With the money saved by the release of Mike Daniels this week, the Green Bay Packers have afforded themselves flexibility for other long-term deals this year and next. Here's a breakdown of the salary cap and what the Packers might do with the financial flexibility granted by the move.
James Reynolds of Cheesehead TV dives deep within the numbers to provide the reasoning behind the release of Daniels, how future contracts for players like Kenny Clark and Blake Martinez might look, and some of the other veterans affected by the move:
The general consensus is that the Packers want to keep Blake Martinez and Kenny Clark, at a minimum... Given that Dean Lowry just signed for $6.77M AAV, extending Martinez at $8.77M AAV does not seem outlandish. Extending Martinez using the details I suggested would leave $2.52M plus perhaps $11M in rollover (for a total of $13.52M) to sign Clark.
Reynolds notes that Grady Jarrett's recent contract, paying him $17 million per year (AAV), will likely be a baseline for a Clark extension which could pay over $18 million per season:
Since the Packers have $13.52M in combined cap space for 2019 and 2020 under this scenario, a $4M increase in Clark's cap charges for 2019 and 2020 would leave $9.52M in cap space, of which $7.91M is derived from releasing Mike Daniels. The Packers would have had just $1.61M in available cap space if the team had not released Daniels.
Besides those two, there are several other players who now could reasonably be re-signed by the Packers with the new cap space:
What about retaining the services of Allison, Crosby, Fackrell, Spriggs, Lewis (or a replacement #2 tight end), and even Bulaga? If any of them blossom, the Packers would need all of the aforementioned $9.52M to sign even a couple of them. Patrick, McCray, Pankey and Tyson also would all be RFAs if they make the team this year, leading to decsions about giving some or all of them tenders.
You can read the full, in-depth analysis of the move and what it means for a good portion of the roster by going to Cheesehead TV or clicking here.
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