The Green Bay Packers tend to operate in the margins as well as any team in the NFL, but they took a shot by trading for pass-rusher Micah Parsons last offseason and could take an equally big swing in the other direction come March.
Green Bay is only $2.7 million over the 2026 salary cap as of Saturday, January 31, so the team doesn’t have to shed much of its committed money to get into the black. That said, the Packers have three areas of significant need to address this offseason and minimal draft assets at their disposal.
The offensive line, defensive line and the cornerbacks room are all units of concern for Green Bay regardless of the natural turnover on the way in the coming weeks. As such, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report named running back Josh Jacobs as among the team’s top three cut candidates just two years into his four-year, $48 million contract.
“On one hand, Jacobs has all the counting stats you’d like to see from a lead back. He had 1,211 yards from scrimmage and scored 14 touchdowns,” Ballentine wrote Thursday. “On the other, he averaged 4 yards per carry and Emanuel Wilson’s success rate (58.4 percent) was almost 10 percent higher than Jacobs’. Jacobs has been solid, but he’s set to be the fourth-highest-paid back in 2026.”
Packers Can Save Nearly $25 Million Over Next 2 Years by Releasing Josh Jacobs With Post-June 1 Designation
GettyRunning back Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers.
A former first-round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders (No. 24 overall in the 2019 draft), Jacobs is a three-time Pro Bowler (most recently in 2024) and earned first-team All-Pro honors when he led the league in rushing with 1,653 yards back in 2022.
Jacobs is a seven-year veteran who will play next season at 28 years old. The Packers can save $8.3 million by cutting him early in the offseason, though that number jumps to $11.4 million in cap savings if they designate him a post-June 1 release.
Doing so would cost Green Bay a dead cap hit of $3.125 million in each of the next two campaigns but would also save the team $13.5 million against the cap in 2027, per Over The Cap. The Packers could drum up the same financial benefits by trading Jacobs after June 1 if they can find an interested party.
Packers Could Easily Lose 2 of 5 Starting Offensive Linemen This Offseason
GettyOffensive lineman Elgton Jenkins of the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay finished with a below-average offensive line in 2025, slotting in at No. 19 out of 32 teams based on Pro Football Focus’s (PFF) metrics-based grading system, and they are liable to lose at least two of their five starters in the unit this offseason.
Ballentine, as well as several other NFL analysts, believe that center Elgton Jenkins is the most likely cap casualty on the Packers’ entire roster. Meanwhile, left tackle and former seventh-round pick Rasheed Walker, who is good but not great, is going to hit free agency in March as the best tackle on the market.
As such, Green Bay will probably need to overpay to keep Walker, which may not prove a palatable solution to fixing an already-troubled line.
Beyond that, the Packers’ defensive front struggled outside of Parsons. Fellow edge-rusher Rashan Gary is another strong candidate for release after a subpar season, in which he saw better matchups almost all year due to Parsons’ presence on the opposite side of the field.
The interior of Green Bay’s defensive line didn’t produce a player who finished better than 87th out of 129 interior defenders across the league who saw enough snaps to qualify for a ranking at the position, per PFF.
Packers Projected to Part Ways With $48 Million Star in Major Offseason Move