Fitz restructures

[Steel Maniac]

it sucks that the Steelers have a QB on his rookie contract but still have to restructure

wow...never thought about it like that. ouch.

[Steel Maniac]

What players wouldn’t take a boat load of cash up front??
so the team can spread the cap hit on the remaining years of the contract.

That's what Mahomes just did yesterday when they restructured his contract.

[hawaiiansteel]

What players wouldn’t take a boat load of cash up front??
so the team can spread the cap hit on the remaining years of the contract.

of course, no downside for the player doing that.

[SS Laser]

it sucks that the Steelers have a QB on his rookie contract but still have to restructure

Really? I think you need to look around at the top teams and see this is just how it works. Unless I am mistaken and the information I hear on podcasts, watch on NFL network and even ESPN are wrong.

Who has them most available cap space each season? Not the best teams. And the very competitive teams just do restructures to free up some cap. But that can come bad to bite them if not very careful IMO. Competitive teams that spend up to the cap do this book keeping all the time. It is being careful with the players that get restructured that dead money does not come back to hurt them IMO.

Rookie QB deal just open up costs there and moves it to another position IMO. With no rookie QB your letting go of players you might want to keep. Even with restructuring you can not fit those contract. Say Brown and juju for the chiefs. I believe they lost another player was it OLB Houston maybe to lazy to look. I see it this way the chiefs have player turn over because of cap issues. Steelers have player turn over because of player performance issues right now.

Also the 2020 season hit hard cap wise with not a “normal” yearly increase in cap money. Also in my opinion Ben’s dead money at the end was a tough pill to swallow.
But mostly managed well IMO. Watt and Minka with the big contracts are nice because there not players there moving on from anytime soon. So less chance of big dead money from a early release. As long as health holds up for the duration of the contract.

Speaking of this I Wonder how bad Woodley’s dead money was back in the day. I remember his contract was big. And he fell off a cliff performance wise. But I was not watching the cap or even understood the cap back then.

[Northern_Blitz]

That last paragraph is news to me. I had no idea of this. THAT is why Khan said confidently they have the means to go get a player they really want. He knows in advance how he can work a contract.

It used to be that they had to negotiate. I think I remember them reports about how guys like Ward were selfless for doing a restructure (which shows that reporters tend to not understand the cap).

But teams realize that only slows them down. And it also gives players leverage.

My understanding (I think from Joel Correy's show) that it's standard language in contracts that teams can do this at their soul discretion now.

[Northern_Blitz]

cap compliance starts when the league officially kicks off their season.

which is friday march 17th


we were over the cap before waiving jackson iii

I think it was a bit of a dick move to not just waive him as early as possible.

It was a surprise to no one that he got cut. But holding on to him means that he couldn't negotiate with other teams (although maybe we could have given him permission to do so?).

IIRC, we did the same to Vince Williams. Keeping him under contract early in UFA and cutting him later (after the bigger deals were already signed). Maybe it wasn't VW though? Someone recently.

[Northern_Blitz]

What players wouldn’t take a boat load of cash up front??
so the team can spread the cap hit on the remaining years of the contract.

I think it used to be that players would ask for more money to do so. Because when you have to give your permission for something, you might as well use the leverage you have. Especially in a job like the NFL where your career is so short.

I think it's not that they didn't want the money up front. It's that they would want the money up front AND more money on the back end.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Really? I think you need to look around at the top teams and see this is just how it works. Unless I am mistaken and the information I hear on podcasts, watch on NFL network and even ESPN are wrong.

Who has them most available cap space each season? Not the best teams. And the very competitive teams just do restructures to free up some cap. But that can come bad to bite them if not very careful IMO. Competitive teams that spend up to the cap do this book keeping all the time. It is being careful with the players that get restructured that dead money does not come back to hurt them IMO.

Rookie QB deal just open up costs there and moves it to another position IMO. With no rookie QB your letting go of players you might want to keep. Even with restructuring you can not fit those contract. Say Brown and juju for the chiefs. I believe they lost another player was it OLB Houston maybe to lazy to look. I see it this way the chiefs have player turn over because of cap issues. Steelers have player turn over because of player performance issues right now.

Also the 2020 season hit hard cap wise with not a “normal” yearly increase in cap money. Also in my opinion Ben’s dead money at the end was a tough pill to swallow.
But mostly managed well IMO. Watt and Minka with the big contracts are nice because there not players there moving on from anytime soon. So less chance of big dead money from a early release. As long as health holds up for the duration of the contract.

Speaking of this I Wonder how bad Woodley’s dead money was back in the day. I remember his contract was big. And he fell off a cliff performance wise. But I was not watching the cap or even understood the cap back then.

The Steelers suffered a major cap hit with AB. The unexpected retirement of Tuitt cost them so coin.

I don't think it was on the level the Packers and possibly the Bucs suffered with the loss of Rodgers and Brady.

Cincy built a team where the cap crunch didn't hit them yet. It's starting with the loss of players and top players they will need to sign to elite market deals.

I think it takes good decision making(free agency and draft decisions), good cap management, and some luck to build a team that can remain consistently competitive. Need "that" QB no matter what happens.