The Green Bay Packers made a couple of dizzying financial decisions today that took me back to a simpler time. Aaron Rodgers has agreed to return to the Packers for 2022 and possibly three more years on a contract extension that initially reported at 200 million dollars with 153 million of that guaranteed. Then Green Bay exercised the franchise tag option on Davante Adams that will lock him up with the Packers at salary cap figure of just over twenty million dollars while buying them time to work out a more cap friendly long term extension.
A 220 million dollar commitment for two superstar NFL players.
My first year on the Packer beat was 1979 and just for kicks, I took a peek at the franchise financial statement presented at the annual stockholders meeting that summer. Player salaries were listed as “Season Expenses” on the ledger and it totaled 5.2 million dollars… for the entire roster. The total net worth of the Packer Corporation that year had it valued at 15.2 million. Talk about a growth industry.
So what led to this monumental day of player investment?
The icy summer of 2021 between Rodgers and the organization melted away pretty quickly as it turned out. Coming off his third career MVP season the same year the team drafted his successor in Jordan Love, Rodgers made no secret about being the one to control his exit, if there would be one. Fruitful conversations with General Manager Brian Gutekunst after his last minute return warmed the relationship and Rodgers produced a second straight MVP campaign but unfortunately, with a second straight disappointment in the NFC Championship game at home. Given a voided 2023 year on his contract with an option to consider a trade this off-season left everyone wondering which direction Rodgers would turn.
He continued to speak of his fondness for Head Coach Matt LaFleur, his teammates and the fans but the elephant in the room was his crippling salary cap figure of more than 46 million for the 2022 season. Now that the two sides have agreed to stay on the same team, the financial details can get hammered out.
Striking the anvil with Adams on the franchise tag ensures his employment for 2022 and gives the Packers time to negotiate another long term, big money contract. The front office has until July to secure that new deal but as of now, the tag figure of 20 million pushes the franchise to nearly 50 million above the 208.2 million dollar salary cap limit that NFL teams must be in compliance with by March 16.
With the headliners taken care of, what of the rest of the roster? To create cap space in February, three veterans had existing deals restructured, turning base salaries into signing bonuses to create space by adding voidable years to their contracts. Kenny Clark, Aaron Jones and David Bakhtiari may have only been the start. Preston Smith, Billy Turner, Adrian Amos may be next on the list. The Packers must also consider 5th year options on former number one picks Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage. Jaire Alexander is in line for a new deal soon. A host of players with expiring contracts may get caught up in the wash. Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Randall Cobb, De’Vondre Campbeel, Rasul Douglas just to name a few.
Then there’s Love. His apprenticeship will continue. In a quarterback thin draft, could the Packers consider trading him away? Unlikely, they believed in him enough to trade up to get in 2020 and have spent two years developing him. Don’t forget, Rodgers was a three year understudy to Brett Favre.
The big decisions have been made, a lot of hard decisions await and the team has eight more days to make them.
