Packers among lowest-spending NFL teams for 2024 season

Green bay has a way to create cap space in the near future, but their spending ranks 30th in the league right now.

According to Spotrac, the Green Bay Packers are only set to spend $192 million in cash on their roster going into the 2024 season — excluding rookie contracts — which ranks as the third-lowest amount in the league. The offensive side of the ball, in particular, is very cheap for the Packers at the moment. They are currently set to spend $68.6 million there. For perspective, only one other team in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers, is scheduled to spend less than $90.6 million on their offense in 2024.

Within the division, the Chicago Bears are set to spend $239 million, the Minnesota Vikings are on pace for $210 million and the Detroit Lions have a $195 million roster. The league-leading spender is the Cleveland Browns with $325.1 million, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles ($300.1 million) and San Francisco 49ers ($289.6 million).

This is your yearly reminder that the salary cap is not for the purpose of parity, otherwise, we wouldn’t see cash spending gaps north of $100 million in the league, but rather to keep wages low. For what it’s worth, the two teams who are set to spend less than the Packers this year are the rebuilding Los Angeles Chargers ($190.3 million) and the Dallas Cowboys ($189 million).

One player who isn’t counted against the Packers’ cash spending yet is tackle Andre Dillard, the former first-round pick who is expected to be the team’s swing tackle moving forward. Dillard’s contract details have yet to be released after he signed with the team earlier this week, so there’s no way of knowing how that will impact Green Bay’s spending.

The Packers could quickly ramp up their spending for the 2024 season with internal options, though. Quarterback Jordan Love and defensive tackle Kenny Clark are the big 2025 free agents on the roster. If the team wants to get ahead of their upcoming contract seasons, it would be easy for the squad to give them extensions that would include sizeable signing bonuses that would instantly shoot Green Bay up the cash spending rankings.

Spotract claims that the Packers currently have $21.4 million in cap space for the 2024 season, which doesn’t include the team’s upcoming rookie draft picks and their contracts. On June 1st, former inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell’s contract will no longer carry a $14.2 million cap charge on the team — as Green Bay designated him as a post-June 1 release — which opens up a window for extensions elsewhere on the roster.

Beyond the presumed megadeal for Love, the Packers probably want to adjust Clark’s contract sooner rather than later. At the moment, Clark carries the largest cap charge of any player on Green Bay’s roster with a $27.5 million figure. Only cornerback Jaire Alexander has a cap hit within $13 million of Clark’s number on the 2024 squad. An extension could help bring that 2024 number down, allowing the Packers to have more cap space to navigate the post-draft trade market this season.