Welcome to the sixth installment of the cap casualty series. This series reviews each division’s most likely cap casualty. We will review the NFC North.
Note: All the information has been derived from Spotrac and Over The Cap.
Chicago Bears cap casualty: RB Travis Homer.
- Contract: 2-$4,000,000 (2025 Free Agent)
- Cap Number: $2,110,294
- Cap Savings: $1,885,294
- Why?
First, Homer doesn’t contribute to the offense. He has 917 yards from scrimmage in his first four seasons with Seattle. He had zero yards from scrimmage with Chicago and only played in six offensive snaps.
Second, Chicago is better off drafting a special teams ace later in the draft instead of paying someone $2 million who doesn’t contribute to offense or defense.
Detroit Lions cap casualty: S Tracy Walker III.
- Contract: 3-$25,000,000 (2025 Free Agent)
- Cap Number: $12,821,668
- Cap Savings (Pre June 1st): $5,500,000
- Cap Savings (Post June 1st): $8,000,000
- Why?
First, Walker struggled this season. Walker had 59 tackles, two pass deflections, and one forced fumble. He allowed 17 receptions on 30 targets for 254 yards, three touchdowns, and a 117.9 passer rating.
Second, Walker lost the starting job and Ifeatu Melifonwu took over as the starting safety.
Third, Walker is not expected to be one of the starting safeties next season. It will likely be between C.J. Gardner-Johnson (if he re-signs), Kerby Joseph, or Ifeatu Melifonwu.
Green Bay Packers cap casualty: LB De’Vondre Campbell.
- Contract: 5-$50,000,000 (2027 Free Agent)
- Cap Number: $14,230,529
- Cap Savings (Pre June 1st): $2,602,529
- Cap Savings (Post June 1st): $10,573,529
- Why?
First, Campbell hasn’t been the same player since 2021. He had 146 tackles, six for a loss, two sacks, two interceptions, five pass deflections, and two forced fumbles in 2021 and was a first-team All-Pro.
He had 96 tackles, six for a loss, two interceptions, one pick-six, and three pass deflections in 2022.
He had 75 tackles, three for a loss, and one pass deflection in 2023. In each of his last two seasons, he struggled in pass coverage.
Second, Campbell has missed ten games in his last two seasons. He missed four games because of a knee injury in 2022. He missed two games because of an ankle and four games because of a neck injury in 2023.
Minnesota Vikings cap casualty: DL Dean Lowry.
- Contract: 2-$8,500,000 (2025 Free Agent)
- Cap Number: $4,482,353
- Cap Savings (Pre June 1st): $2,082,353
- Cap Savings (Post June 1st): $3,882,353
- Why?
First, Lowry missed half of the season because of a torn pectoral.
Second, Lowry is a solid defensive lineman but is not elite. He had 14 tackles, zero for a loss, zero QB hits, and zero sacks in 2023, and has 15.5 sacks in his eight-year NFL career.
Third, Minnesota signed Lowry to fix their defensive line issues but didn’t fix anything.
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