While short-term changes to the Packers’ roster could be coming in the next two days, a cornerstone of their defense is set to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Edge rusher Rashan Gary announced on Monday that he has signed a four-year, $96MM extension. 
The deal comes as Gary is playing out his fifth-year option to finish off his rookie contract. Taking into account his 2023 salary of $10.89MM, the extension will pay out a total of $107.5MM to the former first-rounder and keep him on the books through 2027. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports the contract includes a signing bonus of $34.64MM.
Gary had a slow start to his career with only seven sacks across his first two seasons in the league. The Michigan alum took on a full-time starting role in 2021, however, and his increased workload produced an uptick in his statistical impact. Gary registered 9.5 sacks that year, leading to the Packers’ decision to exercise his option and expectations of a strong follow-up campaign.
However, an ACL tear limited him the 25-year-old to nine games in 2022. Despite showing continued effectiveness prior to the injury, it threatened to hinder Gary’s market for a new deal pending his recovery process. He rehabbed in time to suit up for Week 1, though, and he has yet to miss a contest in 2023. Gary made it clear last month he was open to negotiating a new long-term pact, and efforts on that front have now cemented his status as a key member of Green Bay’s core moving forward.
The $24MM AAV of the extension places Gary fifth in the NFL amongst edge rushers in that department. Nick Bosa‘s historic 49ers deal has set a new high mark at the position, and today’s agreement makes Gary the 10th pass rusher to eclipse the $20MM-per-year mark. He will now sit atop the pecking order (just ahead of left tackle David Bakhtiari and cornerback Jaire Alexander) as Green Bay’s highest-paid player.
Gary has recorded 4.5 of the Packers’ 19 sacks this season, giving him the team lead. Fellow starter Preston Smith has been floated as a trade candidate in the build-up to tomorrow’s deadline, with Gary’s extension on the horizon and first-round rookie Lukas Van Ness in place for years to come. While Smith’s future in Green Bay is yet to be determined, Gary’s is now taken care of for the foreseeable future.
These ridiculous contracts to Bosa and Gary are making it clear the Eagles won’t be able to keep Haason Reddick after next year (and maybe not J. Sweat, either)…
Nothing against Gary, but it’s kinda pointless for GB to keep inking all these defenders to big money deals when, as a collective unit, they aren’t very good.
The DC stinks, his scheme stinks, and yes, some of the players stink. We’re into the second DECADE of ignoring the fact that run defense is actually important. Whether it’s the scheme or the personnel, something needs to change already.
Yeah. I mean why extend him? You’re not winning with him. He isn’t and can’t make the defense better by himself. Does it make it easier to find a replacement DC? Head coach has been exposed and when he is fired, the new coach will come in and bring new coaches. Should be trading anyone for draft picks and load up.
Gary is young enough that he should still be a difference make when/if the team recovers from this down cycle. I disagree that he should have been traded rather than extended. What needs to happen immediately is a complete overhaul of the coaching staff. Then find out if Love and others are worth keeping around.
Smith (I like him, even though a lot of people don’t), Douglas (who I’m kinda done with), Campbell (who can’t stay healthy) come to mind as guys to send packing.
And ffs can they get somebody in there to teach the players some discipline? They had 7 penalties yesterday before I gave up watching to mow the lawn..it wasn’t even halftime.
Campbell and Douglas won’t be effective, in all likelihood, when this down cycle has a chance to expire. They’re more like placeholders at this point, which was what they were intended originally to be before having career seasons. This isn’t to say that they haven’t been good in Green Bay-both vastly outplayed expectations, becoming valuable starters and not just fillers. However, neither players is young enough for that expectation to last long.
It’s not their fault, either, to be fair to them. The Packers really should have expected those to be short term additions and planned for new additions to grow into those roles accordingly, instead of assuming that those solid performances would check off those needs for the future. You’ll always take a good late stage veteran resurgence, but you should never bank on it being the future. I don’t say anything to contest what you’ve said, by the way. I’d wager that you know more about the Packers’ roster than I do (even if I apparently watched more of the latest game than you lol).
As for the run defense…well, it was strange to see A.J. Hawk in a Bengals uniform.
I should have passed entirely on watching the game at all! It would be better for my health if I did that.
Honestly hated the pick of Gary when they made it, and I think this is the GM making an all or nothing deal on hoping he pans out. When they took him (much like Ness) they had 2 existing edge rushers and used a medium to high pick and justified it with talent and best available.
I didn’t like it either at the time, to be honest. I’m not a Green Bay fan, but Gary seemed like yet another super athletic collegiate star who was too wildly inconsistent and relied entirely on his physical abilities.
I’ve changed my mind a bit today. I was pleasantly surprised to see him develop into a valuable player on the field, even in the leadership aspects of the game. I wouldn’t peg him as a top pass rusher in the league, but he does bring a noticeable difference to an overall average Packers pass rush. I’ve seen him get frustrated with some of the mistakes made by his fellow defenders (which sounds negative, but I consider it positively that he is not lackadaisical when it comes to mistakes, especially when they’re so frequent), and he seems to be more disciplined on the field now than when he began.
I think that Gary’s developed a lot, and I’m not sure how many other long term pieces there are right now on Green Bay’s defense. How much longer will Clark be good? Alexander can be up and down, and Van Ness still has a lot to prove. It’s tough to say who else will still be there-or effective-if the Packers rebuild takes a few years. The real demand for Gary has to be very symbolic for this contract to be good for Green Bay while they struggle. He’s going to have to set the tone on a bad team so new players can develop in a winning environment. If they see that, and see that good performances from homegrown players can be rewarded, Gary would at least be giving value while the team still struggles.
That’s the real question: will Gary still be good when the Packers are again?
The packers could easily be good right now. The GM allowed Adams to dictate his way out of GB. If GB had him I would bet they’d be right behind the lions for the division right now.
The GM is genuinely awful though so it’s no wonder why the team has failed at every turn since 2020’s spectacular bust of a draft.
I can’t say for Adams, but I do agree with your sentiment.
It’s OK though. They’re getting Adams back! If you believe all the stupid fb and other social media outlets proposals the past couple months.
You realize he’s been their best player when healthy, right?
Who are you referring to?