The Green Bay Packers are still carrying center Jeff Saturday on their roster, which is significant for a couple reasons.
First, Saturday said he was retiring after the Pro Bowl. Normally, a guy would just file his retirement papers with the league and that would be that. However, Saturday’s agent, Ralph Cindrich, said Saturday plans to sign the symbolic one-day contract and retire as a member of the Indianapolis Colts. That makes plenty of sense, since Saturday spent 13 seasons with the team.
However, for that to happen, the Packers need to release Saturday first.
#JeffSaturday retirement. Confirmed. Wants to retire as a #Colt. What is required: #Packers to release him. Colts resign for a day.
— Ralph Cindrich (@RalphCindrich) February 15, 2013
That brings us to the second and much more significant part.
Since Saturday is still on the roster, that means the second year of the two-year deal he signed last offseason is still counting against the Packers cap. The total of the second year is $3.75 million, which is broken down as a $1.35 million base and $2.4 million in miscellaneous bonuses.
The bonuses are not related to a signing bonus, so the Packers will actually gain all of that money back when they release Saturday.
In the big picture, that means the Packers will gain more cap room.
They have a little over $17 million in space after releasing Charles Woodson. When Saturday is officially gone, they’ll have over $20 million.
Releasing Saturday and Tramon Williams would put the Packers at over 30 million under the cap, which if memory serves me, would put them in the top 5 of available cap space.
They aren’t going to release Tramon, so not worth talking about.
And it would put them in the top 5 for cap space, but none of those other teams have Clay Matthews, Aaron Rodgers and BJ Raji waiting for extensions.
In other words, the Pack’s cap space is largely already spent.
Release Saturday now. Then, Hawk after June 1st to gain another $5 million +. Tramon Williams isn’t going anywhere.
Releasing Hawk will not give them 5 mil. They will gain very little by releasing him. Expect him on the roster next year.