It’s salary cap shedding season in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Packers have begun making moves to get under the salary cap for 2022, kicking $23.2million worth of contracts down the road by restructuring the deals of Kenny Clark, Aaron Jones and David Bakhtiari.

These were straightforward and expected lever pulls for Executive Vice President/Director of Football Operations, Russ Ball, with Clark, Jones and Bakhtiari all key players whom the Packers hope to keep around for years to come.

Along with the slew of restructures which will undoubtedly continue to be filter through, Green Bay can of course use contract extensions to help eat into their salary cap deficit, while also securing the futures of vital players.

Preston Smith and Adrian Amos are two natural candidates for such a move.

This time last year, there were serious questions being asked as to whether Preston Smith would be on the Packers roster for the 2021 season, after a lacklustre 2020 campaign from the linebacker.

If you’d have told me then that by the end of the 2021 season, it would be a near certainty Preston would be back again for 2022 and beyond, and Za’Darius Smith would probably be cut, I wouldn’t have believed you.

But here we are.

Smith bounced back in style after a down year in 2020, tallying nine sacks and nine tackles for loss in his third regular season with the Packers.

The Mississippi State alum has now racked up 25 sacks across three regular seasons in Green Bay, and has also offered a consistent and solid presence as a run defender.

As the old saying goes: ‘Your best ability is availability’, and Preston has been as reliable as they come, only missing his first career game through injury this past season after a streak of 102 consecutive NFL appearances.

Of course, there is a huge component of luck involved when it comes to injuries, but numbers like those should make Brian Gutekunst and Ball feel better about handing a multi-year extension to a player who will turn 30 in November.

His strong relationship with Joe Barry is well documented, and Barry certainly seems to have helped Smith rediscover his best form.

Not to mention, the Packers project to be extremely thin at the outside linebacker spot if Za’Darius is indeed let go. Inking Preston to a long-term deal and keeping the veteran across from Rashan Gary should be a priority for Green Bay.

Adrian Amos is very much a similar case.

Like Smith, the safety joined the Packers in March of 2019 and then the following month, Green Bay drafted a player in the first round at his position.

Also like Smith, if not more so, Amos has been a picture of consistency and reliability during his three years with the team.

Amos has started every single game since he arrived in Green Bay, 49 in total.

While he has never had an insanely productive year in terms of box score stats (exactly two interceptions in each regular season), Amos has been the glue which has held the Packers defensive backfield together, especially after Jaire Alexander suffered an injury last season.

Darnell Savage’s career in green and gold has been up and down, and the Packers have not had an enticing option available to them when three safeties are needed on the field at the same time.

With this in mind, the steady presence of Amos has been absolutely crucial.

Age is more of a potential deterrent to a long extension with Amos, as he turns 29 in a little over two months and plays a position where mobility is more important than it is for someone like Preston Smith.

However, this is a risk the Packers ultimately have to take, and no one could fault them for trusting Amos to continue to be the same dependable guy he has been for the last three years.