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| Packers News
GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers’ first contract extension domino has fallen. Before the end of the season, we might find out who’s next on GM Brian Gutekunst’s priority list.
Gutekunst signed a new contract with left tackle David Bakhtiari on Saturday night, about 12 hours before the kick-off of the Packers’ 24-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Then, after the game, the GM left the door open for another impending free agent to re-sign before the end of the 2020 season, presumably among Aaron Jones, Kevin King and Corey Linsley.
Gutekunst has good reason to try to strike another deal this year. This would allow an additional season to be distributed around the salary cap money and stay below a 2021 cap that will likely drop to $ 175 million from $ 198 million this year.
Surely Bakhtiari’s new deal was structured to count as little as possible against next year’s cap.
“We have players coming up that we would definitely like to re-sign if we can,” Gutekunst said when asked if he could make another deal before the end of the season.
Bakhtiari had clearly been the priority from the start. He’s playing the left tackle, which is a privileged position as he demands to block the league’s top passing throwers on the quarterback’s blind side. The deal suggests that Gutekunst hasn’t seriously considered the possibility of letting Bakhtiari walk next year and replacing him with, for example, second-year all-round pro Elgton Jenkins, who during a left tackle the last week at least showed the potential he could be capable of. to manage the work. If Bakhtiari worked, the money saved could go to other players, inside and outside the organization.
But Bakhtiari is 29 and is in a position where it is not uncommon for players to perform at a high level in their 30s. He is expected to remain one of the league’s top left tackles for at least two years, and it would hardly come as a surprise if that went beyond that.
“He’s an elite player in an elite position,” said Gutekunst, “and we felt it was important to lock him up and I think that helps us move forward with some other things we want to do.
According to an ESPN report, Bakhtiari’s new four-year contract averages $ 23 million per year, and with that year included, the five-year deal is worth $ 20.7 million. Both lead highest-paid offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil of Houston with $ 22 million and $ 19 million in those categories.
“It’s something special that I have really been pursuing since being in the league,” Bakhtiari said. “I have goals, very high, and I always meant to say that I was the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history and today I can say it.
The best guess is that Jones is Gutekunst’s next priority. The running back is arguably the second most important player in the Packers’ offense, behind only Aaron Rodgers, due to the dynamic element he brings and his versatility in the passing game. Against the Jaguars on Sunday, he only ran for 46 yards, but also had five catches for 45 yards and a big pickup blitz on a Rodgers run and a pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling who converted a third down. on a touchdown.
Keeping Linsley in the middle for a salary in the order of $ 9million could be difficult due to the money now being invested in the offensive line with Bakhtiari. But it also depends on what’s going on with Jones and King.
At the start of the season it was more difficult to re-sign Jones or King. Jones is a playmaker, but at a position that carries the greatest risk of injury and rapid decline. King, on the other hand, is a good player at a privileged position (cornerback), and the Packers’ depth behind him is fragile at best. But he had also been frequently injured – he had missed 18 of 48 games in his first three seasons.
Now that King has missed the last five games (quad injury), it would be difficult to justify signing him for a lucrative overtime. This is the advantage for the team who waits until later in the season to make an extension. Gutekunst was able to see if King’s health would hold up for a second year in a row, and it doesn’t.
Now that the highest priority is over before the end of the season, Gutekunst can use the franchise tag on Jones with an estimated salary of $ 10.8 million. That’s part of what Gutekunst meant when he spoke on Sunday about the flexibility Bakhtiari offers in 2020, although the GM would undoubtedly prefer signing Jones to an extension that keeps the maximum number of running backs low in 2021, just like Bakhtiari.
“This year I think it’s going to be a unique free agent class, only because a lot of teams are going to try to go under the number ($ 175 million) no matter what,” Gutekunst said. the players that might become available during the March period may be a little different than it has been in the past, and we want to have some flexibility to do those things if we can. So I think it’s a combination of that. We always thought we would like to deal with ours first, this is very important to us, but we would also like to have some flexibility to see what the market might bring in March.
The Packers played a soccer game on Sunday, and while they didn’t play well against a one-win team, they came out with the win. But the Bakhtiari deal is the biggest news. Will Jones be next?
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