Packers GM won’t rule out tagging Jones
GREEN BAY - Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst isn’t alone in planning a busy March.
More than half the teams in the NFL are facing decisions they didn’t anticipate having to make before the coronavirus pandemic stripped the league of so much revenue that the salary cap will go down for the first time in its 27-year history.
But Gutekunst’s challenge is greater than most because he doesn’t want to break up a team that has gone 26-6 and made it to the NFC championship game the last two years.
If the new league year started today, the Packers would be $12.525 million over a minimum league salary cap of $180 million, according to salary information obtained through sources with access to NFL Players Association data.
So, not only does Gutekunst have to get under the cap before the start of free agency March 17, he must figure out which of his free agents he can afford to keep. The list includes unrestricted free agents Aaron Jones, Corey Linsley, Kevin King, Marcedes Lewis and Jamaal Williams and restricted free agents Robert Tonyan, Chandon Sullivan and Tim Boyle.
“There’s going to be some things
we’re going to have to do between now and the time we get to playing ball to keep it under the cap,” Gutekunst said Tuesday in a video conference with reporters. “So, we have a lot of moves to make still.”
Normally, Gutekunst does this news conference at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, but with the combine shut down due to COVID-19, he spoke from Lambeau Field, where he, coach Matt LaFleur, the scouts and vice president of player finance Russ Ball have been meeting the past couple of weeks.
Gutekunst didn’t lay out his game plan for the offseason, but he made it clear moves are forthcoming.
For instance, he didn’t rule out placing the franchise tag on Jones, the Packers’ dynamic running back who would require an investment of perhaps $12 million a year in order to retain. A long-term deal would go easier on the cap than the franchise tag for running backs, which is expected to be in the $11 million range.
The Packers have until Tuesday to decide whether to slap the tag on Jones. They can still sign him to a long-term deal later, but using the tag means Gutekunst has to find another $11 million of cap space.
“I do think there’s usually better ways to go about it, but certainly if I think as we get down the road here over the next week or so, if that becomes what is in the best interest of the Packers, I think we’ll do that,” he said. “But at this point, we haven’t done that.”
Linsley is an option if the Packers feel they won’t be able to get a long-term deal done with Jones, but given the team has barely talked to the All-Pro center, it seems like they have written him off as too expensive.
“At the level of compensation that he’s at, he’s earned that,” Gutekunst said. “We certainly would never close the door on someone like Corey Linsley. We’ll see as we get down (to it) and what’s possible and what’s not.”
Gutekunst did not rule out slashing salary in order to get under the cap, which is what he did when he released tackle Rick Wagner and linebacker Christian Kirksey last month. There are big options such as releasing outside linebacker Preston Smith and there are smaller options such as releasing end Dean Lowry, cornerback Josh Jackson, receiver Devin Funchess and punter JK Scott.
It didn’t sound like Gutekunst was interested in releasing Smith.
“He plays a lot of roles for us,” he said. “He’s such a versatile athlete, he can do so many different things. And so while (his) numbers might’ve been down, I think he affected our football team in a very positive way.”
As far as the others, he admitted there are going to be some tough calls.
“I think every team right now is kind of sitting in our shoes, trying to figure out a way to keep their teams as sound and solid as possible,” Gutekunst said. “There’s going to be some tough decisions, hard decisions for a lot of teams and a lot of pain that teams are going to have to go through.”
The easiest way for Gutekunst and Ball to gain cap room is to rework the contracts of their highest-paid players so their cap numbers aren’t as high.
It starts with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose $37.572 million cap hit is among the highest in the NFL in ’21. The Packers can reduce it by guaranteeing most of the $22 million in salary he is scheduled to make this year and extending the deal beyond 2023.
How far they take it depends on how much cap liability they want to bear over the next couple of years. Decreasing Rodgers’ cap number this year increases it in later years and he’s already scheduled to count $39.85 million in ’22 and $28.35 million in ’23.
“We’ve done that over the past few years,” Gutekunst said.
“We’re going to do that this year quite a bit, push money out to give us our best chance to win in ’21. There’s a lot of avenues to do it, I think.
“But you know, at the same time we’ve got a really good football team and the core of our football team is going to be really strong for the next few years. We want to give ourselves every chance to compete for championships within that time.”
Gutekunst would not say whether he has talked to Rodgers or his representatives about reworking his deal, but you can bet he or Ball has. Rodgers may be looking for more of a guarantee than the Packers are offering, which could complicate matters.
But Rodgers isn’t the only one they’ll be hitting up. Za’Darius Smith counts $21.5 million against the cap and Preston Smith counts $16.5 million, so there’s a significant amount that can be pushed back with them. Gutekunst can reduce Davante Adams’ $16.6 million cap number with an extension loaded with guaranteed money that can be spread out over as many as six years.
Safety Adrian Amos ($10 million), tackle Billy Turner ($8.05 million) and nose tackle Kenny Clark ($7.1 million) are all good candidates to have their salaries guaranteed so the cap charge can be reduced. The Packers are most likely to do it with their best players because the likelihood of them being cut for performance in the next couple of years is low.
“We’ve reached out to a number of players,” Gutekunst said. “Obviously, David Bakhtiari being one who we’ve gone down that route with him. Working with those guys to find solutions to this cap issue, I’m appreciative of those guys. I think everybody wants to try to put the best football team out there in ’21 that we can.”
The Packers are typically a team that isn’t in cap trouble, but they find themselves in this predicament because the cap is expected to drop from $198.2 million to around $180 million due to the massive drop in revenue caused by the pandemic.
The Packers have three players — Rodgers, Bakhtiari and Za’Darius Smith — who rank in the top five in salary at their positions and Adams, Linsley and Jones will soon also, whether it’s with the Packers or somebody else. The Packers, like everyone else, thought the cap would go up at least $10 million this year, as was the case in the previous seven seasons.
But come 3 p.m. on the 17th, free agency will begin and Gutekunst will be ready to do business.
Incredibly, he didn’t rule out signing a big-name free agent. If that’s the case, his work this offseason may turn out to be way more extensive than anyone could have imagined.