Packers restructure David Bakhtiari’s deal, create $8.3M in cap space
The #Packers recently created about $8.3M in cap space by converting LT David Bakhtiari’s more than $11M roster bonus into a signing bonus and spreading it out over the length of the contract. He’ll make the same as before, but it gives GB some room to operate.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 13, 2021
Let an offseason of major financial decisions commence for the Green Bay Packers.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Packers converted David Bakhtiari’s $11,447,000 roster bonus in 2021 into a signing bonus, creating around $8.3 million in immediate salary cap space.
By turning the roster bonus – a one-time payment due next month – into a signing bonus, the Packers can spread out the entire payment over the duration of the deal, prorating the salary cap charge across the next four seasons.
The upside is a significant amount of cap space freed up in the present. The downside is all that money will be added onto Bakhtiari’s salary cap tab in future seasons.
The move was expected and necessary. With a shrinking salary cap, the Packers entered the offseason needing to clear around $30 million just to get under the cap by the start of the new league year. Bakhtiari’s bonus conversion was the easiest and most sensible way to immediately create cap space.
The Packers will still be very busy the rest of the way. More money must be shed from the cap just to operate this offseason. Expect more restructures and cap casualties from the Packers over the next couple of weeks.
Here are 10 reasonable moves (including Bakhtiari’s restructure) the Packers can make to clear up cap space, and here are 10 potential cap casualties.
List
10 most reasonable ways the Packers can clear salary cap space this offseason
