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Bryan Bulaga contract: $3.6 million salary cap hit in 2015 leaves Packers with $21.3M in space

The tackle's deal still gives the Packers quite a bit of financial flexibility as the season goes along.

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday, the Packers and right tackle Bryan Bulaga came to an agreement on a new 5-year contract worth $33.75 million dollars. On Wednesday, the basic structure of that deal was released and reported by ESPN's Rob Demovsky.

Like most of the Packers' contracts, the salary cap hit in the first year is fairly low, then it increases in the following years and stabilizes over the final two years of the deal. Here's the detail from Demovsky on the cap hits:

Combined with an $8 million signing bonus, we can detail what Bulaga's annual cash flow will be. Furthermore, Demovsky has reported that the Packers insured themselves somewhat against potential injuries to Bulaga by locking down a large portion of his annual income into per-game roster bonuses - which he would not receive if he is inactive. That portion starts out at $500,000 in 2015, then increases by $50,000 each year.

Also, the Packers' typical use of a large roster bonus in year two is in effect, as Bulaga will get $2.25 million on the third day of the 2016 league year next March. Here's the full breakdown:

Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Signing Bonus $8M -- -- -- --
Base salary $1.25M $950k $5.4M $5.85M $5.8M
Roster bonus $500k $2.8M $600k $650k $700k
Workout bonus $250k $250k $250k $250k $250k
Prorated Signing bonus cap hit $1.6M $1.6M $1.6M $1.6M $1.6M
Salary Cap hit total $3.6M $5.6M $6.31M $8.35M $8.35M
Cash total $10M $4M $6.31M $6.75M $6.75M

All in all, the cash is spread out pretty evenly, with the exception of the Bulaga getting a big chunk of money up front and a little less in year two. Overall, he'll get $14 million in the first two years of the deal.

As far as the salary cap goes, Bulaga's deal adds the aforementioned $3.6 million on to the cap. Using the trusty salary cap calculator from Overthecap.com, we estimate that the Packers have $21.3 million in cap space left - plenty of room to sign another couple of players and account for the 2015 rookie class. Spotrac estimates that the rookie class will account for about $4.4 million, leaving the Packers with close to $17 million to work with as they work through the rest of the offseason.