When quarterback Brett Favre turns in his retirement papers, the Green Bay Packers will strike $11.4 million from payroll and quite possibly lead the National Football League in available salary cap room.
Favre has not yet filed his official papers, however, and it's unclear when he will. His agent, James "Bus" Cook, said he had no idea where Favre was in the process of filing the paperwork that would finalize his retirement.
General manager Ted Thompson, however, said he had no concerns about the fact the papers had not been filed and was letting Favre handle that at his own discretion.
"We don't need the cap room," Thompson said of the delay.
Indeed, they don't.
As of last weekend, they were $24.3 million below the $116 million salary cap, just behind Tampa Bay ($32.3 million), Kansas City ($29 million) and Buffalo ($24.7 million). On Monday, free-agent linebacker Brandon Chillar's two-year, $6.3 million hit the books, costing the Packers about $3.15 million and leaving them about $21.15 million beneath the cap.
When they add the total from Favre's retirement, they'll be $32.55 million below the cap, which would be just ahead of Tampa Bay were everything to stay the same. The Packers have nothing else warming on the free-agent burner and their next big payout will probably go to one of their own for a contract extension, so any changes between now and the draft will probably be minor.
With three picks in the top 60 in the draft, the Packers will also have to allocate a good deal of money to rookies, but it won't make a big dent in their budget.
Favre hasn't filed retirement paperwork
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