"If the Packers trade him this year, there will be a $ 40.3 million hit in dead money, $ 9 million more than his projected cap hit for the Packers if he plays. But things get much worse in the future if Green Bay decides to give their veteran quarterback one or two more seasons. The dead money in 2024 would be $68.21 million, and $76.8 million in 2025."

Dead Money... Wendell Ferreira wrote what's above in his article yesterday which I thought was a huge point moving forward regarding Rodgers. It's NOT just about 2023 but also 2024 and beyond. The "Voided Contracts" are all contracts we probably expected. Some may be back but IF Rodgers was to stay for 2023 he's probably going to be without buddies Cobb, Crosby, and Big Bob for sure. Mercedes Lewis LOVES LaFleur so he may be back no matter what. IMO moving on from all of these guys isn't the worst thing. Mason Crosby and Cobb have been two of my favorite players for the last 10 plus years. But it's just time to TRIM THE FAT! Do it now, get it done and over with and make 2024 more manageable for a run WITH Jordan Love.

The additional $9 million is fine. What's coming in 2024 and/or 2025 IS NOT.

Brian Branch...Oh hell yeah! Let's get some of that dude please.

$9M....$9M = a bargain. Let #12 find a better opportunity to win it all and let the Packer's exhale (or, at least me).

"Closing Time" by Semisonic

“every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end".

Agree 100% about MLF’s offense through Love verses Rodgers. My biggest gripe is the lack of leadership from the coaches to have let Rodgers dictate the offense.
This year’s draft class is very deep. At the 15th slot Green Bay will have a tough decision to make…a highly rated player on their board will probably drop to them and they will get multiple calls to trade down. Maybe allowing them to get Branch. I’m thinking if Carter, or the edge guy from Tx.Tech falls, to them they won’t trade. If it’s the RB Robinson then they will…
Just MHO

Again, agreed with everything you wrote today, Al.

Regarding Jordan Love - many down play his performance vs Eagles. But reports from Eagles players told us that they did not start to play preventive D when Jordan enter the game in Q4. He had 2 series and was able to add, with his plays, 10 points on the board. And he did that vs top 5 D in the NFL. You also have to take in consideration how excited and stressed he must be. That was his first playing time after that KC game. Still he showed excellent fundamentals, timing, throwing in rhytm and on time for his teammates. He recognized some trap plays Eagles secondary had tried to suck him in and didn't pull the trigger. He used check down player instead. His throws had excellent zip and velocity, he knows where he can throw the ball and when. Only misread he had was the throw to Watson in the end zone, while he had open Allen Lazard (who beat his man) at about 10 yards from end zone (I forgive him that taking into consideration how he must felt in the moment). From those 2 series you can find a lot how good he became through those 3 years as rookie.

I have high hopes he is the man. Saying that, I have no doubts if he become starter this season he will have his up and down games. But we already knows he learns fast and willing.

Regarding Salary cap, I say take as much dead money you can bare this sesson. Start Jordan Love and give him a chance to polish his play to another level. Outcome of the season does not matter.

Regarding draft, I have no expectations. I'm not in mock drafts as I have no possibilities to watch college football, so, for me, players are just names. Also, looking what draftniks are saying about available players I take with large grain of salt. They were much more wrong in their players assesments than any personnel departments around NFL. Their top prospects become in more cases busts than good players.

Your choice of players I take with confidence that you would not suggest this or that player if you are not study his performance deep and well.

After all, development of many of the players are more in the hands of coaches, than on players talents. Many experts claims that 10% is about talent, 20 % is on the coaching and 70% is on hard working.

Thank you on another gem article.

Dead cap--needed to happen. Nobody wants to pay players to not be in uniform, and while they could've tacked on another year to some of these guys and tried to recoup that dead money (and also cover obvious holes on the roster) they can't keep pushing out void years and hitting future caps on guys who are (mostly) well past their primes. Appreciate all they did for the Packers, but the cap needs to get healthy and the team needs to get younger.

Aaron Jones--now needs to be the focal point of this offense. His contract structure makes 2024 a big money year, so he's likely on a one-year deal. Make it count.

SB Odds--love to see Cousins down that list, even after the Packers finished sub-.500 and the Vikes had 13 wins...

Jordan Love/Playcalling--good points about old plays and trying to sync them with new players. In the end, running LaF's offense is still a (beautiful) mystery. In his main stop as a playcaller prior to GB (TN), he had half a season that was really underwhelming, then rode Derrick Henry into the playoffs. This puts the spotlight plainly on LaF and likely is his main audition to remain HC in 2024.

Exhale--the sound likely coming from the lockerroom and from management if 12 moves on. One of the greatest benefits to this management structure and coaching staff is not having to second guess or deal with the one-ups. That tension is going to trickle all the way down the roster. Maybe this is a more loose and relaxed team in 2023.

The dead- Yes it’s time for a change.
The draft can replace any of the dead.
And maybe there is no better time than the present.
Rodgers is in a rebuild.
But I look at the list and believe anyone of them
can get more money someplace else.
Araon Jones does deserve praise.
But; The tread/Time on the wheels is the concern.
Not to mention the fumbles. Draft Ammunition?
( If only Gutey knew how to use it. )
Kenny Clark cap shouldn’t be kicked down.
Not when Bahk can’t make practices.
Maybe the thought of a Cincinnati ” trading" rumor.
Would be a better choice.
After all Rodgers is in a Re-build.
And while we're at it.
Gutey should have traded Love to the colts last year.
Now I’m pulling for NO and 2 seconds. (23/24)
Branch is 6’ 195 pounds. Savage is 5’11 198 pounds.
Both play better near the DL./ slot.
And that is my concern. The long speed down the field.
Also at 195 pds will his shoulder hold up.

Al, as always, my favorite column of each week. Your point about the dead money for 2024 makes the $9 million additional with a trade makes a trade THIS year imperative.

Cap health is a squishy target, You always would like to have some "wiggle room", but OTOH not using cap space indicates that you are not doing everything you can to make the team better (FA spending when $$$ are available for upgrades).

All of the cap gymnastics on a year to year basis are what creates the bills that actually come due. The GBP have just about contorted themselves into an unrecognizable mess. It is time to fix some of the mess and just let football things work themselves out. What I mean is to bring in young players and let them play with the understanding that the current coaching and player performance will produce what they see in the mirror, in other words, help is NOT on the way, no big spends for gap filling or upgrades and results are for YOU to create. This will allow for positive growth or knowledge of where the weeding needs to happen. It is past the time to move on from the status quo - same ol', same ol'.

Save the next round of cap gymnastics for 2-4 years down the road when the next batch of successful players have EARNED it through performance and not seniority.

I will leaf you with this; I don't think it's going out on a limb to predict Branch to the GBP, safety is a root problem so stumping for Branch as a solution may bear fruit.

There will be a lot of disappointed fans on this site when Rodgers comes out of darkness and announces he will continue to be a Packer. Personally, I don’t trust McGinn’s comments. Actually, I think it’s 50-50 whether he stays or goes. I’m just leaning towards he decides to stay and the FO welcomes him back. Not my wish to see him stay, I’m tired of the annual drama, , just think too many think it’s a slam dunk he’s leaving.

The dead cap was always coming. It was written into the contracts as part of the use of void years to push the load forward. We remain currently over the cap and so a lot of new activity was unlikely given the lack of resolution of, well, you know.

The only player that concerns me is Amos. He was still, despite a down year, our best safety. Right now I don’t see a starter i have great faith in and we need 2 at a position that is notorious for rookie struggles. Perhaps we simply resign him later, as we did with Campbell after his contract voided last year. Maybe he wants to move on anyway or another team beats us to it. Certainly we don’t seem likely to have the cap to make a signing requiring any size of cap commitment and won’t.

None of these players voiding reduced our projected cap, it just cemented already projected sums as dead. Living up against the cap and juggling to get under to start the season leads to these kind of games. Now, at S, this one poses a potential question at a position already one of weakness and need. It remains to be seen how we go about ensuring that the position isn’t even weaker this year. At the moment it’s a candidate to be one of the areas that offset development from existing players.

This situation is one suggesting stasis is our most likely best hope this year. That is always going to be likely as long as we are hard up against the cap. I’m not unhappy to move in from Lowry, Cobb etc at this point. I love Cobb, but we need to get better than they are now. The problem is there are only so many draft picks to go around and they neither all succeed or contribute early on if they do. That leaves bargain basement FA and UDFAs and development just to supplement numbers, not good for starting quality or depth.

Until we break this cycle we are essentially battling in built regression just to hold our own despite any upgrades through positive player growth. We need to break the chain to compete. That starts with stopping pushing out cap. In any meaningful sense that requires getting out from the Rodgers deal and taking the hit, with all the knocks that may entail. Pain now is necessary to permit realistic opportunities in future. These contracts voiding are just a minor source of insight as to why.

Al! You missed your chance here! Confessions of a Polluted WALKING Dead Cap Hit? Revenge of the Walking Dead Cap?

How many years of sequels will the FO put us through?

Maybe (like dobber says above) MLF's O was successful in Tenn because after they got a lead, they could just pound Henry and he wouldn't have to adjust. Now, if the Packers O-line comes back form "The Living Dead", they can do the same with AJ and AJD. At least till the playoffs. The adjustments there are the hurdles MLF has yet to prove he can jump. Like in Tenn., he could get away with no adjusting for a while in GB during the season. It all caught up to him and I don't want it to fall on Love.

Do you think your safety from Alabama will be a good edge rusher, Al? Trying to think where Barry might be able to play him out of position.

Recognizing the dead:
I think if they resign any of these players the players they most likely will resign are Tonyan, Crosby and/or Lewis.

Aaron Jones:
Also I think Jones recognizes that this is the perfect place for him. The team, the town, the fans. He won't go to another team and get the love that he has here from the fans and whatnot. Also I think he realizes that the offense is going to be returning to the greatness.

Who's next?
I'm guessing that Clark, and Bakhtiari are 2 more guys that will be redoing their deals to clear space.

From Pete Dougherty (and Ken Ingalls):
The part to remember is that when the media talks about Rodgers cap numbers, is that its only 31.6 million against the cap. All you hear in the media is that its 50 million per year. $20 million difference, is a lot.

Interesting Stuff -

This means nothing of course, but I do find it interesting (and funny) who the oddsmakers think have a worse chance of winning the 2023 NFL MVP than Jordan Love:
The funniest one to me is Cousins.

More Jordan Love:
Dunne definitely seems to have some sort of axe to grind with Rodgers. I am just wondering what Rodgers did to him when he was in GB, because he always seems to be in the middle of a lot of negative articles regarding Rodgers.

Sure he can run the offense. But I don't really see how that will show us who to blame or give credit too. If Love sucks, does that mean we blame LaFleur for it? And if Love is great, does that mean its because of LaFleur?

Now I get the idea that everyone on offense will be on the same page. Or will at least they all will know everything that is put into LaFleurs offense. If that was truly a problem with Rodgers the last few years, then this could be a good thing if Love becomes the starting QB.

Brian Branch -
I don't have a draft crush yet. But I have a draft crush position. And that is TE. I want to see GB come away with an athletic TE that can stretch a field. Someone that when they catch the ball they don't get tackled immediately. And someone that can be a redzone threat. I'm not asking for much.