The Packers gave Aaron Rodgers a massive new contract last year, and part of the calculation in trading him this year was getting that contract off their salary cap.
Packers General Manager Brian Guteknust acknowledged that the $40.3 million dead cap from trading Rodgers that hits their books for the 2023 season puts them fairly tight against the cap heading into the draft, but Gutekunst says the cap savings in 2024 are going to make the Packers players in free agency next year.
“It will certainly help us next year,” Gutekunst said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “Excited to move past this part and have some assets for next year.”
The flip side of that is, the bill will come due for the Jets. Rodgers’ contract is cheap for the Jets in 2023 but has massive cap hits in the future. Those cap hits can change depending on whether Rodgers restructures or retires, but there’s no world in which Rodgers doesn’t cost a fortune against the Jets’ cap in future seasons. The Jets think he’ll be worth it. The Packers are glad someone else is paying him.
