Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, linebacker Lawrence Timmons and wide receiver Antonio Brown have all restructured their contracts in order to give the Steelers more cap space and it looks like they’ll have a little more company on that front soon.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team “will” restructure the contract of linebacker LaMarr Woodley as well. Woodley has long been talked about as a candidate for such a move thanks to his $9 million base salary for the 2013 season. With three more years on his deal, the team can convert some portion of that salary to a signing bonus in order to lessen the cap hit in the near term.
It will raise the cap hit in the later years of the deal, however, and that’s the downside of the restructuring spree that’s been going on in Pittsburgh. Pushing all of this money into later years guarantees that the team will have to do this kind of cleaning up again in the future.
They’ve already started moving down that path so there’s not much reason to stop now, but it is something to keep in mind whenever a team decides to kick the financial can down the road.