Green Bay Packers recipient Devin Funchess has agreed to receive a payment cut of about $ 750,000, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The pay cut provides lesser relief from the limit for Packers and a chance to take a risk-free look at a veteran pass catcher who has not played football since week 1 of 2019.
Funchess, who opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns about the coronavirus, was scheduled to have about $ 2.3 million on the cap in 2021.
More than likely, Funchess was facing two options: accepting the salary cut and staying in Green Bay, or refusing and becoming a victim of the limit, sending him headlong into a flooded free agent market during an off-season marked by a ever smaller limit.
In a business where teams earn millions and millions every year, it is difficult to justify the celebration of players losing wages. But in this case, the result was a justifiable means to an end for both the team and the player.
The Packers, who need to cut their wages to reach the limit before the new league year begins, have many difficult decisions to make with the squad veterans. Funchess and the potential savings of the ceiling when cutting it provided an option. In this scenario, the Packers get some limit relief, avoiding $ 1 million in dead money and the small savings of cutting a player.
Funchess, who has played a game for the past two seasons, now has the opportunity to finally show Packers that he can be a contributor. He will have the chance to take the off-season exercise program in Green Bay and compete during the training camp. Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur expressed enthusiasm to see what Funchess could offer the passing game last spring, but the coronavirus has changed those plans. Without it, the Packers won 13 games and produced the number one attack in football.
Sure, Funchess will make less money, but at least he has a team. That would not have been a guarantee if the Packers had released him. He had a cold market at a free agency last spring and is now almost two years away from a game in the regular season.
At the very least, Packers can now see what they have in Funchess before making a decision about their future on the list in 2021. And regardless of the outcome, they can do so with little or no financial risk.
If Funchess is able, the Packers will have another experienced squad receiver to join Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard. Otherwise, the Packers can move on with nothing gained, nothing lost.
It is possible that this movement is the only movement of the Packers in the receiver in freedom of action. Even with Funchess back, the team could – and should – add help on the receiver’s position during the draft.