It was a set roster.
It was four days till the regular season began.
And these were the opinions of an AFC executive I spoke with on September 6th, who was well-versed on the Green Bay Packers.
The executive commented of Green Bay’s squad, which had the youngest players in the league, “They’ve gone extremely young, obviously.” And many of those young men will develop into decent players.
“But they’ve still got a lot of veterans at the top of that roster that you can win games with. If most of those guys have good years, they’ll contend in that division (the NFC North).”
Now, 2 ½ months since that discussion,it’s clear the Packers won’t contend for a divisional title. Green Bay is 3-6, has lost five of its last six games, and currently hold the No. 6 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Quarterback Jordan Love — and the young players surrounding him — have had their ups and downs. But the No. 1 reason the Packers have struggled is they’ve received so little from the veterans they needed to excel.
The 12 highest paid Packers in 2023 are left tackle David Bakhtiari ($21.3 million), defensive end Kenny Clark ($12.9M), outside linebacker Rashan Gary ($11.8M), cornerback Jaire Alexander ($10.755M), running back Aaron Jones ($8.2M), left guard Elgton Jenkins ($6.97M), outside linebacker Preston Smith ($6.4M), inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell ($5.53M), Love ($4.41M), offensive tackle Yosh Nijman ($4.3M), cornerback Eric Stokes ($3.25M) and outside linebacker Lucas Van Ness ($3.16M).
Those 12 players gobble up approximately $99 million and 43.62% of the salary cap. And not a single one of them are having a Pro Bowl-level season. In fact, many are having their poorest NFL season.
Throw in the fact former quarterback Aaron Rodgers counts $40.3 million against the cap (17.8%) and ex-safety Adrian Amos counts $7.950 million (3.51%). That means Green Bay’s cap hit for those 14 players is roughly $147 million of the allotted $226.8 million — a whopping 64.91%.
On Thursday, I called that same executive and his thoughts weren’t surprising.
“The top part of that roster is killing them,” he said. “Those are the guys that had to carry you early in the year as the young guys grew up.
“Kind of like I said a few months ago, a lot of those young guys are going to be fine. There’s talent there. But the older guys just haven’t delivered.”
The Packers decided to take their medicine on Rodgers, Amos and other castaways all in one fell swoop. So their dead cap charges for 2023 are a whopping $64.2 million.
The Packers knew they’d get nothing out of those players, though. It’s the other high-priced veterans — a group we’ll call the ‘Dirty Dozen’ — that have let them down.
Let’s examine what Green Bay has received from the 12 highest paid players on its roster. At the end, each player is graded from 1-10 in terms of the “bang for the buck” they’ve given the team.
1. David Bakhtiari, LT
Cap charge: $21,289,035
Analysis: Green Bay took an enormous risk to bring back someone who played just 12 of the last 38 games due to a devastating knee injury. That move, of course, blew up in the Packers’ collective face.
Bakhtiari played the season-opener at Chicago, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his troubled knee, then was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list.
Bakhtiari hopes to play again in 2024, but his time in Green Bay appears to be over.
“I feel like a sports car that can’t get out of second gear,” Bakhtiari said.
In 2023, he couldn’t get out of first.
2. Kenny Clar, DE
Cap charge: $12,905,000
Analysis: Clark remains a serviceable starter, but he’s not close to the game wrecker he was in past seasons. Clark ranks third on the team in sacks (4.0) and quarterback hits (8.0), but has just three tackles for loss, 25 combined tackles and has been part of just one turnover play.
Clark is a sensational leader for a young defensive line group and will be a Packer Hall of Famer one day. But Green Bay would undoubtedly like a little bit more from him.
