The Green Bay Packers entered a new era in 2023 when they transitioned from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love at quarterback, spending the next few years getting younger and looking to establish a new core for a championship run.
Now, the next chapter has arrived, as spearheaded by general manager Brian Gutekunst, Green Bay has committed to a whole host of players who will carry the team’s Super Bowl hopes for the foreseeable future.
This offseason has been the flash point for the majority of these decisions, as the Packers signed Sean Rhyan, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Isaiah McDuffie and Devonte Wyatt to extensions, signed Javon Hargrave and Benjamin St-Juste in free agency, and traded for Zaire Franklin.
Assuming Tucker Kraft’s extension gets done sooner rather than later, Green Bay will have pledged a lot of cap space to a large group of players.
In fact, once Kraft gets a new deal, they will have 19 non-special teams players who are on at least their second contract and carry a cap hit of $2.5 million or more.
That is more than the Packers have had in any season since Matt LaFleur was hired in 2019, and by some distance.
In 2022 and 2019 Green Bay was paying 12 veteran players, as they tried to squeeze the last juice out of the Aaron Rodgers era and get back to the Super Bowl. Prior to this year, that was the highest number.
When they moved on from Rodgers the following year, they began to clean house and get younger across the roster, and the number of vets they were paying notable salaries dropped to eight, followed by only seven in 2024.
The core of the roster in Jordan Love’s tenure was assembled through the draft between 2022 and 2024, and now a lot of those players have come of age and are looking to receive, or already have received their second contracts.
Others, like Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Quay Walker, Rasheed Walker and Kingsley Enagbare, have found pastures new after their rookie deals expired.
Gutekunst had to make decisions this offseason on who he felt were the pillars the team should be built around. Between re-signings, free agent signings and players traded for, Green Bay has committed just shy of $300 million since the end of last season, and they still have Kraft’s deal to do.
The sheer volume of players on the roster they are now invested in signifies they are not the young up-and-comers anymore. The Packers are in their next phase, and it is now on the players they have shown faith in to push the team to new heights in the coming seasons.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers enter new chapter after committing to second-contract players
Reporting by Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire | USA TODAY Network
