Packers restructure Rasul Douglas’ contract to free up $3.3M in salary cap space

Douglas returns for 2023 with an adjusted contract and some void years.

The Green Bay Packers have finally kicked the last bit of salary cap money down the road with one last contract restructure. On Friday morning, ESPN’s Field Yates reported that the team has restructured the contract of cornerback Rasul Douglas, a move that clears an approximate $3.3 million in salary cap money and shifts it into future years.

Douglas is entering the second year of a three-year, $21 million contract that he signed last offseason following his breakout performance over the second half of the 2021 season. The contract was set to pay him a $3.25 million base salary and a $2 million roster bonus at the end of the day on Friday, making today the deadline to perform that restructure.

The move appears to convert Douglas’ entire roster bonus and as much base salary as possible ($2.17 million) into a signing bonus. It also adds three void years after the 2024 season to spread that $4.17 million out over five years for salary cap purposes. That comes out to a charge of $834,000 per year, and with four years deferring to the future, the cap savings for 2023 are $3.336 million.

As a result, Douglas’ cap hit for 2023 will drop from $7,766,666 to $4,430,666, while his cap charge for 2024 increases by that $834,000 to a total of about $11.6 million. If he plays out his deal and his contract voids in 2025, the team will then absorb $2.502 million in dead money on that season’s cap.

For 2023, the additional $3.3 million in cap space will more than cover the cap charge for the new deal that cornerback and return man Keisean Nixon signed earlier this week. Cap analyst Ken Ingalls reported on Thursday night that Nixon’s deal will cost the Packers just $2.52 million on the cap for the upcoming season thanks to incentives and four void years, which will spread his $1.85 million signing bonus out significantly.

Douglas has been one of the biggest surprises in the NFL over the past two seasons following his arrival in Green Bay. Signed off the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad midway through the 2021 campaign, Douglas has recorded nine interceptions in 29 games with the Packers, recording 13 pass breakups in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He started 12 of the team’s 17 games in 2022, starting out as the team’s primary slot corner before moving back to his familiar boundary cornerback position after an injury to starter Eric Stokes knocked him out for the remainder of the season.