The Green Bay Packers have a much better cap situation this year than it has two, three years ago. By investing in more young players, the front office was able to move on from the Aaron Rodgers era and its implications to create a more favorable financial situation.

But that doesn’t mean everything is clean in their books. In 2025, the Packers are projected to have around $18.3 million in dead money.

The concept of dead money is a value that hits the cap when the player is not on the roster anymore—or a contract is finished, even if the player is later re-sign. That can be money already paid that hasn’t hit the cap yet (previously paid signing bonus) or from guaranteed money yet to be paid (like a future guaranteed base salary). The latter can be moved to a new team if the player is traded, but the former is going to hit the cap no matter what. And this is what happened to the Packers in the current cases.

Hits

The biggest dead money hit for the Packers will be because of Preston Smith ($9.881 million). The edge rusher was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of the trade deadline this past season, which means the deal was executed after June 1st. As a consequence, the signing bonus proration that was set to hit in 2025 and beyond accelerated to the 2025 cap.

The other big case of dead money for the Packers is off-ball linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. He was released back in March, but Green Bay used a post-June 1st designation to lower his 2024 cap hit. So it’s the same effect of Smith’s trade, values from 2025 and beyond wouldn’t accelerate before 2025. Therefore, the Packers will have $7.971 million in dead money this season.

The other hits are all minor, and it will always happen in the league—players like Sean Clifford, Anders Carlson, Michael Pratt, Anthony Johnson Jr., and Samori Toure.

It can get bigger

Based on what the Packers will still do this offseason, the amount can get significantly higher. If they release cornerback Jaire Alexander without a post-June 1st designation, for instance, the dead money of that single move will be $18.117 million.

The Packers were able to navigate last season with only $15 million in dead money, most of which were from Rasul Douglas, Darnell Savage, and Yosh Nijman.

The big dead money season was in 2023, most of it because of Aaron Rodgers. When they traded him to the New York Jets, the Packers had to handle $40.3 million in dead hit, and the team’s full figure reached $65 million.