Detroit Lions Gain Cap Space by Restructuring Contracts

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reported over the weekend that the Detroit Lions were an estimated $11.55 million over the salary cap as of Friday. They have until the start of free agency tomorrow at 4 p.m. to get under the $120.6 million salary cap the league has set for 2012.

There are two ways to do that, cut players or restructure contracts. Some have speculated that Nate Burleson and Corey Williams could be on the chopping block but there is no indication from the front office that they are seriously considering that as a cap control measure. Instead, they’ll look to free up cap space by restructuring some of the larger contracts on the team and that began today with Ndamukong Suh.

Suh’s cap number is $12.8 million. Will drop to about $6.3 million if they convert his $9.25 mil base salary to minimum, pay rest as bonus

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) March 12, 2012

Restructured deals don’t cost the player any of the money due to him but gives cap relief because money paid as a bonus can be spread over the length of the contract while base salary hits the cap on a year-by-year basis.

Nate Burleson and Matthew Stafford will also reportedly restructure their deals to provide additional cap relief:

Nate Burleson has restructured his deal to save about $2.17 million in cap room. The team announced Matthew Stafford has restructured also

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) March 12, 2012

DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman says restructuring Stafford and Burleson’s deals will save the team about $10 million in cap space. Quick math says these three restructed deals put the Lions about $5 million under the salary cap.

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