Not so long ago when franchise quarterbacks like Troy Aikman and Steve Young retired, their respective teams dropped like anchors because the contracts they had given to the two were adjusted so many times that huge amounts of salary cap money were due immediately upon their retirement.
It took the Cowboys and 49ers years to escape from salary cap hell.
The Packers will not face the same problem. In fact, they're going to have as much or more salary cap room as any team in the NFL once quarterback Brett Favre files his retirement papers.
All that is remaining in pro-rated signing bonus money on Favre's contract is $600,000. That's an amazingly low figure and credit for that has to be given to former negotiator Andrew Brandt, who constructed the deal in 2001.
As soon as Favre officially retires, the Packers will remove Favre's base salary of $12 million from their books. They'll have to subtract the $600,000 in pro-rated signing bonus left, which means they'll gain $11.4 million in salary cap room.
As it stands now, the Packers are about $24 million under the 2008 salary cap of $116 million. Add on the Favre money and they're $35 million under the cap.
One thing they'll have to be watchful of is making sure they reach the minimum amount each team must spend to satisfy the collective bargaining agreement. I have to do some more research to find that amount, but it's something like 65% of the salary cap.
UPDATE: According to my research, a team must spend at least 75% of the annual salary cap.
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