In an effort to free up some money under the cap before Tuesday’s deadline, the Lions restructured the contracts of starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and wide receiver Nate Burleson.
According to DetroitLions.com, Stafford restructured his $11.5 million dollar base salary to minimum freeing up more than $7 million dollars in cap space.
Wide receiver Nate Burleson was originally set to make $4 million dollars this upcoming season. However that was restructured so he will earn $825,000 dollars in base salary with the remaining amount of the contract being spread out over the next three seasons in the form of a signing bonus’.
Finally, Ndamukong Suh’s agent, Roosevelt Barnes, told Fox Sports Detroit that his client has also agreed to restructure his deal. Exact numbers for Suh haven’t been mentioned however Suh was slated to make $9.25 million in 2012. It’s believed that the Lions could get in upwards of $6.5 million freed up from Suh’s restructured deal.
Prior to today the Lions were around $11 million dollars over the cap. This freed up money enables the team to continue to negotiate a long-term deal with wide-out Calvin Johnson and pursue free agents such as Stephen Tulloch and Eric Wright.
Ref: WXYZ, Mlive.com, Twitter, Freep.com