The theme for the Green Bay Packers over the last couple of offseasons has been "out with the old, in with the new," and you can expect that to continue in the 2024 offseason.
General manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur have done a great job of building one of the youngest and most talented rosters in the entire league, but there are still some contracts that are holding this team back.
With another Jordan Love extension on the near horizon and other free agency decisions needing to be made, where could Gutekunst and LaFleur find some salary cap freedom and flexibility?
Which current contracts on this team could either be removed from the books completely or adjusted to help the team make some moves in free agency?
1. David Bakhtiari
There's no question about it—the number one contract currently holding the Green Bay Packers back is David Bakhtiari's deal. The Packers moved on from Davante Adams in 2022, Aaron Rodgers in 2023, and they appear poised to let go of another franchise staple here in 2024.
Bakhtiari's 2024 salary cap hit is a shade under $40 million. His base salary is just $10.7 million, so the Packers have kicked the can down the road as far as they possibly can. Now, instead of kicking the can down the road, they're at the proverbial fork in the road.
They can save almost $21 million against the salary cap by cutting Bakhtiari this offseason, which should be expected.
2. Preston Smith
The topic of Preston Smith holding the Green Bay Packers back in any way is probably a pretty controversial one, but on the field, I think he does anything but hold this team back.
Smith is a proven veteran off the edge, someone who gives you a high floor at a key position, and also someone who has now played in a lot of big games. He's got the type of experience that a young roster like Green Bay's has definitely needed, but for how much longer?
The Packers have 2023 first-round pick Lukas Van Ness waiting in the wings to take a more prominent role on the opposite side of the field from Rashan Gary. Smith's cap figure of $16.5 million is the fifth-highest on Green Bay's roster right now, but the team wouldn't save all that much by cutting him right away.
That is, of course, unless they made him a post-June 1 designation. They could actually save $12.4 million in cap space if they make Smith a post-June 1 cut, they just wouldn't be able to see those savings until after June 1.
Because of their roster situation behind Smith on the depth chart, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the avenue the Packers go down. Smith should be able to draw interest elsewhere around the league, but he'll be 32 this season and you'd obviously like to move on from aging players a year early as opposed to a year late.
Perhaps the Packers' 2023 season and how competitive they proved to be will change their decision-making with a player like Smith, but his contract may need to be addressed one way or the other.
3. De'Vondre Campbell
The Green Bay Packers are no longer getting the type of production out of De'Vondre Campbell that they got when they simply took a shot on him in NFL free agency a few years back.
Campbell was an All-Pro back in 2021, but he has as many tackles over the last two seasons combined as he did back in that 2021 campaign. Although Campbell is a linebacker and not a cornerback, the passer rating into his coverage of 111.2 was the worst mark of his professional career thus far.
He's cut down on the missed tackles since coming to Green Bay, but you can't help but wonder with a new defensive coordinator in Jeff Hafley coming in if the Packers won't want to offset some aging veteran players and get the cap savings where they can find it, even if it means eating some dead cap.
De'Vondre Campbell has a pretty hefty cap hit of $14.23 million this offseason, but the Packers could save $10.57 million if they make him a post-June 1 cut.
Between Campbell and Preston Smith, we're talking about the Packers being able to add around $23 million of cap space in June, around the time when they could really fire up some contract extension talks with franchise QB Jordan Love.
4. Aaron Jones
The way Aaron Jones turned things up over the final month of the season for the Green Bay Packers, the team might have to think twice about him being an obvious salary cap casualty.
When Jones was dealing with injuries and not looking like himself at times during the regular season, it was easy to look at his cap hit of nearly $18 million for 2024 and think he was low-hanging fruit. Jones is entering the final year of his contract in 2024, and it might still make sense for the Packers to move on, even as well as he played in that final stretch of games this past year.
Jones is going to be 30 this coming season, and that likely takes an extension off the board for him. Not completely, because you never say never, but with 11 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft and a ton of talent in free agency, the Packers might not have a better time to move on.
If Green Bay decided to make Jones a post-June 1 cut, it would save them more than $11.85 million. If you add that to the other veterans mentioned here, the Packers could wind up adding over $50 million in cap space by making these four moves. Would it create some holes on the roster? Certainly, but nothing that cap space and draft picks can't fix.