As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers have now performed a contract restructure after the start of training camp to free up additional salary cap space. The player restructured was defensive end Stephon Tuitt.
According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Steelers converted $5.195 million of Tuitt’s $6 million base salary he was due this year into a signing bonus, creating almost $3.9 million in salary cap space for 2019.
The Steelers restructured Tuitt’s contract last offseason in February as well. This year, however, they chose to wait until after paying him the $3 million roster bonus he was due at the start of the new league year in March.
This latest restructure of Tuitt’s contract results in his cap charges in 2020, 2021 and 2022 all increasing another $1,298,750 each. The Steelers, however, cleared exactly $3,896,250 in 2019 salary cap space by doing this restructure.
The Steelers entered Tuesday with $984,968 in available salary cap space for the 2019 season so this restructure of Tuitt’s contract should now have them $4,881,218 under the salary cap for 2019.
Below is what Tuitt’s contract should look like following the restructure.
| YEAR | BASE SALARY | SIGNING BONUS | ROSTER BONUS | CAP CHARGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $805,000 | $5,940,750 | $3,000,000 | $9,745,750 |
| 2020 | $9,000,000 | $5,940,750 | $0 | $14,940,750 |
| 2021 | $9,000,000 | $5,940,750 | $0 | $14,940,750 |
| 2022 | $9,048,560 | $3,340,750 | $0 | $12,389,310 |
