The 2024 NFL offseason is a big one for the Green Bay Packers. After surprising everyone by earning a Wild Card spot and defeating the Dallas Cowboys during Super Wild Card Weekend, people will be interested to see what upgrades the team makes.
Right now, the Packers aren’t in a position to make any upgrades. Projected to have only about $8 million in cap space, some decisions will have to be made to free up some spending money. More than likely, they will have to release some veterans, making an already young team that much younger.
A Packers Cap Analyst, Ken Ingalls, laid out some moves that the team could make to open cap space on X, formerly Twitter. Two of the names under his “goodbye” category are respected veterans who have been with the team for several years.
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One of them, left tackle David Bakhtiari, is a no-brainer as a cut candidate. Bakhtiari’s career has been derailed by knee injuries and the 2023 season was no different. Despite an adjusted practice schedule being implemented to cut down on his reps and wear and tear, he was still injured.
Bakhtiari played in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears but didn’t get back on the field for the remainder of the season. That makes two out of the last three seasons he played in only one game. Releasing him would free up nearly $21 million to spend.
The other veteran listed is linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. Seeing Campbell’s name on the list is a little surprising as he has proven to still be a productive player when on the field. However, he has been unable to consistently capture the same All-Pro success he had during the 2021 season.
Injuries have been an issue at times, as he played in 13 games in 2022 and only 11 in 2023. Designating him as a post-June 1st cut would save the Packers $10,573,529 and spread the dead cap cost out over three years, coming out to $3,657,000 each year.
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Moving on from All-Pro players is never easy, but neither player has reached that level in recent years. Opening up $31.6 million in cap space would be too much to pass up, as that would enable the Packers to be true buyers on the free agent market.
If the team does a few of the other suggestions from Ingalls, such as extending quarterback Jordan Love or restructuring players such as cornerback Jaire Alexander and Elgton Jenkins, even more money can be opened up. It will be interesting to see what general manager Brian Gutekunst opts to do, as the Packers are a team on the rise but have clear needs on their roster.
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