For the second season in a row, the Green Bay Packers boasted the youngest roster in the NFL in 2024, with the average age of every player on the 53-man roster being 25.11 years old and the average age of the 22 starters being slightly higher at 25.49.
And those numbers were going into Week 1. So, once Green Bay traded Preston Smith a dozen days ahead of his 32nd birthday, those figures dropped even further.
With such a young team, the Packers naturally didn't have a ton of high-priced veterans on the payroll this past season. Well, at least not on the active roster, that is, as Green Bay had a staggering amount of dead cap money on the books. But that's not relevant here.
As far as actual Packers players on the payroll are concerned, only five had cap hits of $10 million or more. And of those five, only three had cap hits higher than $20 million, two of whom you'll see below.
The only one of the three you won't see is quarterback Jordan Love, who had the third-highest cap hit on the team last year at just over $20.757 million.
Now, had he been making the $55 million AAV that came with the new contract he signed last July and put up the numbers he did, we might be having a different discussion. But as that deal doesn't go into effect until this year, we'll leave him be.
But there's no letting the other two slide. Nor can we ignore a first-round pick who hasn't lived up to his draft status just yet.
Jaire Alexander
When healthy, Jaire Alexander is one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL, as evidenced by the fact that he's been named a Pro Bowler and a Second-Team All-Pro in two of the four seasons in which he reached double digits in terms of games played.
But the last part of that sentence represents the problem, doesn't it?
While the 2018 first-round pick respectively appeared in 13, 15, and 16 games in his first three seasons, he's played 4, 16, 7, and 7 in the last four.
That's an issue, especially since these last two seasons were the first two on the four-year, $84 million extension he signed ahead of the 2022 campaign. At the time, that deal made him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
Alexander's cap hit this past year was approximately $23.981 million. For this, the Packers got 16 tackles, seven passes defended, and a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
Take those numbers and spread them out over 17 games, and you've got a pretty good season. But for seven games at that price point? That's not going to work, which is obviously why Green Bay is contemplating whether to keep him in town or take the dead cap hit and cut him loose.
Kenny Clark
While we mentioned earlier that the Packers don't have many high-priced veterans on the roster, Clark, like Alexander, is one of the exceptions.
Taken by Green Bay in the first round of the 2016 draft with the 27th overall pick, the UCLA alum has earned three Pro Bowl selections during his nine-year career, the most recent of which came the season before last.
Clark amassed 44 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 16 QB hits, 7.5 sacks, three passes defended, and two forced fumbles during that 2023 campaign, for which he was rewarded with a three-year, $64 million extension this past summer that's set to keep him in Green Bay through the 2027 season.
With a team-high cap hit of $26.365 million in 2024, Clark regressed considerably. While he started all 17 games, the 29-year-old recorded 37 tackles, five QB hits, and just a single sack, all of which are the lowest totals since his rookie season. With a dismal 60.0 overall PFF grade, he ranked 53rd among eligible interior defenders.
Clark's cap number drops to $20.365 million this year but rises to $31.365 million in 2026 before falling to $27.142 million in 2027. He's unlikely to be cut, as the dead cap hit would be severe, but the Packers could explore trading him during the offseason.
Lukas Van Ness
Despite the 2024 campaign being just his second season in the league, edge rusher Lukas Van Ness had the eighth-highest cap hit on the Green Bay roster at just under $3.952 million.
But this entry really isn't about money. Instead, it's more of how 13th overall selection in 2023 isn't quite living up to his draft position.
Still playing in somewhat of a limited role, taking under 40% of the Packers' defensive snaps this past year, Van Ness recorded 33 tackles, six tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks. While up a single tackle from his rookie season, the other two numbers were lower.
Also lower was his PFF grade, which dipped from 62.3 to 53.5, ranking him 102nd among 119 eligible edge defenders.