Packers salary cap update following second week of free agency

Believe it or not, the Green Bay Packers have the fifth-most salary cap space in the NFL. However, this doesn’t mean they will start spending big.

Far from it.

According to Over The Cap, Green Bay currently has $22.49 million in cap space, ranking fifth in the league.

But that money will quickly disappear.

Over The Cap estimates that Green Bay’s draft class will take up about $3.89 million of salary cap space. But that number could rise after the Packers trade Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, as they may add more early draft picks to the class.

Talking of Rodgers, his cap number will actually increase if and when he is traded.

Per Over The Cap, Rodgers’ cap hit is currently $31.62 million, but this would jump up by $8.69 million if he is traded before June 1, leaving the Packers with a dead cap hit of a huge $40.31 million.

So, if we take off the $3.89 million for the draft class and $8.69 million for the Rodgers trade, Green Bay would be left with $9.91 million.

This cap number also hasn’t been updated for the Justin Hollins contract extension.

The Packers will need to save some cap space for any free-agent additions they want to make in the summer, plus any in-season deals.

Green Bay has mostly re-signed its own free agents this offseason, but the team has added a couple of new players, safety Tarvarius Moore and long snapper Matt Orzech.

They were both affordable moves. Moore’s cap hit is just $990,000, and Orzech’s is only $1.18 million.