Green Bay is barely under the salary cap, not enough to go on a spending spree but enough to sit pat without releases
The Green Bay Packers were over the cap heading into this week. The recent move to convert the majority of Xavier McKinney’s salary and roster bonus changed that, as his cap hit for 2026 dropped from $19.2 million to just $9.9 million, covering the $5.1 million that the Packers were over the cap by, without changing McKinney’s cash flow.
There are a bunch of reasons why this was an interesting move. Let’s get into them.
Xavier McKinney will (probably) get an extension in 2027
Almost certainly, the way the cap hits are scheduled, McKinney will get some sort of extension next year that will provide the Packers with some cap relief. Because the team max voided his deal, pushing the cost of his 2026 salary and roster bonus across the 2026 to 2030 seasons, McKinney now carries a $24.8 million cap charge in 2027.
Green Bay has a ton of cap space next year (essentially, they’re facing a 2026 cap crunch but not in cap crunches in perpetuity). Still, the team will probably try to get that number lower in 2027 (which should be a big spending year with the Packers’ afforded cap space), which would lead to his $16.15 million salary number (which hits the cap immediately) dropping in exchange for a new signing bonus (which can be spread over up to five years on the cap).
This is a smart way to get yourself out of a smaller cap jam. Just convert the salary/roster bonus of a player you want to extend moving forward. With that being said, the Packers did specifically choose to do this with McKinney.
Here’s how much players were due in salary, option bonuses or roster bonuses (cash) for the upcoming season, before the McKinney conversion (a lot of the money Green Bay’s players make is big upfront signing bonuses, the exchange the Packers accept for locking down players on four-year contracts):
- Elgton Jenkins, OL: $18.5 million
- Jordan Love, QB: $18.3 million
- Rashan Gary, OLB: $18 million
- Aaron Banks, OL: $17.2 million
- Devonte Wyatt, DE: $12.9 million
- Xavier McKinney, S: $12.8 million
- Josh Jacobs, RB: $10.2 million
- Micah Parsons, OLB: $10 million
- Nate Hobbs, CB: $8.1 million
- Zach Tom, OL: $4.9 million
- Keisean Nixon, CB: $4.3 million
Every other player on the team is making less than $4 million cash via those three methods, which are the ones that can be salary converted. The Packers still have the runway to convert these numbers so that only the minimum salary (plus one-fifth of the difference between the minimum salary and their current cash hits on the cap for 2026) actually counts in 2026. But the team didn’t execute those today, only the McKinney deal, which is an important data point. They singled him out.
The Packers are cap-compliant
Does Green Bay have cap space now? Yes! Are they set for a spending spree? Absolutely not!
The Packers have around $4.2 million in cap space now, just enough to where they don’t have to make moves before the new league year starts on March 11th. What does that mean? They can’t spend big money without clearing more cap space, but they can now go into the new league year without having to make a move, which gives them options.
If I were Green Bay, and I wasn’t sure whether or not Elgton Jenkins’ or Rashan Gary’s trade market would improve down the stretch of free agency when scarcity ramped up, this is the type of move I’d make. Those two players are going to be the biggest ways in which the Packers are going to be able to create cap space, either by trade or release, but now the team can play the market by ear. No longer is there pressure to make these Jenkins or Gary decisions on March 11th. They can drag this thing out as long as they want, since neither Jenkins nor Gary has a roster bonus due on a certain date.
The team has put themselves in a position where they can Jaire Watch 2.0 the situation, this time with twice the fun.
What they won’t be able to do, though, is make many moves without first deciding on Jenkins or Gary. Based on the compensatory draft picks expected to come back to the Packers in 2027 for their 2026 free agents leaving, though, maybe the team is fine with handcuffing themselves early on in this free agency cycle.
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We’re going to find out pretty soon. If Green Bay wants to be spenders this offseason, whether it’s in the trade, compensatory free agent or cap casualty market, they’re probably going to need to get off the Jenkins and/or Gary contracts before doing so. They will be your canaries in the coal mine. Before those deals are shed, the Packers won’t be able to make many moves. The McKinney conversion got them to a point where they can sit pat. Now the real question is if they actually want to sit pat during free agency.
Category: General Sports
