The Packers have yet to announce decisions on key veterans

One day out from the tampering period, Green Bay still doesn’t have their cap situation pinned down.

There are a little under 24 hours before the NFL’s legal tampering period of free agency kicks off, which is when teams and upcoming free agents’ representation can officially talk on the record about potential deals for the first time. Despite all coming down to the wire, the Green Bay Packers have yet to announce how they will get their ducks in order going into the 2024 offseason.

So far, the only notable cap-related moves that the Packers have made this offseason are restructuring defensive end Preston Smith’s contract, which makes his 2024 season more incentives-based, and the team converting defensive end Rashan Gary’s 2024 payment into a signing bonus. Yet to be decided are the fates of running back Aaron Jones, tackle David Bakhtiari and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell.

Those three players, collectively, count a little under $72 million against the Packers’ 2024 cap space. If there was any question about why Packers fans and front office members across the league have these three names highlighted, there’s your answer. All three were even featured on Over the Cap’s top 100 possible cut candidates at the start of the offseason.

So what’s the big deal? The Packers still have a day to get something done, right? Sure, but other teams don’t seem to be taking their sweet time with cap casualties. For example, the Buffalo Bills had five players on OTC’s top 100 list, good for the second-most among any NFL team. Out of those five players, all five of them (WR Deonte Harty, RB Nyheim Hines, OL Mitch Morse, CB Tre’Davious White and S Jordan Poyer) have already been told they’ll be released.

What do we have in Green Bay? A lot of questions. At this point, it’s fair to say that everyone’s fate is up in the air. Will the Packers’ trio agree to return on modified contracts? Will they all be released? The only thing we can say at this point is that those three players are unlikely to remain on the roster under their current contract structures.

So keep an eye on the Packers’ next couple of moves. If they want to be active in the early days of free agency, they’re going to need some more cap space to play around with. Unfortunately for Green Bay’s veterans, if they continue this staring match, they could be released after the majority of the free agency money has been spent this offseason. Controlling when players can go to market is about the last piece of leverage that general manager Brian Gutekunst possesses.