Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has agreed restructure his contract in order to help the Steelers get under the salary cap. *Applause* He’s not losing any money so don’t get all warm and fuzzy about it. They’re just moving it around and being creative with the payout.
Heading into this year’s training camp, the Steelers were $10,000,000 over the salary cap. In order to shed payroll the Steelers have already released Max Starks, Flozell Adams and Antwaan Randle – El however there is still work to be done to get under the $120.4 million cap.
Teams can and do move money from a player’s base salary to a signing bonus to avoid the cap hit. Details are not yet available but this is likely the scenario that we’ll see with Ben since we know that the restructure will not affect the length or the money involved in the 8 year, $102 million dollar deal that Ben signed in 2008.
Look for the Steelers to restructure deals for several more players as the team focuses on packaging a long term deal for Troy Polamalu whose existing 4 year deal expires at the end of the season and for linebacker LaMarr Woodley.
