Searching for salary-cap space to extend their two best players, the Green Bay Packers haven't approached the agent for linebacker A.J. Hawk about a pay cut but probably will do so before long.
Mike McCartney, the longtime agent for Hawk, said he planned to discuss that looming possibility in a face-to-face meeting with his client this week.
"A.J. and I haven't broached that subject yet," McCartney said at the National Football League scouting combine. "We really haven't. But we will."
Although McCartney did talk with Packers vice president Russ Ball Friday in Indianapolis, the agent said he wasn't informed how the club views Hawk's cap salary of $7.05 million for 2013.
"I know Green Bay values A.J.," said McCartney. "I know they like A.J. a lot . . . and I know they have some issues. So we'll see."
Hawk, a two-down strong inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense, ranks fourth on the team in cap salary for the coming season behind quarterback Aaron Rodgers ($9.75M), tight end Jermichael Finley ($8.75M) and cornerback Tramon Williams ($8.5M).
If the Packers released Hawk, they would gain $5.45M against the '13 cap by eliminating his $4.9M base salary, $300,000 per-game roster bonus and $250,000 workout bonus.
Regardless of what happens, the Packers must count $1.6M against their '13 cap and another $3.2M in the future as the remaining prorated portions of the $8M signing bonus that was part of Hawk's five-year, $33.75M contract signed on the eve of the lockout in March 2011.
Hawk, 29, played 5 to 7 pounds lighter last season, improving his range and coverage. He led the inside linebackers in tackles per snap (one every 5.3), allowed the fewest plays of 20 yards or more (2½) of any linebacker and led the team in tackles (157) and tackles for loss with a career-high 5½.
He also missed nine tackles in 833 snaps after having missed 15 in 910 snaps in 2011.
At the same time, Hawk failed to generate a takeaway for the second straight season and didn't break up a single pass.
"I think that (a pay cut for Hawk) is a possibility because of the money they're paying against the production," an executive in personnel for an AFC team said last week. "Seven million is a big number for a guy that's a two-down player. If I was the Packers, I'd be thinking about renegotiation.
"They're also dealing from a position of strength. They've got guys. Would you rather allocate those dollars to a younger player like Brad Jones? They've got D.J. Smith. It's not a position of need."
If the Packers released Hawk, let Jones walk in unrestricted free agency and continued to have reservations about Desmond Bishop's post-surgical quadriceps tear, they could look for cheaper veteran insurance in someone like Nick Barnett, who was cut by Buffalo Feb. 11.
Barnett, regarded by many scouts as a better player than Hawk during their five seasons playing together in Green Bay, is 31. His minimum salary for 2013 would be $940,000.
"The good news for A.J. Hawk is he'd have a marketplace if he was cut," the scout said. "It's a thin market at linebacker in free agency and it's another thin year in the draft in terms of depth at inside linebacker."
Bishop, 28, went down in the first exhibition game and has been in rehabilitation mode for months. It's a brutal injury, one that can leave players susceptible to a reduced level of performance and the chance of additional tears.
"They haven't given me a reason to worry a lot," coach Mike McCarthy said Saturday, referring to the team's medical staff. "But it was a different injury."
Smith, who first replaced Bishop on the weak inside, blew out his knee in the sixth game.
After Bishop and Smith came Jones, who played 794 of a possible 801 snaps in the final 12 games and did a respectable job.
"In free agency, you try to find guys who are up-and-comers," one NFL executive said. "This year, (Jones) could be one of those guys.
"Maybe on some NFL teams he would be their third-best guy in a 4-3, but maybe for the balance of teams he's that fourth-best guy. Needless to say, there's a marketplace for him. The market will tell him if he's a starter."
Rob Francois, who backed up Hawk but hasn't played from scrimmage since 2011, will be a restricted free agent. The Packers can protect their rights to Francois and all but eliminate any chance he'd receive an offer sheet by tendering him early next month at $1.323M for 2013.
Francois might not receive a tender, thereby becoming a street free agent, because the restricted tenders have skyrocketed under the most recent collective bargaining agreement.
"It's one of the worst things that happened with the new CBA," said Noel LaMontagne, the agent for Francois. "The tenders are so high now."
A likely scenario would be for the Packers to cast Francois adrift without a tender and then attempt to resign him for the third-year veteran minimum salary of $660,000.
"They love him, but they might have to look at another way of keeping him," LaMontagne said. "He's in the mix, but we'll see."
The Packers' extreme depth at inside linebacker also includes Terrell Manning and Jamari Lattimore.
As the Packers ponder cap moves to extend the contracts of Clay Matthews and Rodgers, they will consider the reliability and durability of Hawk, who has started all but two games in his seven-year career.
"The hardest players in the business to value are the guys who do dirty work," said McCartney, a former pro scout for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles. "There is a lot of inherent dirty work that A.J. does.
"You can't measure how he directs everybody. He sends people to the right spots. So I think there's a lot of intangibles there."
JSOnline wrote: