Only three NFL teams will carry more dead money on the 2023 salary cap than the Green Bay Packers, who are now paying the price for the recent use of void years and feeling the pain of trading away the historic contract of Aaron Rodgers this season.
Overall, the Packers are paying $57.1 million in dead money on the 2023 cap. The base salary cap is $224.8 million this year, so roughly 25 percent of the team’s cap resources are being spent on players who won’t be in Green Bay this season.
It’s a tough spot to be for a franchise in transition after trading away Rodgers.
Here are the nine players costing the Packers dead money on the cap in 2023:
QB Aaron Rodgers
Dead money cost: $40,313,570
An unavoidable reality of the Packers trading away Rodgers after signing him to a record-breaking deal last summer: In 2023, Rodgers’ cap hit for the Packers, a team he won’t play for, will be the biggest in football. Rodgers’ dead money cost to the Packers is higher than Patrick Mahomes’ cap number with the Chiefs in 2023.
S Adrian Amos
Dead money cost: $7,950,000
Amos’ deal with the Packers voided in February. There were rumblings of a potential return for Amos to Green Bay, but the Packers signed free agents Tarvarius Moore and Jonathan Owens and drafted Anthony Johnson Jr., meaning Amos will likely play elsewhere in 2023.
DL Dean Lowry
Dead money cost: $3,007,895
Lowry’s deal voided in February. He signed a new deal with the Minnesota Vikings, so the Packers will be counting him on the cap and facing him twice in 2023.
DL Jarran Reed
Dead money cost: $1,492,000
Reed’s one-year deal voided in February. He signed a deal with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency.
WR Randall Cobb
Dead money cost: $1,391,668
Cobb’s deal voided in February. He re-joined Aaron Rodgers in New York with the Jets.
TE Marcedes Lewis
Dead money cost: $1,050,000
Lewis’ deal voided in February. He remains unsigned but is not expected to return to the Packers, who selected Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft during the first two days of the 2023 draft.
K Mason Crosby
Dead money cost: $1,005,000
Crosby’s deal voided in February. The Packers are keeping the door open to a return, but drafting Anders Carlson makes a return unlikely. Crosby recently sold his Green Bay area home.
TE Robert Tonyan
Dead money cost: $500,000
Tonyan’s deal voided in February. He signed a new deal with the Chicago Bears, so like Dean Lowry, the Packers will be counting Tonyan on the cap and facing him twice in 2023.
WR Amari Rodgers
Dead money cost: $461,782
The Packers will count about a half million on this year’s cap after releasing Rodgers last November. He now plays for the Houston Texans.
