Packers offense the least costly of the entire NFL, but does it matter?

The Green Bay Packers have looked to save a wee bit of money this season, but just how much will that affect their performance in a highly anticipated season—a season without veteran and long-time player and QB, Aaron Rodgers?

“Money, Money, Money, Money…Money!” The O’Jays hit single, "For The Love of Money," sure comes to mind when you read a header like that, eh, dear readers? But the topic came up recently in a piece over at Acme Packing Company.

The topic of just how much the Green Bay Packers spent on their offense for the 2023 season.

The piece goes on to state that the Green Bay Packers spent $88.09 million and on the offense alone, and although that looks, or rather may look like a lot of money to you and me, that amount comes last in terms of what the rest of the NFL teams spent on their respective offenses this season.

The rest of the league spent a reported average amount of $135.4 million, according to the aforementioned source.

You should see some of the salaries in the soccer leagues of Europe. Loads of money change hands and these numbers make NFL football salaries pale in comparison, especially when looking at the numbers spent on the Packers offense this year.

Kylian Mbappe—72M Euro; $75 million for Cristiano Ronaldo! Insane, right?

How much are the Packers spending on their offense?

In comparison to that, some of the salary breakdown for the Packers offense is as follows:

• Left tackle David Bakhtiari: $17.5 million
• Running back Aaron Jones: $10.97 million
• Left guard Elgton Jenkins: $2.2 million (he made $27.5 million last year; he signed a 4-year extension last year at a value of $68 million, so the Packers sure are saving there for 2023, but that doesn’t account for the entirety of the lower sum)
• Quarterback Jordan Love: $9.8 million

The Packers do have a cap debt to worry about, so being conscientious of money makes a whole lot of sense, but this leads us to question: Is money really the big factor here?

In terms of what? In terms of how they play…which is the end result and what fans care about the most.

We wondered, or at least a few of us wondered why the team was so keen on ridding the roster of veterans and going with younger players. Well, the financial aspect of that is shown here…younger, less experienced players cost less.

But in the end how does that play out on the field?

Well, if we look at the BC Lions of the CFL league last year, Nathan Rourke had one of the most astounding rookie seasons as QB for that team, and this season he’s playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The NFL is like the WWE of football—it’s the grandest stage, and every wrestler who laces the boots wants to have a shot at a WWE career, and in the end, the same goes for most football players that get their start in the CFL; no matter how proud they are to be Canadian and how great of a league the CFL is.

I cover the Saskatchewan Roughriders for that league and have covered the league for a bit now in general for the CFL News Hub, and really it’s tremendous, but the point here is that a great rookie who maybe wasn’t all that expensive can turn a season completely around, as the aforementioned Rourke did for BC.

This year, the Lions are indeed struggling a tad without him if you ask this writer. His loss is felt for sure, but we’re proud of him chasing his NFL dreams.

In regards to the Packers, all of this is yet to be seen, but they’ve been having an interesting preseason to watch…a few fumbles, but I get the feeling that they’re finding their ground as a relatively new team with a new man at the helm in QB, Jordan Love.

It should be interesting to see what happens as we go, and really the question asked here in this piece, should be answered as the season starts and then progresses and we’ll see just how much those dollars actually matter in the end, dear readers.

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