Reporting is starting to come out about the contract details of the Green Bay Packers’ recent moves. We’ve already seen the Sean Rhyan (functions as a one-year deal with two years of team options) and Nick Niemann (prove it to make the roster) contracts, but we got our first look at the structures of the Chris Brooks, Benjamin St-Juste and Kristian Welch deals on Tuesday.
Chris Brooks, RB
According to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson, the Brooks deal includes a 650k signing bonus (spread over the cap over two years) with
salaries of $1.25 million (2026) and $1.41 million (2027). This means that Brooks isn’t guaranteed to make the roster in 2026 (though it’s likely). It was initially reported as a $4.85 million, two-year contract, but there’s $1.54 million missing here (money outside of the bonus and his salaries). $100,000 will be paid out (per year) for his workout bonus (him showing up to “voluntary” practices in the offseason) and another $170,000 can be earned ($10,000 per game) each season if he’s active on game days. That gets us to $0.54 million of the missing $1.54 million. I’m guessing that missing $1 million is some sort of incentive based on on-field performance (not availability). TBD on that, though.
Benjamin St-Juste, CB
Wilson also got the St-Juste deal. Of the $10 million St-Juste signed for, only his $3 million signing bonus is guaranteed. This deal is actually pretty simple. It will function as a one-year contract with an option year for the team in 2027.
St-Juste is getting a $1.3 million salary in 2026 and a $2.8 million salary in 2027. He also has a roster bonus due on the third day of the new league year in 2027 that is worth $1.5 million, so if the Packers want to move on next year, it’ll happen early in the free agency cycle. He’ll have just a $1.5 million dead cap in 2027, and his cash due will be worth of $5 million for the year, so they’ll be able to create cap space ($5 million) if they move on. It’s backloaded from a cap perspective, but flat from a cash perspective. I’d guess that if St-Juste isn’t at least the CB3 on the depth chart in 2026, it’ll probably just be a one-year deal. The second season of the deal gives the Packers a cost-controlled option to retain him if he, for some reason, breaks into the starting lineup and they’re okay with his cap hit going up 86 percent.
Kristian Welch, LB
Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel got the Welch deal. Welch is going to get hit with the veteran salary benefit, meaning that he’ll be making the minimum plus $140,000, with the $140,000 not counting against the Packers’ cap. They found a way to put money in his pocket without it showing up on their books. They could have technically gone up to $187,500 here, according to the CBA. Like Brooks (and Niemann), Welch is a player whom Green Bay can choose to make the final roster, but his contract doesn’t demand that he has a spot on the team in 2026.
