Tom’s four-year extension will play out like a two-year deal with two team options for Green Bay.
Over the Cap has received the full contract details of right tackle Zach Tom’s new contract extension with the Green Bay Packers. As reported, it is indeed a four-year extension worth a total of $88 million in new money.
As expected, the only fully guaranteed money comes in the form of a signing bonus, which is worth $30.2 million. The other $58 million is essentially pay-as-you-go from the Packers’ perspective, but some of that money is more likely to be earned by Tom than otherwise.
As you can see above, these are Tom’s projected cap hits by year, before any adjustments are made to his deal — be it salary conversions to a signing bonus, roster bonus conversions to a signing bonus or renegotiated cash flows:
- 2025: $7.4 million
- 2026: $12.1 million
- 2027: $18 million
- 2028: $24 million
- 2029: $30 million
Here’s how it breaks down from a cash flow perspective, if Tom hits both his per-game and workout bonuses:
- 2025: $31.5 million
- 2026: $6.1 million
- 2027: $12 million
- 2028: $18 million
- 2029: $24 million
Like most of the Packers’ non-quarterback extensions, this is a four-year deal with a significant amount of money up front in the form of a large signing bonus, which gives Green Bay considerable flexibility on the back end, in terms of whether or not they want to see out the contract. This is how they do business, rather than the three-year model that most of the league operates in.
From 2025 to 2027, Tom will take home a projected $49.5 million, an average per year of $16.5 million. After those first two years of the extension are played out, though, the structure of the deal essentially plays out like the Packers have team options.
In 2028, Tom is projected to make $18 million in cash, but the Packers have the option to save nearly $12 million in cap space by either releasing or trading Tom pre-June 1st. In 2029, those numbers are both $24 million.
Ultimately, this contract plays out like a two-year extension, to keep Tom locked under contract for three more years, at an average rate of $16.5 million per year over the three seasons. After that, the team basically has options to keep him at $18 million in 2028 and $24 million in 2029, by which point the team also has the positioning to save eight figures in cap space by moving on from him.
Considering that Bernhard Reimann, another non-Pro Bowl or All-Pro tackle, just signed a four-year deal worth $100 million ($25 million per year) with a reported $60 million in guarantees (nearly twice the amount that Tom signed up for and over $10 million more than Tom will make over the next three years), this is absolutely a “win” of a deal from the Packers’ perspective.
For added reference, Dan Moore, a free agent signing this last offseason who led the NFL in sacks allowed in 2024, will make $50 million over the first two years of his new contract with the Tennessee Titans.
Per cap analyst Ken Ingalls, following the Tom signing, the team should have about $2 million in available cap space to play around with next year after rollover money is accounted for, the expected cap increase is taken into account and other factors. Green Bay, on paper, is on pace for a tight cap squeeze, even before potential re-signings of expiring contracts are taken into account, but there are plenty of ways for the team to manipulate its cap accounting, too. Cap casualties for players the team no longer believes are worth their cost or salary/roster bonus conversions to signing bonuses, which will spread their cap dollars over future seasons, are expected to start back up next year after years of the team practicing conservative cap practices to get out of cap debt.