A.J. Hawk Contract Details Released; Packers Gain $2M In Cap Space

We brought you the news on Friday that Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk had restructured his contract and taken a pay cut; now we have details of the restructuring. As reported by Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Hawk has agreed to reduce his 2013 compensation from $5.45 million down to a more team-friendly $3.6 million.

Ultimately, this deal will save the Packers a little less than $2 million against the salary cap for 2013, as his cap number goes from $7.05 million to $5.2 million. In 2014, Hawk's salary drops by about $2.5 million and in 2015 it is reduced by nearly $3 million. All told, the total value of the remaining three years on Hawk's deal is reduced by about $7 million ($17.85 million to $10.6 million).

For people adamantly opposed to Hawk's presence on the roster in and of itself, anything short of cutting him outright won't be enough. But for people who think that he still holds some value as a piece to the defensive puzzle, it probably comes as a welcome sign that Hawk is at least willing to help out the team and acknowledge that he hasn't lived up to the contract that he signed a few years ago.