Quote Originally Posted by Dee Dub View Post
This is incorrect.

"The Ravens had reportedly asked Boldin to take a pay cut to help the team with its salary-cap situation. Boldin is scheduled to earn $6 million in the coming season. He carries a $7.531 million salary-cap figure."

[URL]http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9040950/baltimore-ravens-trade-anquan-boldin-san-francisco-49ers-pick-sources[/URL]

Or...

When the Ravens traded Boldin in March, it followed a contract dispute where negotiations went nowhere on the Super Bowl champions' attempt to convince him to take a $2 million pay cut off of his $6 million base salary to lower his $7.531 million salary-cap figure. Following an impressive postseason, Boldin understandably saw no reason why he should accept a dollar less than $6 million.


And the Ravens were dealing with an extremely tight salary-cap situation that prompted them to address Boldin's contract.
Rather than cut him, which they were on the verge of doing days before the trade, the Ravens unloaded him to the 49ers for a sixth-round draft pick over a competing offer of a seventh-round pick from the Minnesota Vikings.


As a result of the trade, the Ravens picked up $6 million in salary-cap space that granted them the financial resources to obtain reinforcements for their defense, including outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil, defensive tackle Chris Canty, free safety Michael Huff, who struggled against Denver, and middle linebacker Daryl Smith.

[URL]http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-looking-back-at-ravens-trade-of-anquan-boldin-as-he-thrives-in-49ers-debut-20130908,0,5220514.story[/URL]
Dub, he had a cap number of $7.5 and a base salary of $6 million. The Ravens ate the prorated bonus (about $1.5 millon) but were off the hook on the cap number.

With the restructures, a big part of Ben's upcoming cap number is the prorated portion of past bonuses. It would hit the Steelers cap this year if they traded him. They would not be responsible for the base salary.

It's the same reason why trading Woodley or Timmons would be nearly impossible from a financial perspective (leaving the football/talent issue aside).