The Green Bay Packers had two options: keep Aaron Rodgers and try to win now, or trade him, move on to Jordan Love, and acquire capital to build for the future. They chose the Rodgers route, but that doesn’t mean they are going all-in this season. Even though they will have the future Hall of Famer under center, the approach to building the roster is the same as always (and even less aggressive than it was last offseason). That’s not exactly a value judgment, just an observation.
There have been several indications so far that general manager Brian Gutekunst is building his team as he always does. He’s trying to be competitive now but not losing sight of the future.
Bakhtiari’s restructure
The Packers restructured many contracts when trying to free up cap space before the new league year, but not more than they had to. David Bakhtiari is one example. Green Bay moved a big part of his base salary and all of his roster bonus into a signing bonus, which saved more than $8 million. But it could have been around $2 million more if they’d added two void years. They decided to be more conservative this year to lessen the future burden.
Alexander extension
Another way for the Packers to open up some cap space would be extending Jaire Alexander‘s contract. That should be a priority anyway because the young cornerback is one of the pillars of the team’s future. But it would also help the Packers short-term because Alexander is playing under the fifth-year option, a $13.3 million cap hit.
If the parties can find common ground, it’s possible to free up around $5 million this year. But Alexander’s agents know that and should have used Green Bay’s urgency to get a massive deal. Green Bay remained disciplined and didn’t overpay to get cap relief now, something they would probably have done if they were inclined to do everything possible to win in 2022.
Adams decision
Trading Davante Adams wasn’t part of the initial plan, but that hurts the Packers’ chances to win in 2022. Even if there’s a path to get better, it’s hard to have that much impact on the field with young players. Gutekunst conceded to Adams’ request and traded him to the Las Vegas Raiders. If Gutekunst was willing to go as far as he could to build a strong team this year, he could have insisted on keeping Adams under the tag, even if it would have meant trading him under another tag next offseason.
Lack of movement
The final and maybe main reason to show the Packers aren’t all-in this season is what they’ve done in free agency so far. They’ve made efforts to keep players like De’Vondre Campbell, Rasul Douglas, and Robert Tonyan, but those deals are part of a long-term building approach. In terms of adding players, the only outside unrestricted free agents signed were punter Pat O’Donnell, interior defensive lineman Jarran Reed, and cornerback/special teamer Keisean Nixon. Even after the Adams trade, Gutekunst decided to build patiently, without spending money or draft capital with veteran players.
The point here is not to say this is the wrong approach – although it might be, considering Rodgers is near the end of his career. There are also positive ramifications of this way of building the roster. First, after a challenging offseason to be compliant, the Packers’ cap situation is stabilized. They have $15 million in cap space now, 15th in the league, and they also have a decent outlook for future years (14th in 2023, with $53.4 million, and 27th in 2024, with $89.4 million in cap space), which means they haven’t moved that much money, as the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints have.
At the same time, the Packers have substantial draft capital. They have 11 picks this year, including four in the top 60. The only future capital compromised is a late-round swap made with the Los Angeles Rams to acquire punter Corey Bojorquez last season (the Los Angeles Rams received the Packers’ sixth-round pick, but Green Bay acquired LA’s seventh-rounder). Therefore, if/when Rodgers decides to retire, the Packers will be in a stable condition to move forward, although it’s hard to replace a franchise quarterback and navigate around his big dead money.
