The Mantra Of The Green Bay Packers

Sep 11, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) watches quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) warm up before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

            Since the dawn of the Brett Favre era, the Green Bay Packers have been one of the most successful franchises in the NFL since the 1990s. We all know they’ve had a ton of help from hall-of-fame quarterbacks. However, there’s more to it that most people don’t realize how the Packers have maintained relevancy for so long.

            It takes an entire organization to maintain the level of success the Packers have had. They have won a lot of football games and developed a ton of talent. But there’s one motto that has kept this team atop for so long and that motto is…move on from players a year early instead of a year too late.

            It’s a simple phrase, but it’s been quite effective. It’s hard for fans to understand this when seeing a guy who’s been productive with the team for so long get cut. The most recent case of this is Aaron Jones. But when you look at the history of players that the Packers have released, the year after in hindsight proved the Packers made the right decision.

            In an article written by JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel back in 2019, he went in-depth on the most shocking cuts by the Packers in the last 25 years. In his list, he included the following names: Mike Daniels, Jordy Nelson, Josh Sitton, Charles Woodson, Nick Barnett, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Santana Dotson, Antonio Freeman, Edgar Bennet, and Lynn Dickey. These are all players who made multiple pro-bowls and played a key role in the Super Bowl runs the Packers had made in the past. Some are even holders of multiple franchise records.

2018 contracts: (cap savings)

Jordy Nelson: 12.5M (10.2M)
Randall Cobb: 12.7M (9.5M)
Clay Matthews: 11.4M (11.4)
Bryan Bulaga: 8.3M (5.1M)

It's going to be an interesting offseason.. Packers can afford to keep all three WRs, but is it worth it?

— Jake (@SeedsofJake) December 21, 2017

 A few more names that come to mind are also James Jones, AJ Hawk, TJ Lang, Chad Clifton, Corey Linsley, Bryan Bulaga, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, and now mostly recently De'Vondre Campbell, David Bakhtiari, and Aaron Jones as mentioned before.

As expected, former All Pro LB De’Vondre Campbell will be released this coming Wednesday — giving the #Packers $10.5 million of salary cap space, per @TomSilverstein pic.twitter.com/KQPIqT7hcO

— CheeseheadTV 🧀 (@cheeseheadtv) March 10, 2024

According to Over The Cap, the Packers free up more than $20.9 million in cap space by releasing David Bakhtiari.

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) March 11, 2024

With the news of Clay Matthews release, #TBT to his pressure rate % by season with the #Packers

Matthews' rate last season with the Rams was 14.3% pic.twitter.com/THWB0WmtiA

— PFF GB Packers (@PFF_Packers) March 19, 2020

The #Packers released LB AJ Hawk, their former first-round pick. It saves them $3.5M this year, which comes off their cap

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 25, 2015

All these players were beloved by fans and when the Packers announced they were going to be cut, everyone had something to say about it. Angry fans go on about how "the Packers don’t know what they are doing", "this is a top guy at his position", and "they won’t get the same production." Blah blah blah, you know the drill.

One important thing that is overlooked that the Packers do best, is how they develop players. Take the Josh Sitton cut for example. He was due for a large cap hit and the Packers were comfortable moving on from him to Lane Taylor who was younger and less expensive on the payroll. Taylor would earn his extension in 2017 after his performance and be a member of the team through the 2020 season.

As for the #Packers, they cut Josh Sitton last year because of faith in Lane Taylor. Get a year of low-cost play, then former UDFA cashes in

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 4, 2017

It’s simple moves like these that although it riles up Packer fans, keep the team moving forward in a positive direction. Nowadays, you just know the Packers will draft a lineman and develop him until it’s his turn to step up when the Packers are ready to move on from an old veteran. (Insert Rasheed Walker)

            Another aspect that keeps the Packers ahead of the curve is how they can negotiate team-friendly deals. Take the Josh Jacobs contract for example. He signed a 4-year deal with the team where he’s guaranteed about $14.8 million in year one. After that, the last 3 years of the contract are team options with no guaranteed money. That is the main takeaway of this deal, after year one the Packers hold all the cards on what they want to do moving forward with Jacobs.

Josh Jacobs contract details: pic.twitter.com/ZssMb9dt06

— Ken Ingalls - Packers Cap 💰 (@KenIngalls) March 12, 2024

            At the end of the day, the NFL is a business, and the Green Bay Packers are arguably the most well-ran branch of that business. Tough decisions have to be made in the best interest of the team because players are constantly coming and going. Although fans may not like it at times, I think that most Packer fans can agree that the Packers have made the right decisions the majority of the time in the front office.

            Real Packer Fans Know🧀