Two Packers offensive linemen receive great news from the NFL, showcasing an impressive feat by the front office
The NFL announced on Wednesday players who will receive the performance-based pay in 2025. These are players who outperformed their deals last season, so they get extra money from the league, and it doesn't count against the teams' salary cap.Two Green Bay Packers offensive linemen are on the top 25, and they curiously play the […]
The NFL announced on Wednesday players who will receive the performance-based pay in 2025. These are players who outperformed their deals last season, so they get extra money from the league, and it doesn't count against the teams' salary cap.
Two Green Bay Packers offensive linemen are on the top 25, and they curiously play the same position. They are tackles Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom.
Walker will make an extra $925,613 (10th in the league), while Tom will get $849,141 more than what was projected.
Both had also reached the proven performance escalators on their rookie contracts, which will elevate their real salaries in 2025—these differences, yes, are paid by the Packers and count towards the salary cap.
Performance-based pay
The mechanism was created in the 2002 CBA in a pact between the NFL and NFLPA. It's a fund to supplement salaries of players who earn lower salaries based on playing time. All 32 teams receive an equal share, and players who were on the field the most snaps with the lowest salaries are the ones who benefit from it the most. That explains why Rasheed Walker, a former seventh-round pick who plays almost every snap for Green Bay, is so high on the list.
Draft and development
Free agency is expensive, and it's truly hard in general to find good offensive linemen. What general manager Brian Gutekunst did in 2022 was truly impressive. Zach Tom was a fourth-round pick, and Rasheed Walker was selected in the seventh. Additionally, the Packers also got right guard Sean Rhyan in the third.
In 2024, the Packers were the only team in the entire league with three players from the same draft class starting as offensive linemen. Two of them, Walker and Tom, are certainly collecting the benefits of outperforming their original deals—which is also great for the team.
Future is a question mark for one of them
The overall expectation is that the Packers will be able to reach an extension with Zach Tom sooner or later. With Rasheed Walker, the situation is a little bit more uncertain, especially after the team signed guard Aaron Banks in free agency. Now, it opens the door for the Packers to maybe move Jordan Morgan to left tackle, allowing Walker to hit free agency next offseason.
Originally slated to make slightly more than $1 million in base salary in 2025, both tackles got an upgrade via the proven performance escalator. Tom will make $3.389 million, and Walker is slated to get $3.283 million.
Packers’ moves in first wave of free agency put extra pressure on two former first-round picks to step up
Jordan Morgan and Lukas Van Ness will have to play more and better
