Savvy Packers’ strategy creates a clear offseason advantage to secure a critical offensive weapon for the long run
Christian Watson may get a new deal soon.
The Green Bay Packers are not big fans of void years. They had to use those in the twilight years of Aaron Rodgers’ career to be cap compliant because of how much covid affected the salary cap, but the front office stopped using them as soon as possible right thereafter.
Nevertheless, the Packers went back to using void years for one specific case in 2025: Wide receiver Christian Watson. When Green Bay gave the deep threat a one-year, $11 million extension coming off his ACL injury, the team did add three void years — the contract goes through 2026, with three extra voids until 2029.
That helped lower Watson’s cap hits in 2025 and 2026, but this is not the main reason why the Packers pulled the trigger.
Ability to extend Watson again is the key
When a player signs a contract extension, he can’t sign a new extension for 12 months that increases his salary. However, the Packers put some fake salaries in the void years (2026 and 2027). There’s no actual chance the Packers pay these salaries, because the contract would void before that.
But those inflated numbers allow the Packers — or any potential acquiring team — to extend Christian Watson again at any point during the offseason, even before the 12-month mark that would happen only in September.
When the Packers gave Watson the extension, they structured the deal in a way to have a lot of flexibility. They now can simply keep him for another year, extend him whenever they can reach a deal, or trade him with $4.853 million in dead money — and the new team would have the freedom to sign an immediate extension.
Considering how well Christian Watson played down the stretch returning from injury, the Packers will most likely work to keep him around long term, while Romeo Doubs is set to hit free agency. With Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks also entering a contract year, it’s reasonable to expect that the Packers get something done with Watson sooner rather than later.
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