Thursday Cheese Curds: Packers continue youth movement into 2024

With the releases of three veterans, the Packers now have just one player older than 28 on the roster.

At the start of the week, the Green Bay Packers had four players aged 29 or older on their roster. As of Thursday morning, that number is down to just one.

Preston Smith, while not the longest-tenured current Packer, is the oldest player on the roster at 31 years old. But gone are three of the other four players referenced above, as the Packers moved on from David Bakhtiari, De’Vondre Campbell, and Aaron Jones in recent days. Each of those three players will leave some significant dead money on the Packers’ salary cap, but at the same time the releases free up cap room to accommodate the signings of players like Xavier McKinney, Josh Jacobs, and Keisean Nixon — all three of whom are currently 26 years old or younger.

The youth of this team certainly helps keep the team’s overall salary cap commitments down. In fact, once those new additions (or in Nixon’s case, re-signing) are made official, the team will have only 10 players on contracts other than rookie or league-minimum deals.

Some of those veterans still carry big cap hits of their own; Kenny Clark’s cap hit is over $27 million for 2024 — and he could well be a candidate for an extension. Jaire Alexander will cost nearly $24 million. And Jordan Love will likely get a new deal this summer. But even with those players’ big deals and plenty of dead money on the books, the Packers are maintaining competitiveness in 2024 thanks to so many major contributors still being on rookie deals.

That should keep moving through this year’s draft as well. Brian Gutekunst has 11 picks to play with this April, and even if he trades a few of those to move up, the team will have plenty more players coming in on cheap deals. If they can put together a draft class that has an impact that is remotely close to last year’s, this team will continue to be set up for success through the next several years.

Packers’ Salary Cap Plagued by Dead Money – Sports Illustrated
The Packers will have more than $50 million in dead money on the salary cap when the season rolls around, but thankfully that is something they can absorb this season due to the youth of the roster.

Where do Packers stand in free agency at start of 2024 league year? | Packers Wire
Here’s a solid recap of what the Packers have done so far over the first few days of free agency.

Jeff Hafley excited to get to work with energetic defensive staff | Packers.com
Xavier McKinney’s addition should be a big one to help get Hafley some appropriate personnel for his scheme, and the new coordinator looks pumped up and excited to get started this season.

NFL free-agency takeaways: Calvin Ridley throws a curve, Chargers make big decisions – The Athletic ($)
NFL writer Mike Sando on how the Jets might handle Aaron Rodgers running for VP: “I’m not sure the Jets can hold down any forts even if Rodgers is playing.”

Rod Gardner is NFL player on Amazing Race season 36 with wife | Packersnews.com
Gardner spent a brief period with the Packers in 2005, and now the 46-year-old and his wife are participating on the travel reality show.

Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts accepts cat pictures to pay late fees – ABC7
Good news for book hoarders who also have cats!