On Thursday night, the Raiders announced that quarterback Carson Palmer had restructured his contract. The team offered no further details.
We ran the numbers based on a maximum reduction of his base salary and conversion of the balance to a guaranteed payment. That’s exactly what happened, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Palmer’s $12.5 million base salary was dropped to the minimum of $825,000 (his 2011 holdout kept him from accruing a 10th year, which kept his minimum salary from moving to $925,000), and Palmer received the difference now, as a guaranteed roster bonus. The amount then gets spread over the balance of the deal.
Bottom line? The move didn’t impact Palmer’s bottom line. He still is getting his money for 2012; he’s merely getting most of it now.
Here’s more on what restructurings really mean, from Friday’s PFT Live.