When the Packers gave left tackle David Bakhtiari a record-setting extension last week, GM Brian Gutekunst said that he would like to extend another of his pending free agents, as Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal writes. But there are a handful of key players on expiring contracts, and though the structure of Bakhtiari’s deal could help facilitate another sizable extension, it’s unclear if Green Bay will be able to pull that off.
After all, the salary cap is expected to drop considerably in 2021, and players like RB Aaron Jones, RB Jamaal Williams, CB Kevin King, and C Corey Linsley will all be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The Packers and Jones have been discussing a new deal for some time, but nothing has come together just yet, and there have been no reports concerning extensions for Williams, King, or Linsley.
Given King’s injury history and Williams’ status as the Packers’ RB2, it would seem like Linsley would be either the team’s top priority for an extension, or else the second priority behind Jones. He is arguably the best center in football, and while he has yet to make a Pro Bowl in his career, that could certainly change this year.
The 29-year-old has a strong case to top the center market, which would mean a contract paying him around $13MM per season. Thus far, however, it doesn’t sound like any progress has been made on that front.
“I’ve had a wonderful experience, and if it continues, that’s awesome,” Linsley said. “If it doesn’t, that’s the nature of the game. There’s 31 other teams out there, so hopefully it’ll happen here or happen somewhere else. I don’t know. How I’m looking at it is, I’m just playing ball.”
Linsley and his family make their full-time home in Green Bay, and his wife, Anna, has already begun to wonder about what a move to another city will look like, as Wilde writes. While it might be too early to order a moving van, it is certainly possible that Linsley will be suiting up for a different club in 2021.
As a Vikings fan bahktiari is sooooo annoying… gets away with false starts and holdings all the time lol
How bout them Cowboys??
How bout them Packers?? LOL
Those that read my posts here, you’ll know my belief that the cap is fictitious. Never once in 30+ years has a team ever been ‘over the cap’. Pretty remarkable feat there.
But seeing stands go from 60K+ to 6,000 or less people, we all know player hair cuts are coming this offseason.
I’m reading all of the big contracts handed out to NBA players the past day or so. Who is going to pay them? Just TV revenue? Pro sports in general, are going to feel financial pressure for the 1st time in my 47 years.
The billionaire owners must be using their own money, since none of them have ever made anything from the teams they own…
You really believe losing 8 home games plus revenue from the away games isn’t going to affect payroll? And no, the owners do not use their own money for payroll. We call them franchises, to them its their business. Jerry Jones does not write checks for his players, the Dallas Cowboys do.
Have you ever heard of any of the Walton’s paying Walmart employees?
First of all, it was a joke. Sorry you didn’t catch that. Second, since YOU mentioned the NBA contracts being given out, I can say my comment was actually in reference to MLB owners, who im fairly certain can and do use plenty of their own money to sign players.
Third, while its true no NFL team has been “over the cap” going into a fiscal year, it has happened quite frequently that teams needed to shed payroll prior to the start of a fiscal year to get under the threshold, so there’s that.
Oh, and I highly doubt that any member of the Walton family, or the Walmart conglomerate, has ever gotten into a bidding war for an employee. So to answer your question, no, I’ve never heard of any of the Waltons paying Walmart employees. (I don’t think they’d make that information public if they did either though, so who knows. Maybe they do…)