New York Jets Pro Bowl cornerback has suddenly taken on the roll of team leader lately.  Part of that role was restructuring his contract to give his team some cap flexibility.

Manish Mehta of The New York Daily News is reporting that Cromartie’s base salary was tremendously lowered, and in turn he gets a hefty signing bonus.

Jets restructured Antonio Cromartie’s contract, per source. Base salary reduced from $7M to $840K. Also gets around $8.5 SB #nyj

— Manish Mehta(@MMehtaNYDN) March 13, 2013

The restructuring frees up about $4.2 million in cap space for the Jets.  Cromartie who was due a roster bonus of $2.3 million will now get around $8 million in bonus money, but will only play for around $840,000 this season.

That means don’t spend all that money in one place Mr. Cromartie.