With the free agency pool mostly picked over after just a few days, the Green Bay Packers have very likely already made their biggest moves of the offseason in terms of adding veterans to the team in the signings of Aaron Banks and Nate Hobbs.
A large section of Packers fans hoped, or even expected a significant addition to the defensive line or pass rush in free agency after the front four struggled to get to the quarterback in their first year in Jeff Hafley’s defense, but perhaps it should not be a surprise the team has stayed the course.
The Packers are already top-10 spenders at the defensive line position, primarily because of Kenny Clark’s contract, which comes with a $20.3 million cap hit in 2025.
Green Bay ranks ninth in the NFL in overall spending at the position at $30.3 million, and this takes up 11.02% of the cap this year (which is $279.2 million, plus Green Bay’s carryover from 2024 of $15 million, minus their dead money of $18 million).
They are also the 8th-highest spenders at edge rusher, with a total of $37.7 million, a number which is mostly made up of Rashan Gary’s $25.7 million cap hit. They are paying Lukas Van Ness a first-round pick salary as well.
Green Bay is using 13.71% of their available cap space on the edge position right now, and that does not even account for the $9.9 million dead cap number they are saddled with from Preston Smith’s contract.
Between the defensive line and edge positions, the Packers are using up a combined 24.73% of their cap space in 2025. Since 2019, they have spent on average 21.27% of their cap space in a given year on their defensive front, and never more than 25.73%.
Based on that, do not hold your breath for Green Bay to be the team to trade for Trey Hendrickson and award him a massive contract.
The Packers called their shot when they fired Jason Rebrovich and hired DeMarcus Covington as defensive line coach. They clearly do not believe they have a talent issue, after making big-time investments in Gary, Van Ness, Clark and Devonte Wyatt.
It seems they are banking on better coaching, as well as the increased comfortability of a second year in the scheme, to inspire increased production from the front four in 2025.
Some other interesting nuggets from how the Packers have configured their positional spending:
Cornerback is currently the position at which Green Bay is ranked highest in terms of league-wide spending, the team allocating $42.4 million to cornerbacks, which ranks third in the NFL and accounts for 15.42% of their cap.
Green Bay was actually third in the NFL before the signing of Nate Hobbs, whose 2025 cap hit is very reasonable at just under $6 million, but they are now spending over $10 million more than the fourth-placed Chicago Bears.
They can shave $6.8 million off their bill by parting ways with Jaire Alexander, which at this point seems like an inevitability, and finances may be the ultimate reason for the divorce, more so than his occasional erratic behavior.
Although injuries played a role, the Packers cannot be happy with the production from that group in 2024 for what they were collectively earning, and Alexander was obviously the biggest part of that disappointment. Green Bay appears to be looking for a reset at cornerback in 2025.
Green Bay is now spending $44.1 million on the offensive line, with Aaron Banks’ relatively low first-year cap hit of $9.03 million lifting Green Bay from 28th in the NFL in spending up to 21st.
That is still in the bottom half of the league, and perhaps it was their low spending compared to their NFL peers that gave the Packers confidence to hand out a lucrative contract to Banks.
A top-of-the-market deal for Zach Tom is surely on the horizon which should catapult the Packers up the rankings, but for now, Banks’ cap hit, along with Elgton Jenkins’ $17.6 million are the only sizeable financial commitments. The offensive line currently accounts for 16.07% of Green Bay’s 2025 salary cap.
Although it does not count towards their positional spending, the biggest cap hit on Green Bay’s books at linebacker in 2025 is the dead cap hit of $8 million associated with De’Vondre Campbell’s contract.
The market-setting contract the Packers gave Xavier McKinney a year ago is holding up well, especially considering the team just agreed to pay Banks, a guard-only who has not had nearly the same level of success in the league, a contract worth $10 million more.
Numbers from Overthecap.com and correct at time of writing.