Nearly two weeks after Devonte Wyatt’s contract extension with the Green Bay Packers was first reported, the full details have finally been made public.
Per Over the Cap, Wyatt’s three-year deal with Green Bay has a base value of $59.9 million and includes $22.22 million guaranteed. $20 million of the guarantees is in the form of a signing bonus, which will be pro-rated over four years between 2026 and 2029.
There are roster bonuses which will be paid if Wyatt is on the team on the third day of the new league year in 2027 and 2028, worth $7.3 million and $7 million respectively.
Wyatt is technically playing on his fifth-year option in 2026, with the three-year extension taking effect from next year. The extension has reduced his cap hit in 2026 from the $12.94 million he was originally due to count on his fifth-year option, to $8.44 million, saving $4.5 million in cap space this year.
His cap hits moving forward are slated to be $15.3 million in 2027, $22.8 million in 2028 and $21.3 million in 2029.
Most deals handed out by the Packers are usually in a four-year format, with the practical reality of the contract being more like ‘two years, then we’ll see’, with a signing bonus the only real guaranteed money, and back loaded cap hits to give the team flexibility later in the contract.
Likely due to Wyatt’s unusually advanced age for a second-contract player – he is already 28-years-old – Green Bay instead worked out a three-year extension with him.
Before the full details emerged, that left questions over whether the contract would still be ‘two years, then we’ll see’, or even less of a firm long-term commitment.
The answer is that only one year of the actual extension is almost certain to be played out, with Wyatt needing to keep performing, and crucially for him, stay healthy, to earn the final two years of the deal.
If the Packers were to cut him before the roster bonus kicks in ahead of the 2028 season, they would have paid him $33.74 million for two years of work, or $16.87 million per year. That is a built-in point to get out of the contract easily.
At that crossroads, Green Bay essentially has the option to keep him for 2028 at a cost of $17.8 million. If they do, they then have another decision of whether to stick with Wyatt again ahead of the final year of the deal in 2029, at a cost of $16.3 million.
It is a fairly standard Packers contract and is predictably pretty team-friendly, which makes sense given Wyatt’s sketchy injury history.
When factoring the fifth-year option into the overall extension, it comes out as a four-year, $67.84 million deal, beginning in 2026.
That would mean an average annual value (AAV) of $16.96 million and is less pricey than the original reporting of a three-year, $57 million deal, averaging $19m per year.
The difference between those AAVs drops him from being the 18th highest-paid defensive tackle, above the likes of Cameron Heyward, Vita Vea and Ed Oliver, to 21st, just below those three players and above Tershawn Wharton.
Wyatt’s extension is reasonably priced and a fairly routine bit of business by the Packers.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Devonte Wyatt contract details: Packers get team-friendly deal
Reporting by Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire | USA TODAY Network
