With the 2021 salary cap above us, we expect a number of veteran players to shorten their contracts to fulfill their current clubs.
Two of those changes took place on Tuesday morning.
NFL Network Insider, Ian Rapoport, reported that Packers’ wide receiver, Devin Funchess, was cut by approximately $ 750,000 to remain in Green Bay, according to an informed source on the situation. Funchess opted out of the 2020 season after signing a one-year contract with the Packers.
Rapoport added that the Mitch Morse account center cut his salary by almost $ 2 million to stay in Buffalo, according to a source. Morse can recover part of the lost wages through incentives.
Funchess signed a $ 2.5 million one-year contract in Green Bay, which could have pushed up to $ 3.75 million with performance incentives. After the departure of the COVID-19 season, his contract reached 2021. Accepting a pay cut keeps him at the club as we move towards the new year of the league.
The wideout was expected to help answer the question: “Who’s going to help alongside Davante Adams?” When he chose to leave, that option was eliminated. The Packers notoriously did not call up a receiver, rolling with Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown alongside Davante Adams during last season’s 13-3 campaign.
A former second-round pick for Carolina in 2015, Funchess never lived up to high expectations as a large-bodied wideout, winning just 2,233 yards in total and 21 TDs in four seasons with the Panthers. Injuries reduced his 2019 Indy campaign to just one game. With the exclusion last year, Funchess has not been on the field since September 18, 2019. The pay cut keeps him in Green Bay, but he has yet to win a role to make the final list.
On the other hand, Morse has started 30 games in the past two seasons in Buffalo, in addition to all four post-season inclinations. With a contract for the next two seasons, with a cap of $ 10.34 million in 2021, the 28-year-old was a candidate for court for the Bills, who are looking to free up space for the limit.
Keeping Morse on the list after the pay cut answers a question of how Bills will rework its offensive line going into the off-season.