Would it help if we explained it's a 4 year extension, so given he makes a guaranteed 10.8M this year on the 5th year option, by extending him he's essentially making 118M over this year and the next 4? A lot of times teams actually get cap relief by extending players on their 5th year, because that year is fully guaranteed, whereas only a small portion of Gary's extension is. They could pay him the full $34M guarantee next year with a 1M salary. That 34M is spread over the remainder of this year and the 4 following years. It's funny games with the money, but it's normal for NFL contracts.

One other thing: they are definitely in bad cap shape this year with dead money (they have cap charges still for Adrian Amos, Dean Lowry, Jarren Reed, Randall Cobb, and of course Rodgers among others). The Rodgers deal is the one hurting them most this year. Next year they will still have some cap unwinding to do but it won't be as severe. They will be able to more easily nibble along the fringes of FA; this year it was pure dumpster diving. 2025 is when -- assuming they don't do foolish things with any contracts -- they can truly be players in FA again. I'm going to assume that they learned a lesson with the all-in/run-it-back Rodgers years. This year is the loan on that future cap space they signed up for in 2021-22, and now the credit card bill is being paid.

Cap hell is usually short-term, if you aren't the New Orleans Saints. It's not a nothing burger though. There's been plenty of digital ink spilled about how much the Ravens are spending on offense this year vs. Green Bay (something like 5 times). GB has a very cheap offense (esp. without Bakhtiari) and it shows.