This is exactly what the cook the cap group doesn't understand. As soon as you have to cut a player who you kicked a contract down the road you are screwed.
Just look at the 2024 Packers. If we hadn't dealt ARod to NY and took the cap hit last year, we would be $40,000,000 over the cap. You could cut Bacht, Jones, Smith, Clark and Campbell to get cap relief of $34 M. We would still be $6,000,000 over the cap.
Love walks because we have no cap room to sign him to a contract.
You can't extend players on their first contracts until the final year, so there are no games to be played there with our promising up-and-comers.