Packers utilize All-Pro veteran to begin creating needed salary cap flexibility ahead of 2026 free agency
Packers restructured Xavier McKinney’s contract.
The Green Bay Packers have officially kicked off the process to be cap compliant ahead of the new league year next week. The team was $5 million over the cap, so it needed some moves ahead of free agency to clear up space — first to be compliant, then more if the front office wants to add external pieces.
The first move was to restructure safety Xavier McKinney’s contract. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Packers converted part of McKinney’s $4.25 million base salary and his roster bonus into a signing bonus to spread the cap hit. This one move is enough for the Packers to be under the cap.
How a restructure works
The base salary and roster bonuses of a player hit all in the current year for salary cap purposes, but signing bonuses are prorated through the life of the contract — up to five years. So when a team converts a base salary to a signing bonus, it’s essentially delaying the cap hit while the player gets the same amount of money.
In McKinney’s case, his base was set to be $4.25 million. It can’t be lower than $1.215 million, which is the minimum salary for a player with six accrued seasons in the NFL. The Packers could convert up to $3.035 million, creating $1.517 million in cap space. The Packers could create up to $2.428 million by adding void years to McKinney’s deal — fake years at the end of the deal to spread the money for longer.
Fowler also reported that the Packers coverted McKinney’s $8.5 million roster bonus into signing bonus, which would clear additional $4.25 million (not considering the addition of void years). By adding three void years, the move lowers McKinney’s cap hit from $19.088 million to $9.86 million, creating $9.22 million in cap space. His 2027 cap hit jumps from $22.5 million to $24.8 milliom.
The decision to restructure Xavier McKinney makes sense because teams prefer to avoid restructuring players who won’t be on the team much longer. The safety is 26, will be 27 by Week 1, and has been an All-Pro in each of his first two seasons on the Packers. He’s under contract through 2027.
General manager Brian Gutekunst and executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball still have work to do to open up more cap room, but the first step has been taken.
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