Packers gain salary-cap space by restructuring Taylor’s contract
Green Bay Packers guard Lane Taylor agreed to restructure the final year of his contract with the club, PackersNews.com confirmed Saturday.
Originally set to make $3.8 million in base salary in 2020, Taylor will now make $1.5 million. Taylor can recoup another $1.5 million if certain incentives are met.
The news was first reported by NFL Media, which calculated the Packers will save about $3 million in cap space. His original cap hit for 2020 was going to be $5.8 million.
According to the league’s public salary-cap report, the Packers now have $13,896,825 in cap space.
Taylor, 30, signed a three-year extension just before the start of the 2017 season for $19.1 million, which included $5 million guaranteed in a signing bonus and new money for the 2017 season. He received a $100,000 signing bonus.
The team drafted Elgton Jenkins in the second round in 2019 and the two were in a competition for the starting left guard spot in training camp. Coach Matt LaFleur announced Taylor won the competition before the end of the preseason and Taylor started the first two games before suffering a biceps injury in practice before Week 3. The injury ended Taylor’s season.
Jenkins became a Pro Football Writers Association All-Rookie team member.
The Packers also moved to fortify the interior of the line in the 2020 draft with sixth-round picks Jon Runyan Jr. (Michigan) and Simon Stepaniak (Indiana).
But Stepaniak tore an anterior cruciate ligament in December and Packers guard Cole Madison is also recovering from an ACL injury suffered in late November during a practice.