The Green Bay Packers are heading into the 2024 season with expectations of being one of the top teams in the NFC. After being one of the final four teams left standing in their conference the Packers feel as though they have a real shot at reaching the Super Bowl in 2024.
Part of their off-season upgrades came in the form of massive contracts for two free agents. They also moved on from a number of players. One of those players is about to give the Packers a ton of cap space.
The Green Bay Packers Are About To Get $10 Million Richer
Upon signing a five-year, $50 million contract with the Packers in 2022, De’Vondre Campbell became the Packers’ most expensive player. On March 15, he was scheduled to make $10.75 million, including a $2.9 million roster bonus.
That didn’t happen as the Packers released him right after the start of the new league year. According to Wendell Ferreria of A to Z Sports:
The decision to apply a post-June 1st designation on a player isn’t a simple one. The benefit is obvious: It creates more cap space in the current year. On the other hand, the space doesn’t come until June 2nd, and there will still be dead money in the following season.
But that’s the decision the Green Bay Packers made on off-ball linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, released in March right after the new league year began. So on Sunday, June 2nd, Green Bay will finally get the extra cap space of $10.573 million.
The post-June 1st designation was created so teams don’t need to wait three months to release players and spread their dead money hits over two years. By doing that, a team also avoids eventual roster bonuses to become guaranteed, just like the Packers did with Campbell.
For the players, it’s also better. They can move on and sign with another team. Campbell has agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
When a player gets released in the NFL, every guaranteed money left on his contract will accelerate to immediately hit the cap. But that happens only between the end of the season and June 1st.
After that, the dead money projected to the current season hits the cap, but future considerations (eventual guaranteed money that hasn’t been paid yet or prorations that have been paid but haven’t hit the cap) are accelerated to the following year.
The Packers Will Likely Use This Money To Help Extend Jordan Love
The Packers are on the brink of making Jordan Love one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL.
There is a good chance that negotiations between the two sides will be completed well before the regular season begins. No leaks of information have been reported from either side, so everything appears to be going well.
Dissatisfaction between parties is the most common cause of leaks.
It is difficult to negotiate Love’s contract even though he was the NFL’s best quarterback late last season. His sample size is very small.
Therefore, the parties should focus more on the potential than on the past.
