The Pittsburgh Steelers restructured another contract recently and this time it was defensive lineman Cameron Heyward who had his deal reworked to free up salary cap space for the 2018 season.
According to Field Yates of ESPN.com, the Steelers converted $8.085 million of Heyward’s scheduled base salary of $9 million into a signing bonus to create $5.39 million in salary cap space for the 2018 season.
The restructure of Heyward’s contract, as you can see below, increased his cap charges in 2019 and 2020 by $2,695,000. He was previously scheduled to have a salary cap charge of $12,456,250 in 2018.
| YEAR | BASE SALARY | SIGNING BONUS | CAP CHARGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $915,000 | $6,151,250 | $7,066,250 |
| 2019 | $8,750,000 | $6,151,250 | $14,901,250 |
| 2020 | $9,500,000 | $3,751,250 | $13,251,250 |
This makes the second contract restructure the Steelers have done recently as tight end Vance McDonald also had his deal reworked to create salary cap space for the 2018 season. It’s unknown why the Steelers are clearing so much salary cap space prior to the start of the regular season. Perhaps another signing is coming or another contract extension. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, perhaps?
