NFL Glossary: How do NFL teams restructure contracts?

In order to free up space under the wage cap, teams throughout the league can renegotiate the contracts of players from great defensive tacklers to famous quarterbacks.

By converting a base pay or roster bonus into a signing bonus, a team can effect a contract restructure. With this mechanism, a franchise can spread the impact out over five years.

The best short-term solution for whenever a team runs out of cap space and needs some extra room is to renegotiate its players' long-term deals. While some teams have the ability to sell or release players, contract restructures enable a team to maintain its roster while also providing immediate cap relief.

Although signing bonuses in NFL agreements are guaranteed, basic pay is normally not. For cap reasons, the bonuses may be distributed over the course of the contract, up to a maximum of five years.

As an illustration, if a player signed a four-year deal with a $16 million signing bonus, the sum would be divided equally across the four years of the agreement, resulting in a $4 million cap each year. A franchise can avoid having to pay most of the player's annual base wage if they release him after the first season of the contract. They would still be responsible for the remaining bonus money and the cap total associated with that amount.

The reality is that these reworked deals do considerably less to fix issues, rather they seem to merely postpone them, even while they temporarily give teams more cap flexibility.

The most straightforward short-term solution for a team is typically a modified contract that sees base compensation transformed into bonus money. Although the amount will eventually be paid, renegotiating a deal enables a team to delay a more important choice for at least another year.

What are the two contract restructuring systems in the NFL

#1 - Simple restructure

Within the constraints of the remaining terms of the contract, a simple restructure turns payouts into prorated signing bonuses. Simple restructures can often be carried out by teams without the player's direct involvement.

#2 - Maximum restructure

A maximum restructure either extends the deal or adds vacant seasons to an agreement. These years do not stretch the contract but are solely used as stand-ins for the proration, increasing the cap space via modification into prorated signing bonuses. Maximum restructures are often viewed as a contract rework that requires the player's express approval to be executed.