It seems like Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office has done this restructuring and rejiggering of contracts for several years now. They backload these deals with voidable years because they “need cash now,” like those J.G. Wentworth commercials. Call 877-CASH NOW if you have a structured settlement but want your money right away.
In this case, Lane Johnson and Derek Barnett are the guys playing along:
The Eagles have restructured the contracts of Derek Barnett and Lane Johnson, according to a source familiar with their thinking.
The moves free up cap $ this year, which can pushed into ‘22. Believed to be part of overall cap management, not for one specific purpose/player.
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) August 2, 2021
Here’s what Field Yates says about the move:
The Eagles converted $8.49M of Lane Johnson’s base salary and $9.061M of Derek Barnett’s base salary into signing bonuses, while adding 4 voidable years onto Barnett’s deal, per source. These moves create $14.041M in cap space for Philly in 2021.
As you know, the Birds don’t have a lot of cap space. They aren’t in “cap hell,” which is a trendy phrase that Twitter likes to toss around, but they’re eating $49 million in dead cap this year, the bulk of which comes from Carson Wentz’s contract. They’re also taking on about $10 million in dead cap on DeSean Jaccson and Alshon Jeffery, in addition to $3.6 million from Malik Jackson. That number goes down from $49 million this year to $14 million next year, with Jackson and Jeffery still eating up some cap. Huge improvement, though. Mucho breathing room.
