It was reported two days ago that the Green Bay Packers reached extension terms with linebacker Isaiah McDuffie on a two-year contract. McDuffie, considered to be the second outside linebacker in the Packers' 4-3 scheme opposite of Edgerrin Cooper, won't be testing free agency this year.
Beyond knowing that he was inked to a two-year, $8 million deal, though, we didn't know the details of McDuffie's new contract. Thankfully, Spotrac received these terms on Wednesday.
McDuffie signed a $2.55 million signing bonus with his new deal, which will split into $1.275 million prorated cap hits for the 2025 and 2026 Packers. McDuffie also will receive $1.2 million in base salary in 2025 and it will double to $2.4 million in 2026. The linebacker also has a $750,000 roster bonus that will pay out to him if he's on the roster in March of 2026.
With a cap hit of $3.03 million and a dead cap of just $2.55 million, the Packers could actually save money by releasing McDuffie as late as cutdowns, so he will still have to earn his roster spot in 2025. In 2026, McDuffie's cap hit will be $4.98 million and his dead cap will be $1.28 million, which means Green Bay would save over $3.5 million in cap space with a pre-March release of McDuffie next season.
To put this simply: The Packers hardly have their hands tied with the McDuffie contract. Really, this should be looked at as a one-year contract with a team option, which is how it will essentially function with the 2026 roster bonus included in the deal. If Green Bay releases him before vested veterans' contracts guarantee in Week 1, he'll only make his $2.55 million signing bonus. If he's on the roster in Week 1, he'll bring home $4.3 million in 2025. Next offseason, the Packers basically have to decide whether or not he's worth paying $3.7 million by his roster bonus deadline in March.