The NFL going into the final year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) will have direct effects on the Green Bay Packers, especially as GM Brian Gutekunst and cap guru Russ Ball attempt to extend the contract of Pro Bowler Kenny Clark and re-sign veterans such as right tackle Bryan Bulaga and kicker Mason Crosby.

The big rule to know: the “30 percent” rule.

If a new CBA isn’t completed by the start of the new league year in mid-March, the Packers and the 31 other teams will have to comply with the tricky rule when negotiating all new contracts.

So, what’s the rule?

Let’s start with the basics. As noted here by ESPN’s Dan Graziano, “Article 13, Section 7 of the CBA mandates that ‘no player contract extending into a season beyond the Final League Year may provide for an annual increase in salary … of more than 30 percent of the salary provided for in the Final League Year, per year, either in the season after the Final League Year or in any subsequent season covered by the Player Contract.'”

Essentially, teams can’t give a player a raise of more than 30 percent of the player’s cap charge (not including prorated signing bonuses) in 2020 during any subsequent year.

Why is it a rule?

According to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap, the “30 percent” rule is in place to “prevent teams from dumping huge amounts of cap into what may one day be uncapped seasons.” The CBA expires after the 2020 season, and there can be no guarantee that the future CBA will include a salary cap. This rule ensures teams can’t simply structure huge chunks of new deals into future years not currently covered by a CBA.

What’s a simple example?

Ken Ingalls, a CPA who follows the salary cap and specifically the Packers’ salary cap, provided Packers Wire with this very simple one: If a player has a $1 million base salary and nothing else tied into his contract for 2020, the most his total salary could rise in future years is $300,000 to stay compliant with the 30 percent rule.

How does it affect the Packers?

The rule will make it trickier for the Packers to use signing bonuses to spread out cap hits and far more difficult to backload contracts, and those are both big hurdles for a team without a significant amount of cap room in 2020. Gutekunst and Ball want to negotiate a massive new deal for Clark, and bringing back Bulaga is likely a priority, but the structure of the deals will have to comply with the 30 percent rule. The Packers prefer to use signing bonuses and lower Year 1 base salaries to even out the cap charges and push some chunks of salary into future years when structuring veteran contracts, but their operating procedure will need to change this offseason unless a new CBA is finalized.

What does it mean for Clark and Bulaga?

If Clark and Bulaga get new deals, expect to see contract structures that deviate from the norm in Green Bay.

Ingalls provided simple projection examples for both Clark and Bulaga that follow the rule:

In the re-worked example, Ingalls has the Packers paying Clark $7,575,000 in 2020 (base salary and various bonuses minus signing bonus proration). So, 30 percent of $7,575,00 is $2,272,500, providing the maximum amount the Packers can increase his salary in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Ingalls complies with the rule each year, adding salary raises of exactly that amount over the final four years.

The same idea applies here with Bulaga. The Packers are paying $6,666,667 to Bulaga in 2020, so his max increase limit is $2,000,000 over the final two years of the three-year deal.

Overall, the rule creates more even structuring over the life of the deals, eliminating the lowered first-year cap hit and allowing only small increases on the cap each year of the respective contracts.

How can the Packers work around it?

From Fitzgerald: “There are creative ways around this by using escalators, incentives, option bonuses, and other mechanisms so it just requires more time for team and agents (or self represented players) to finalize a deal.”

Ingalls’ re-worked version of Bulaga’s projected contract included salary escalators and future void years to bypass some of the rule’s hurdles:

The two void years allow the Packers to spread out the signing bonus over five years, while the salary escalators wouldn’t factor into the 30 percent rule cash payouts, providing extra flexibility in the contract’s structure. The Packers don’t normally use them, but expect to see escalators and likely to be earned incentives tied into new deals.

The rule complicates the Packers’ business this offseason, so there’s a good chance the team wants a new CBA completed before the start of the new league year on March 18. The 30 percent rule no longer applies in 2020 if a new CBA is in place by then. Gutekunst, Ball and the Packers will have to get creative working the salary cap if the new league starts without a new CBA.

Ken Ingalls assisted this breakdown. Follow him on Twitter at @KenIngalls.