The cap hit of the contracts shouldn 't have been backloaded. I don´t care about the big contracts other teams hand out, structuring contracts like that will lead to cap issues at some point. Especially after doing the same with Shields and Peppers contracts this offseason.
Taking a look at the Packers will cap situation for 2015 (they are 10th in the league in cap space committed toward 2015) it will be tough to re-sign both Nelson and Cobb as well as Bulaga. So I don´t think the issues I´m talking about won´t occur until 2017. In addition I would like to know how you think the cap situation will significantly improve for the Packers over the next three years.
No, I´m saying they´ll be in cap trouble because of the way the team structured some contracts as well as overpaid for some guys.
Since you can carry over cap room, there really is no disadvantage to backloading contracts. If you give a guy 2 years/$20M for example, you're not at any disadvantage by giving him $5M his first year and $15M rather than the opposite, because you could just have carried that extra $10M over the first year anyway instead of paying it out immediately to the player.
Backloading contracts is very common and it's to the team's advantage. For one, it gives them an out if they don't feel the player is performing up to expectations. It also gives the player motivation to play well enough to earn the high base years at the end of their contracts.
Right now they have about $119M in salary committed toward a cap in 2015 that should be about $140M. That's not including a likely $10M or so in carryover if they don't sign anyone else. That's also assuming they don't cut guys like Peppers ($7M cap savings) or Brad Jones ($3.75M cap savings).
I see no potential issues with signing Cobb, Nelson, and Bulaga if they so desire. Their contracts will be structured similarly like most NFL contracts with the bulk of the base salaries being in the later years.
Structuring contracts isn't even all on Thompson; rest assured that he has guys that manage this for him who are well-versed in our cap situation and the future salary cap projections.