Packer Central

Packers Have Salary-Cap Money to Burn; What Will They Do With It?

The NFL league-year will begin on Wednesday afternoon. That’s when free agents can sign contracts and teams must be under the salary cap.
Bill Huber|
Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa played in 29 of a possible 34 games the last two seasons.
Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa played in 29 of a possible 34 games the last two seasons. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

The NFL league-year will begin at 3 p.m. Central on Wednesday. That’s when deals struck in free agency can become official and teams must be under the $301.2 million salary cap.

While most of the premier players in free agency have agreed to contracts, there are quality players available for the Green Bay Packers – and that list will grow as teams release high-priced veterans to create cap space.

Here’s a look at the Packers.

Packers Have Plenty of Cap Space

According to Spotrac, the Packers are about $26.4 million under the cap. That’s about what Ken Ingalls’ crunching of the numbers has revealed.

Only 11 teams have more cap space in what’s obviously a fluid situation. Exact terms of some contracts aren’t available. Once the specifics of receiver Skyy Moore’s contract become available, that will take a bite out of Green Bay’s financial apple.

Moreover, cap space will increase or shrink with every transaction. The Patriots are one spot ahead of Green Bay with the 11th-most cap space, but their ledger doesn’t include Romeo Doubs’ four-year contract.

Green Bay started the offseason significantly over the salary cap but restructured the contracts of Aaron Banks:

and Xavier McKinney:

and parted ways with two high-priced veterans, Rashan Gary and Elgton Jenkins. They also released Nate Hobbs, though the June 1 designation means they’ll carry his $12.84 million cap charge into June before enjoying the savings, which presumably will be used for contract extensions.

Packers Have Money to Spend

So, with all that cap space, what are general manager Brian Gutekunst’s plans?

The answer, at least generally speaking, is obvious. He’s going to spend it.

Otherwise, what would have been the point of kicking the salary-cap can down the road by restructuring the contracts for McKinney and Banks? If the idea was to be conservative to create a healthy salary cap for future seasons, Gutekunst would have left their contracts alone.

Instead and for example, the Packers chose to turn Banks’ $9.5 million roster bonus and $7.7 million base salary into signing bonus and tacked on a couple void years to cut his cap charge by more than half – from about $24.8 million to about $12.0 million.

So, something’s up at 1265 Lombardi Ave. It’s just a matter of whether Gutekunst has in mind a few depth-filling additions or perhaps one mighty swing.

Defensive Line Targets

The Packers had a big need at defensive tackle even before trading Colby Wooden, though the trade rumors involving Eagles star Jalen Carter probably are nonsense. The Packers don’t have a first-round pick in 2026 or 2027, and the Eagles aren’t going to deal the former second-team All-Pro for a couple Day 2 selections.

However, three of new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s former defensive tackles are/will be available. Ageless Cardinals star Calais Campbell, who was a captain for Gannon last season, is an unrestricted free agent. He’ll be expensive and would impact compensatory picks.

Perhaps more likely is Dalvin Tomlinson, who the Cardinals released on Wednesday. He was a 17-game starter for Gannon last season. Javon Hargrave, who starred under Gannon in Philadelphia, is expected to be released by the Vikings if they can’t find a trade partner.

Minnesota might be moving on from another defensive tackle, Jonathan Allen, a 17-game starter last year, and Carolina did release A’Shawn Robinson, who started 16 games each of the past two seasons.

At defensive end, the Packers traded Rashan Gary and let Kingsley Enagbare go in free agency. There are only four players under contract at the position: Micah Parsons, who is coming off a torn ACL, Lukas Van Ness, who hasn’t lived up to first-round expectations, and Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver, a pair of Day 3 draft picks last year.

It’s not in Gutekunst’s DNA to sign past-their-prime players but, in this case, the Saints’ Cameron Jordan (36), the Falcons’ Leonard Floyd (33), the Cowboys’ Jadeveon Clowney (33), the Cowboys’ Dante Fowler (31) and the Buccaneers’ Haason Reddick (31) would provide depth and production.

Last season, Jordan had 10.5 sacks and Clowney had 8.5. Of 100 edge rushers with at least 177 pass-rushing chances, Clowney was 15th in pass-rush win rate, Fowler was 31st, Floyd was 47th, Reddick was 50th and Jordan was 75.

It’s not in Gutekunst’s DNA to sign players with significant injury histories, either. The Bills’ Joey Bosa (30), who played in only 14 games in 2022 and 2023, had five sacks and five forced fumbles and was 22nd in pass-rush win rate last season. The Dolphins haven’t officially released Bradley Chubb (29), who had 8.5 sacks and was 53rd in pass-rush win rate in 2025 after missing 2024 with a torn ACL.

Other Potential Areas

The Packers re-signed valuable offensive tackle Darian Kinnard, who played reasonably well at right tackle when Zach Tom was injured last year. What they don’t have is proven interior depth. James Daniels, who has made 85 career starts but has been banged up the last couple years, and Graham Glasgow, who started 136 games the past 10 seasons for Detroit, are street free agents.

Green Bay doesn’t have an obvious backup quarterback or running back, and is short at tight end, too, with John FitzPatrick and Josh Whyle being free agents and FitzPatrick coming off a torn Achilles.

In 2027, the Packers won’t have a first-round pick but they could have six selections in the third and fourth rounds. Could they sacrifice the second-round pick and try to sign Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, who was given the second-round restricted free agent tender?

With only three picks inside the top 150, any need the Packers can address in free agency would be helpful.

“I think we’re always going to be a little bit of a draft-and-develop team,” Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine. “That’s always going to be the bread and butter. I think the system is set up that way with the salary cap. That’s the most advantageous way to build a football team.

“But every avenue’s going to be exhausted to try to make our football team the best we can be. So, I think we look at every situation and how that affects our team. And if it makes sense to do that, we’re going to do that.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.