Safety Morgan Burnett signed a relatively modest three-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday. The deal will pay him $14.5 million, an average of $4.8 million per season.
Could the Green Bay Packers have afforded that? Yes, they could have. They reportedly have $20 million in cap space.
However, like we’ve seen with other veteran free agents — notably Casey Hayward and Micah Hyde — in the past, the Packers didn’t bother to make Burnett an offer.
From Bob McGinn: The Packers are $20.33 million under the salary cap, but Green Bay never entered the bidding for Burnett, and he became the first safety in this year’s free agent class to get a multi-year deal.