Extra salary cap space is always a useful commodity to possess. The two best remaining sources of salary cap savings in 2022 are Allen Lazard and Dean Lowry. Looking at the numbers, I see very few places to generate salary cap space should the need arise. 9 of the top 15 contracts have base salaries set at the minimum with no roster bonuses. Russ Ball can squeeze those contracts as hard as he wants but he can’t get any more juice out of them. In some cases, a release generates a million or two in cap savings, but these guys are all core players. The Packers could release Marcedes Lewis to get some relief, or Mason Crosby to get $2.9M in salary cap relief, but there are no proven replacements on the roster for them.
Three more potential sources are contracts associated with players that the Packers probably should not toy with just yet: Rashan Gary, Darnell Savage and Elgton Jenkins. It is likely that the Packers will extend Jenkins during the season after he is back on the field and if he is playing at a high level. The Packers could squeeze out a million or two in cap savings with an extension for Jenkins if he so accommodating as to take what likely will be an enormous signing bonus as an option bonus payable in 2023. That leaves Allen Lazard and Dean Lowry.
ALLEN LAZARD:
Lazard is playing on an RFA tender for $3.986M, all base salary. A simple restructure with 4 void years would reduce Lazard’s cap number to about $1.57M, thereby saving almost $2.42M for 2022. Yes, that $2.4M would become dead money in 2023 if the Packers chose not to re-sign Lazard. The Packers restructured Tonyan’s RFA tender last year. It may happen yet with Lazard. And it should. Why? Because I perceive no real downside to making this move.
There is no law requiring General Manager Gutekunst to spend the $2.42M that would be saved in 2022. If no opportunity to acquire a sufficiently exciting player during the season arises, then the Packers could simply roll over the $2.42M into 2023. An extra $2.4M in rollover negates an extra $2.4M in dead money for 2023. If my youngest son were the Packers’ GM, there would be no issue: one needs the jaws of life to pry open his wallet. I do not think Gutekunst is a spendthrift. Yes, he spent a lot in 2019, but since then his acquisitions have been pretty modest and his in-season acquisitions have provided considerable bang for each dollar. I have no issue with giving the discretion and the ability to utilize that discretion to Gutekunst.
DEAN LOWRY:
There has to be a reason why Dean Lowry is the only player on a second contract whose contract has not been restructured. The two things that occur to me are: 1) the Packers need Lowry’s consent to convert base salary to a signing bonus and/or to add void years to his deal, and he has not given consent; or 2) the Packers wanted to retain the option to trade or release Lowry without taking a cap hit. A straight release or a trade of Lowry at present still saves $5.45M in 2022 without adding any more dead money to 2023 than is already scheduled.
Why would Green Bay want to move Lowry? As noted above, a great opportunity or the perception of overwhelming necessity coupled with the notion that the acquisition of Jarran Reed and/or the emergence of Jack Heflin, Chris Slayton, or faith in Devonte Wyatt have made Lowry superfluous. Opportunity might be just having the wherewithal in cap space to acquire a particularly attractive player in week 2 (when veteran contracts are no longer guaranteed) or at the trade deadline in October. Last year the Packers were not able to make a competitive offer for Odell Beckham, at least not without doing some serious gymnastics with the contract. Beckham got $4.75M and the Packers only rolled over $2.9M.
Necessity might occur due to a significant injury to a main player, the inability of players returning from injury to perform at their previous level,…
Read More: The Packers Should Restructure Allen Lazard Plus Thoughts About Dean Lowry