Green Bay Just because the Green Bay Packers have more than twice the National Football League average for available cap room doesn't mean they intend to save it to sweeten their bottom line during recessionary times.
Team president Mark Murphy made that emphatic Friday when asked what his plans were for the Packers' $17.902 million surplus beneath the salary cap.
"To build for the future," said Murphy. "The key is identifying the right players and extend contracts and secure the right core players for the future of the organization."[img_r]http://media.jsonline.com/images/199*193/greg91809.jpg[/img_r]
Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with $29.65 million have more space than Green Bay. The average is $8.33 million.
In Tampa, general manager Mark Dominik fielded questions Wednesday from the Tampa Tribune regarding the commitment of the Glazer family that owns the franchise.
The large surplus isn't unusual during Ted Thompson's five-year run as general manager. At the close of the 2008 league year, the Packers were $9.42 million beneath the cap and elected to roll it onto their '09 cap. Only five teams rolled over more.
Arizona and Buffalo decided against carrying any money into 2009 and put it back into general coffers. Cincinnati, in effect, did the same thing.
The Packers reported a net profit of $4.02 million for fiscal 2008, their lowest since 2001. Their average net profit from 2002-'07 was $21.2 million.
Since extending the contract of Greg Jennings on June 24, Thompson and vice president Russ Ball haven't been heard from on the re-signing front. They have 16 players, including nine starters, with contracts due to expire after the season.
I am confident that the Packers will do the right thing, running back Ryan Grant said. I think they have done it in regard to a bunch of guys in this locker room skill position-wise.
Green Bay's adjusted cap this year is $137.4 million.
If the players union and management don't agree to extend the collective bargaining agreement, 2010 would become an uncapped year. In that event, the requirement for unrestricted free agency would jump from four to six years.
Chad Clifton, Aaron Kampman, Ryan Pickett and Brandon Chillar will have had six or more accrued seasons and become unrestricted regardless. However, Nick Collins, Jason Spitz, Atari Bigby, Daryn Colledge, Johnny Jolly, Will Blackmon, John Kuhn and Derrick Martin would become restricted free agents with little chance to attract lucrative contracts.
"Like everybody, we're planning differently," said Murphy. "We're really going to operate as though we're with a budget and under a cap system. We'll continue to be disciplined."
Although final calculations are unavailable, the Packers have about $4.5 million of so-called "dead" money counting against their cap.
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila leads the contingent at $1.571 million, followed by
Brian Brohm ($1.24 million),
Abdul Hodge ($202,000),
Duke Preston ($200,000),
Anthony Smith ($175,000),
Jamon Meredith ($172,500),
Charlie Peprah ($162,943),
Brett Favre ($158,060),
Jamarko Simmons ($103,176) and
Tracy White ($100,000).