Packers Broke the Bank for These 12 Players; Six of Them Are Broken

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The hits just keep coming for the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers are one of the most injured teams in the NFL, with many of the ailments being significant injuries to key players.

Including defensive tackle Javon Hargrave’s torn Achilles in the waning moments of Sunday’s game against the Bears, six of Green Bay’s 12 players with average salaries of at least $10 million are out of the lineup. They total $128 million in average annual salary.

In terms of cap dollars, they are consuming $72.08 million. That’s almost 24 percent of the cap not contributing to the lineup.

Here they are, with the dollar figures being their average annual salaries.

Edge Micah Parsons: $46.5 million

The Packers hoped Micah Parsons would be back for this week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. Parsons no doubt wanted to be back to face his former team, as well. Instead, he hasn’t even started practicing.

His brother said the “best bet” would be Parsons returning in Week 10 against the Vikings or Week 12 against the Rams, the games bridging this year’s bye.

“First of all, you’ve got to get him back on the practice field,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “There’s a lot of testing that goes on before he gets medically cleared to get out there, and then I’m sure we’re going to want to give him some time to get back to playing football. As you see with most guys that are coming off a major injury, it takes a little bit of time.”

RT Zach Bako-Bewele: $22.0 million

When healthy, Bako-Bewele is one of the best right tackles in the NFL. The Packers gave him a huge contract extension at the start of training camp in 2023, only for him to completely tear the patellar ligament that he partially tore last year. He’ll wind up playing 676 of about 2,100 snaps in 2025 and 2026.

Fortunately for the Packers, Anthony Belton is playing better. He has allowed zero pressures the last two games, according to PFF.

“He’s done a nice job,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Tuesday. “He’s firmed the pocket up. I think that was the biggest thing the first couple weeks was just the push that we were feeling in the pocket.

“I think him and Laken (Tomlinson at left guard) have done a really nice job just firming that up, allowing Jordan (Love) to see and not have that pocket pushed in his face. There were a couple reps in the game that, obviously, we got to clean up with him but, for the most part, he’s out there competing and doing a nice job.”

LG Aaron Banks: $19.25 million

We might be able to erase Aaron Banks from this ledger at some point. Banks was inactive in Week 1 with a knee injury and started Week 2 but suffered a toe injury that held him out of the second half and then each of the last three games.

Banks has played 22 snaps this season. He returned to practice on Friday, though, so a decision will have to be made at some point whether Banks or Laken Tomlinson will start at left guard.

“One thing we have to keep in mind too is where do we fit those guys into the best five,” Adam Stenavich said. “We’ll evaluate that but, yeah, that’s going to be an interesting thing as we go through the next few weeks, for sure.”

WR Jayden Reed: $16.75 million

After an injury-plagued 2025 season, the Packers gave Jayden Reed a three-year, $50.25 million contract extension in April. However, he wound up suffering a season-neck injury that required surgery. It ended his season after 41 snaps.

The Packers believed Skyy Moore could pick up the slack but he suffered an ankle injury early against Chicago and could miss a little time.

“Losing Skyy for however long he’s going to be out, that’s going to be interesting,” Adam Stenavich said. “We’ll see where Savion (Williams) is at this week. But J-Mike (J. Michael Sturdivant) is definitely going to have a bigger role, for sure.”

RB Josh Jacobs: $12.0 million

Josh Jacobs’ NFL future remains in limbo. Green Bay’s running game without him is averaging 60.4 yards per game – almost 20 yards worse than any other team – and ranks 31st with 3.05 yards per carry.

DT Javon Hargrave: $11.5 million

Javon Hargrave was averaging 30 snaps per game as a valuable role player on the defensive line. Even while missing the Week 2 game, he led Green Bay’s defensive tackles in pressures and pass-rush win rate.

The Packers are down to five defensive tackles: Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks are the starters, Jonathan Ford is the nose tackle, Chris McClellan is a rookie and Anthony Campbell is a first-year player who made his NFL debut in Week 2 but suffered an ankle injury and hasn’t played since.

“We see who we have, we see who they have and see if we can put the pieces together,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said on Tuesday. “But whoever’s up on gameday, I truly believe this, they have to play in some role for your team or why are you up on gameday? So, if they’re up, they’re going to be up and playing.”

Others

The Packers have 28 players with average salaries of more than $2.0 million per season. They’re not big-ticket items, but cornerback Benjamin St-Juste ($4.9 million), receiver Skyy Moore ($2.5 million), running back Chris Brooks ($2.43 million), linebacker Edgerrin Cooper ($2.15 million) and tight end Luke Musgrave ($2.12 million) add another $14.1 million of average salary to the ledger.

Combined with the six expensive players listed above, those 11 players on the sideline have average salaries totaling $142.1 million. That’s 37.4 percent of the team total.

Not counting Hargrave, who remains on the 53-man roster, the Packers have almost $99 million of average salary on injury lists (injured reserve, physically unable to perform or non-football injury), according to OverTheCap.com. That’s $11 million more than the next team, Carolina, which the Packers will host in a few weeks. Their next two opponents are Dallas and Detroit, which have a combined $66.4 million on the shelf.

A formula at OverTheCap.com shows the Packers have the lowest contract utilization in the NFL, a byproduct of so many high-priced players being out of action.

“It truly is a next-man-up mentality and guys got to get ready to play,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “That’s just the nature of the beast and I think that’s one of the luxuries of having a 70-man roster. And we tell our players this all the time: Whether you’re on the active or you’re on the P-squad, you got to get ready to play.”

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