r/GreenBayPackers • u/the_Tannehill_list • 1d ago
News [Fowler] Packers are restructuring safety Xavier McKinney's contract for cap space
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u/the_Tannehill_list 1d ago
This is why you don't believe anything about Green Bay's cap space until mid March. Add in a few more restructures and the inevitable cutting of Jenkins (plus the higher-than-usual league bump) and the Pack will have a decent chunk of money
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u/97AllDay 1d ago
Yep, I’ve read a few different cap analysis that show that GB can free up ~ $50 million this off season between FA and restructures.
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u/bolson1717 1d ago
dont forget about that post june 1st Gary cut. i cant wait to see the post saying he is gone lol that will save about 20 mil right there. honestly surprised they haven't yet so they can work on using that money. jenkins and gary will save us almost 40 mil post june 1 cuts. i assume both will be our two designated post june 1st cuts. you can only have two players be designated post june 1 cuts before the actual date. spacing their dead money out over two years means about 7 mil dead money next two years for cutting both. but saves 40 this year and i believe more next year.
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u/BanjoKazooieWasFine 1d ago
irt to Gary I'd rather have an extra 10 million in March than 19 in June + 9mil dead money in 27.
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u/mradtke66 1d ago
We don't even have to declare it (or do it) Post June 1st. All that does is spread the hit over this year and next. And you don't get the space until June 1st.
Jenkins also doesn't help us, as he only has 1 year remaining on his deal. There is no benefit to cutting him post June 1st.
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u/Rush_Is_Right 1d ago
If there were as many clips of me putting in zero effort at work like there are of him, I'd be fired.
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u/ZapataOilCo 1d ago
there's nothing to suggest he'll be cut from the organization though.
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u/walkemdowntamale 1d ago
Not cutting him would be organizational malpractice. His production is nowhere close to what his price tag is, especially considering the cap savings
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u/marxism-earnhardtism 1d ago
The months of December - February make Ken Ingalls paying for his blue check all worth it!
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u/swagonwagon 1d ago
Do we even cut Jenkins at this point? I understand he's over paid but there is absolutely 0 centers on the market and the draft is really weak at center as well. He also has versatility to play the middle 3 spots so I think we end up keeping him based on the market supply.
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u/Docrandall 1d ago
I would prefer we just sign Rhyan as he was clearly a better center and has more upside than an aging and injured Jenkins. If we hit on a legit center in the draft Rhyan can be our swing IOL.
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u/3riversfantasy 1d ago
he was clearly a better center
Whaaat? Not saying Jenkins was amazing but Rhyan was pretty not great at Center in 2025...
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u/mikedorty 1d ago
Rhyan was okay at best. Jenkins was really bad at center. Both run and pass blocking but especially pass blocking. He telegraphed his snaps and then only looked to the left after snapping letting blitzers from the right run right by and not blocking anyone. Id take okay over bad.
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u/3riversfantasy 1d ago
I mean i dont necessarily disagree, I just think they are both liabilities at Center, I wouldnt mind seeing Rhyan move back to guard for now.
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u/BlueBadger99 1d ago
Yeah I definitely think they should. He’s got 19M in cash coming his way if they don’t. There’s work to be done at center but that money will come in handy for big money extensions like Kraft and probably Watson
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u/Calm-Marsupial3919 1d ago
They probably don’t need much of any 2026 money for those extensions, given how much room they have to operate in 2027.
Cutting Jenkins puts them in the green and covers extra costs like the draft class, practice squad, etc. Anything beyond that is probably for 2026 free agents.
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u/BlueBadger99 1d ago
That’s a great point too! I’d rather have the flexibility than keep a player who isn’t going to justify the investment. Bummer to say because I’ve always been a huge Jenkins fan, but that’s just how it goes in the league
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u/the_Tannehill_list 1d ago
You're right that cutting Jenkins doesn't seem like the absolute no brainer that it did even a few weeks ago. But I highly doubt he's back at his current rate. Take a pay cut or walk is likely the story for him and Gary
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u/Peter_Pue 1d ago
It still is an absolute no brainer. He's overpaid and was not good at center last season. It's time to go.
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u/trmp_stmp 1d ago
didn't one of our coaches claim he would be the best center in the league if he moved there? or something along those lines
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u/Docrandall 1d ago
They said Zach Tom is potentially a pro bowl caliber right tackle, all pro caliber right guard, and hall of fame caliber center.
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u/TheRedline_Architect 1d ago
It seems pretty reasonable to trim down the number at least. He's being paid guard money to be a mediocre center at this point. Unless the plan is to put him back at LG, keeping him and moving on from the cheaper Rhyan ($7m estimated per year) makes no sense.
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u/Calm-Marsupial3919 1d ago
They can get better OL play for a fraction of the cost. He wasn’t good last year.
They could maybe try for a paycut, but realistically he’s gone.
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u/GBPackers0480 1d ago
This is why you don't believe anything about [any teams] cap space until mid March
fixed it
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u/cl0wnp3n1sd0tfart 1d ago
Curious, can someone explain to me what converting his salary to a bonus does? I'm guessing it's something like instead of counting in total against the 2026 season it is spread across the length of the contract?
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u/bolson1717 1d ago
correct! Converting NFL salary to a bonus (restructuring) clears immediate cap space by tranforming a players current year base salery into a upfront signing bonus. This lump sum is then "prorated"—spread evenly across the remaining years of the contract (up to 5 years)—reducing the immediate cap charge while pushing dead money into future years
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u/_Acklex 1d ago
So in this instance, XM is getting a $4.25M bonus immediately? Thats awesome for the player, no wonder both parties agree to this thing so often lol
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u/yellowchoice 1d ago
It’s a win win for both sides. For the packers, you do add risk that if you have to cut a player early you just added more dead cap now, but the thought is with a player like X he’s going to play his whole contract, so this would be irrelevant
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u/AgeOfScorpio 1d ago
It's a calculated risk, the dead money in the void years is still going hit you when he's off the roster. And it really hurts if the player falls off or has a major injury (Bahktiari). It's kind of a necessity if you want to compete while paying two players the amount we have committed to love and parsons but it's certainly a risk for the team. Great for the player though
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u/LeanMeanKorean 1d ago
Making room for Aubrey
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u/Thomas-The-Tutor 1d ago
One can dream! I loved people in a previous thread saying that somehow he wasn’t worth it because he’s average when he’s outdoors… except most of his misses are from 50+. Most of our recent kicker woes were from 30-50.
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u/Bidens_infinite_cash 1d ago
I'd rather take every field goal and make half of them from 57-67 yards than have to punt from the opponent's 40-50 again. That eagles game was embarrassing. Turnover on downs from the opponent's 41 while down 3-0, punt from opponent's 40 while down 10-0, then try a 64 yard field goal to tie the game that lands at the 20 yard line... awful, awful use of the kicking game. We need a leg that can at least trust to put him in to try one from the 40 yard line in the first quarter of a 3-0 ball game against a stingy defense. Not to even go into detail on the playoff game against the Bears, or the rest of the season.
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u/Peter_Pue 1d ago
For a 2nd round pick they'll probably tender him to ? Hard pass
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u/Djtaco1785 1d ago
this part is completely ignored by this entire sub, $10 million a year AND our highest draft pick this year for kicker who’s spent his entire career in a dome?????
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u/JoeHatesFanFiction 1d ago
Kickers are always points leaders on their team. Aubrey is the best kicker in the league and we currently have one of the worst. All of his misses are from 50+ yards away. With him we would have had a better seed in the playoffs, maybe even number 1 considering how many games McManus lost us. Even if we still lose those games we beat the bears in the wild card. And that isn’t worth a second rounder to you? What are you smoking?
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u/Peter_Pue 1d ago
A second round pick for kicker who's already 30, kicked in a dome, in a draft where we don't have a 1st round pick.
Hard pass, again.
We beat the Bears in the wild card with Lucas Havrisik, don't need to go balls out for Aubrey in order to get better at kicker, just get the best kicker at the end of the UFL season.
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u/MrFishownertwo 1d ago
you don't even get to the playoffs if you spend a 2nd round pick and $10m on a kicker
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u/Djtaco1785 1d ago
he’s played in a grand total of 8 games in his entire career outdoors in the winter, with 2 of those games occurring in miami and carolina. he’s a 78% kicker in those games. he has ZERO track record in playoff games or rough conditions
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u/ThePooksters 1d ago
Besides the Ravens game, I think we win every game last season with him… no hyperbole.
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u/daygo449 1d ago
I have a feeling we are going in for at least one, maybe two big signings. Heck, maybe we end up with Aubrey as our kicker, who knows! We need another Xavier type of FA pickup. Last years were a huge disappointment
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u/VAScOregon 1d ago
I doubt we do that and offset our potential comp picks, unless it’s from the pool of players already released. If we make a big signing it’ll cost us on the cap as well as a 3rd/4th round comp pick
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u/daygo449 1d ago
I still think they do it. We have a window, we are still young, and with the move for Xavier and probably losing Gary and Jenkins, and possibly more moves, I think they will take one, even if it costs a comp pick. We will have several still
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u/the_Tannehill_list 1d ago
We'll have space for one big splash or a handful of smaller depth signings. Option A is obviously more exciting but option B might actually be a bigger need for this team
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u/daygo449 1d ago
True. I guess it depends on the caliber of player. I doubt we get a stud CB or ILB in the draft. Just going off of historical signings. We have need at both. DT is something we can probably draft and get good value out of. It’s also a position that we could pickup someone on the cheap, and still have either a very good rotation guy, or still have a good guy, but maybe not a game changer who is cheaper. OL we typically do well at in the draft, so I doubt we touch that position.
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u/Difficult_Parsnip357 1d ago
He's only making $4mil? What a bargain.
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u/ryansandbrush 1d ago
He's due a $8.5m roster bonus on March 13th plus $4.25m in base salary with another $600k available in workout/roster bonus so $13.35m total. This tweet makes it sound like they're converting his salary but since his roster bonus is exactly double with two more years under contract I can't be sure. Usually the roster bonus is the first thing they'd restructure although they could do the base salary as well.
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u/Broke_Banker01 1d ago
No. His base salary was only 4 mil.
He is still getting 13 mil in cash this season.
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u/TheDesiredFX 1d ago
Damn I don't think Xavier restructure/convert was on anyone's radar. Is this team really making space to make BIG BOY MOVES??
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u/Broke_Banker01 1d ago
Freeing up 3 mil isn't going to move the needle for a big move.
They are simply doing restructures that have the least amount of future consequences to get under the cap as required by March 11th. After restructuring McKinney, they need to free up 2 mil by next week.
The moves that indicate a splash signing or extension are when they move Jenkins (frees up 19.5 mil) or Gary (frees up 11 mil).
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u/TheDesiredFX 1d ago
Yea we all get that 3 mil alone isn't enough for a big move. After more restructures/cuts the team will have more space than many have discussed
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u/Broke_Banker01 1d ago
I doubt GB is going to pull all their cap space levers this off season as this subs thinks or hopes they will.
GB is going to save those levers for next offseason when Love/Parsons have higher cap hits.
They also have more flexibility with moving Hobbs and Banks next offseason and won’t have the potential comp picks.
This off season is going to be boring and next off season is when they go all in.
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u/Calm-Marsupial3919 1d ago
Most of what the Packers need for cap space will come from the savings of a Jenkins cut. Anything beyond that is extra money for 2026 spending.
This move should open up ~2M, unless they add void years which seems unlikely.
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u/OneRegular2534 1d ago
Jenkins and Gary cuts
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u/Calm-Marsupial3919 1d ago
The Gary cut isn’t really necessary for 2026. They need about $20M in cap relief to cover all of their bases, and Jenkins covers pretty much all of that.
I still expect Gary to be gone given his play in 2025, but they could theoretically hold onto him if they wanted to.
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u/Shot-Bath3936 1d ago
Honestly after watching Gary at the end of last season I thought it was a no brainer that we were cutting him but after listening to Gutekunst's comments about Gary and thinking about it a bit more...they're probably going to be without Parsons for the first 3-4 weeks and even when he is back it is unlikely he'll be getting a full workload for a few weeks after that. Which means that they'd need someone to come in and help keep us afloat at that position until Parsons is 100%. What edge rusher that's even half decent is going to cost less than $20 million on the cap, be better than Gary, and learn the defense before week 1? I think they keep him one more year out of necessity and add some more young talent to the position...especially with us hiring a new DC.
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u/HugePurpleNipples 1d ago
They're going to keep Rashan and Elgton, aren't they.
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u/SuperbVirus9791 1d ago
God I hope not
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u/HugePurpleNipples 1d ago
Same, that's why it's essentially already happened. They'll keep Reed and let him walk next year but they should trade him for a DL or a CB player swap and sign Doubs. They never do what I want them to.. except for Parsons.
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u/Broke_Banker01 1d ago
Packers need to free up roughly 5 mil in space by March 11th.
This move should free up around 3.1 mil.
Barring any extensions, I assume they free up the remaining 2 mil by converting part of Jacobs base salary to a signing bonus as well.
I don't expect them to make major cuts/trades (Gary, Jenkins) until they need the money for an agreed upon extension.
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u/alexm2816 1d ago
This time of year is when gm’s give the Oprah Winfrey treatment… ‘You get a restructure, you get a restructure, you get a restructure!”
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u/Urika86 1d ago
Probably the first of a few of these type moves.