Latest salary cap development sounds encouraging on surface but creates new complications for the Packers
Cap rise wasn’t as big as previously projected.
The NFL informed teams on Friday that the 2026 salary cap will be $301.2 million. That’s a significant $22 million raise over the 2025 number, so fans may initially think Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst will have extra spending power in the offseason.
Well, not so fast.
Salary cap increase wasn’t that high
Over the Cap, the top site in terms of cap topics, was projecting the salary cap to be $303.5 million — a middle range between the previous projection revealed by the league. Based on that number, the Packers would already be $1.586 million over the cap.
Because the real salary cap number ended up on the lower end of the NFL’s projections, the problems are a little bigger. Now, the Packers are projected to be $3.886 million over the cap to start the new league year on March 11.
Anyway, the Packers will be forced to make some moves to be cap compliant. That can involve releasing players, like center Elgton Jenkins, or simply restructuring contracts to kick the can down the road.
“I feel really good,” Gutekunst said recently when asked about the salary cap situation. “A lot of that will be dependent on the decisions we make with the roster right now and what we do. But I believe we have all the flexibility to do what we need to do.”
Part of that process to be under the cap could include some extensions. For instance, getting a new deal done with defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who’s playing under his fifth-year option, would most likely lower his 2026 cap hit.
“We also have a bunch of young players, really good players, that we would like to keep around here for a while, so we’ll work through that,” Gutekunst added. “I feel good about our flexibility. I think the last few years Russ [Ball] has done such a good job of keeping us at a point where, if opportunities present themselves, we’re never not able to do those things, like Micah [Parsons] last year. So I feel really good about it.”
With some many big contracts in the books, the Packers won’t have the ability to add many expensive external players. But the situation isn’t nearly as extreme as it was in the late years of Aaron Rodgers’ tenure in Green Bay. Gutekunst can add pieces here and there, but the resources are limited, and the Packers will have to work around those limitations.
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