The Green Bay Packers needed to free up some salary cap space and did so by releasing wide receiver Jordy Nelson on Tuesday. This move saved $10.25 million against their cap.
Though, talks of Nelson staying in Green Bay for a cheaper price did take place. According to former Packers receiver James Jones, the deal that was offered to Nelson was “so bad” that he didn’t see the receiver taking it.
Jones elaborated with this.
“I’m not going to say what they offered him, but they really, really low-balled him,” Jones said, per Packers News. “It wasn’t even anything you would consider. Even with all that, he was still considering taking it.”
In doing some digging, the Packers reportedly were going to offer Nelson just a little more than the 10-year veteran minimum. The 10-plus year veteran minimum salary for 2018 is a mere $1,015 million according to Spotrac.
According to an #NFL source, the #Packers did offer Jordy Nelson the opportunity to come back at a significantly lower salary than he was slated to make. Not sure what the number was, but was told it wasn't for a lot more than the 10-year veteran minimum.
— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) March 14, 2018
This is absolute peanuts compared to what Nelson just inked with the Oakland Raiders. Apparently the Raiders have the faith that the Packers completely lost and signed Nelson to a two-year deal worth up to $15 million with $13 million guaranteed.
As it pertains to Jones, he can relate to Nelson’s situation as an aging player putting a big dent into his team’s salary cap.
Nonetheless, feelings and pride get hurt when such situations arise. But, Jones at least believes that Nelson has plenty to offer the Raiders.
“It’s too bad he has to go through this. But I’m happy for him going to Oakland. He’s going to show he can play at a high level.”
If healthy, Nelson should make quite the contribution working with quarterback Derek Carr and Co.