap, Bakhtiari’s cap number has been reduced to $21.35 million. That’s a significant difference from where it was, although Bakhtiari still has the second-highest cap hit on the team behind Aaron Rodgers.
Restructuring Bakhtiari’s deal helps in the short term, although less so in 2024. By saving money now, the Packers have increased his 2024 cap hit to $40.57 million. The team will need to do something about that cap hit at a later date.
In the meantime, Green Bay has plenty of cap room to work with in the upcoming offseason. The team now has $24.04 million, more than enough space to make the moves they need to in the coming weeks and months.
That doesn’t mean the Packers will be big spenders in free agency. While they do now have more cap space to work with, they likely don’t have enough to make multiple big moves like they did in 2019.
Instead, it would make sense for Green Bay to make some more affordable deals, perhaps signing players to one-year deals.
Green Bay has now made several moves to create cap space, and it now has over $24 million to work with in 2023.