The Philadelphia Eagles have restructured the contracts of defensive end Derek Barnett and tackle Lane Johnson, according to Tim McManus of ESPN.com.
Barnett and Johnson are two of the highest cap charges on the Eagles roster, via OverTheCap.com. They both rank among the top four highest charges on the team for the upcoming season. Johnson is second at just under $18 million for the year. Barnett is fourth at $10.05 million. Barnett is in the last year of his existing deal with the team while Johnson’s contract carries through the 2025 with three void years on the back end of the deal.
With Barnett being in his last year, one logical way to restructure his contract without an extension would be to add a void year to kick cap commitments out another season.
McManus notes that while the restructures free up cap space for this year, they are believed to be just for general cap management reasons and not to accomplish a current goal such as a player acquisition or new contract for an existing player.
Via the NFLPA’s public salary cap database, the Eagles have the fourth least cap space of any team in the league with just under $4 million in space. Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders are currently working with less space against the cap.