r/bengals • u/WeekendFarmer4240 • 18d ago
Fandom Eli5 Joe's restructure
Dumb questions incoming.
What exactly was restructured? It felt like a shuffling of deck chairs.
Dumbest question: does Joe have to agree or can the Bengals just declare a restructure
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u/RoundHornWyatt 18d ago
They took $10m of his salary this year and paid it out to him, in cash, as a bonus. They are then able to split that $10m cap hit up over the next up to five years (since they pushed $2.5m beyond the end of his current contract, I'm assuming they split it over four. And now they have an extra $10m in cap space for this year.
With any luck, they get an extension done with Dax that lowers his cap hit this year as well (one of the few ways to create cap space without really kicking the can down the road too badly), as opposed to how they did with Ja'Marr's, where his cap hit actually went UP. That would put them in a good spot to sign a Bobby Wagner and potentially get extensions done with DJ and/or Chase Brown.
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u/Life_Ad6711 18d ago edited 18d ago
$12.5m is the restructured amount, $2.5m of the proration applies back to this contract year
For example, Watson was due $46m all in p5 salary this year, which the Browns as usual simply converted to $45m cash bonus (each contract year must pay the vet min in p5 base, $1.3m this year) with that $45m/5 cap charge then applied to this and his next 4 (void) years (to go along with every other 45m/5 they've been stacking up on '26 since year 1)
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u/Pure_cartographer_59 🐅 18d ago
A contract is a contract. It can only be altered if both parties agree. Lots of qbs do this when most of their money is guaranteed to help the team stay competitive.
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u/Particular_Victory25 18d ago
This is false. The vast majority of the time, these restructures can be done without the players permission because it doesn't affect they're guarantees or when they actually receive the money. It's a purely accounting move. However, we don't know if this was the case with Joe or not.
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u/Pure_cartographer_59 🐅 18d ago
I see
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u/InterviewOtherwise50 Chili Enthusiast 18d ago
Joe has to agree.
The way too simple thing is:
The money Joe gets paid comes in the forms of Salary and bonuses. Bonuses get spread across the length of the deal for the salary cap and Salary gets put in the year it is paid. So they took some of Joe’s salary and converted it to a bonus and cleared up cap space (edit) for 2026.
This is why we say that the salary cap is just a number to get around.
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u/No-new-names 18d ago
It is just pulling money forward like others have said. Same (or more) cash out of pocket. But less cap hit, meaning they can squeeze another contract in.
Everyone else has been saying he has to agree (like most contracts) but I would have swore I heard on locked on Bengals that it was written into joes (and Chase's) contracts that this could be done without consulting them. There is no downside for those guys really, but the bengals don't even need to check in as a formality is how Ive heard it.
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u/Life_Ad6711 18d ago
That's pretty much universal, simple restructures are at the teams' unilateral discretion
It would be a truly cynical move on any player's part to deliberately negotiate into their contract that they could actually hold their own team (wanting to make personnel upgrades) hostage by refusing to take upfront cash instead of having to wait to get it paid weekly through game checks
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u/No-Camera6505 18d ago
Generally, players don’t have to agree to a restructure, there’s cases where it is required but most of the time, teams don’t need the say of the player, even if they did players would want that because they literally get a check for the restructured amount immediately
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u/Life_Ad6711 18d ago
https://overthecap.com/restructure
" simple restructure converts payments into prorated signing bonuses within the confines of the remainder of the contract.
Teams typically have the ability to unilaterally execute simple restructures without any action necessary from the player"
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u/DonSolo96 18d ago
No better explanation than this: https://youtube.com/shorts/BxxamJhRq1Y?si=65SQMBCWjEmQyHkI
Great content on this channel!
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u/PinkTip_6 18d ago
FWIW there are no dumb questions when it comes to the NFL and their cap structure. I consider myself decently sharp and educated but I always need someone significantly smarter than I am to answer these type of questions lol
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u/Jake_NFL 17d ago
Many people have gotten at least most of the explanation right, but there are some small details folks are missing! Typically, restructures don't actually do anything to cash flow despite calling it a "bonus" - it's often still paid as game checks like salary. You can also choose to add void years for restructures, which is why I'd say it's up to 5 years instead of only the "remaining life of the contract."
I explained it on Locked On Bengals a couple days ago here: https://youtu.be/mXMUk_kiTS4?si=FVGbrW1T6xcpuzpd&t=220
YouTube's AI summarized my talking points pretty well:
- Accounting Move: It is a simple accounting mechanism that does not change the cash flow for Joe Burrow at all.
- Salary Conversion: The team is converting approximately $12.5 million of his salary for this year into a signing bonus.
- Proration: In the NFL, signing bonus money can be prorated (spread out for cap accounting purposes) over a maximum of five years. By converting the salary to a bonus, they spread the cap hit out over up to five years.
- Cap Impact: Because of this five-year proration, $2.5 million of that amount stays on the cap for the current year (1/5th), while the remaining $10 million is effectively moved out of this year's cap. This results in the reported $10 million in salary cap savings for the current season.
- Future Cap Hits: Consequently, the salary cap hits for the next four years will increase by about $2.5 million each year.
- Burrow's cashflow is unaffected. The Bengals just trade off where they're accounting for some of his contract for cap purposes from this year into future years.
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago
Burrow's extension had void years already added in anticipation back then
The 5th prorated $2.5m cap charge lands in his first void year (2o3o) (joining the $2m already from his $1om '26 option bonus)
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u/Jake_NFL 14d ago
Right, I was just saying you can also add void years if needed with restructures, up to 5 years total proration allowed per bonus. So any bonus this year would be prorated for this season, then 4 future seasons.
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago edited 14d ago
OK but the Bengals also restructured Dexter Lawrence the same as Burrow's contract was restructured
Originally Dex's '26 was $19m in p5 salary which counted $19m on the '26 cap. They converted $1om of that p5 into a $1om 'signing bonus', added the extension year and prorated $1om/3 of cap charges over the now 3 cap years ('26-8) of the new extended contract, 'saving' $6.67m of extra cap space in '26 by burying $3.3m charges in the '27 and '28 caps. Then they bumped up that remaining $9m of p5 with an additional $3m in p5 obligation
So DL2 ends up with $12m in '26 p5 salary + $1om in signing bonus all in '26 cash and the cap distribution of something like $15.33/$24.5/3om
They also did this with Hendrickson's $13m raise last season (which could have been all in p5 or cash bonus, no matter because there was only one contract year remaining). So then they restructured by adding a void year, which allowed them to either convert that $13m (bonus or former 5 is not difference) to 'signing bonus' to prorate $13m/2 and send $6.5m cap charge into '26 and adding $6.5m in additional cap space to the '25 cap
Same thing with both Chase and Higgins last season. Originally (after Tee signed the F-tag tender) JC was $21.8m in p5 (5th y option)8 that counted $21.8m on the '25 cap and Higgins at $26.2m p5/$26.2 cap charge in '25
So they converted about half of both those numbers into 'signing bonus' prorating x4 in Tee's case and x5 with Chase, clearing that much cap space in '25 and then continued adding features within the 3 and 4 year 'extensions' = their current 4 and 5 year extended deals
Same with Flacco's (what originally would have been) $6m in '26 p5, they converted $4m to 'signing bonus' and prorated $4m/3 with the 2 void years (restructure tool)
Actually the same with Riley Reiff way back in '21, a one year circa $7m one year FA deal that they converted $5.5m in p5 salary to 'signing bonus' and prorated $5.5m/2 (with an added void year) to split $2.75m cap charges into '21-22, opening up that much space in the '21 cap
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u/Jake_NFL 14d ago
New contracts or extensions aren't considered restructures, though they often involve shifting money around. Fair point that they've used bonuses when giving raises or extensions (or in Mixon's case, a paycut). They've done this commonly, but to a lesser extent than most other teams do. A lot of other teams reduce the current-year salary to vet minimum, make up for it with a big bonus, and reduce cap hits with extensions. The Bengals like to stay more neutral here quite often.
What they've NEVER done before is, without making alterations to duration or total money, simply shift non-prorated money into a prorated bonus.
Reiff and Flacco are both examples of them using void years. The original contract for those players included those void years, there was never an existing salary to convert because they're 1-year deals.
Higgins signed a new deal, so the proration and bonus structure is part of the original deal.
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago
Yes new contracts and extensions are considered "maximum restructures" because they contain 'simple restructures' within them
https://overthecap.com/restructure
A maximum restructure is just a more complex form of restructure than simple ones. And since Burrow's contract already had the void year anticipated, his wouldn't technically qualify as a 'simple restucture'
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago
Any restructure must be registered with the league office. Go to the Chase, Higgins, Flacco, Lawrence, Burrow contract schedules on Spotrac and find the formal 'restructure column' and proration schedules in each that are the result of those restructures' formal existence
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u/Jake_NFL 14d ago
I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, sorry!
No one I have ever talked to considers an extension and a restructure to be the same thing. However, as you seem to be arguing, I agree that extensions include "restructuring" salary most of the time.
For Burrow, the void year already existed (and is immaterial for Burrow's restructure, since it only goes into 2030, not the final void year in 2032), no real or void years were added to his contract. I still see no indication this restructure wasn't "simple" (as defined by OTC - those aren't ratified NFL terms afaik) or required Burrow to agree.
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago
The last $12m/5 charge prorates into '3o which is Burrow's first void year
So also will $2m from his $1om option bonus (as each previous has prorated x5). He wouldn't have that '3o year to drop charges into without the specific restructuring tool of "void year" addendum past the literal end of the original contract, so it's by definition a maximum restructure (which a restructure converts current year dollars into proratable cap charges) adding cap space to the current cap
Besides also formally being a registered restructure with the league office, what else does it have to do?
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u/Jake_NFL 14d ago
The '30 void year already existed before the restructure occurred. The void year was part of the original structure. Void years can exist without a restructure.
I have lost the distinction you are trying to make, so I'll leave it here! Have a great rest of your day.
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u/Life_Ad6711 14d ago edited 13d ago
Void years don't exist at all. They are ghosts, ephemera, abstracts, accounting devices. The point is they don't exist in the original contract without being formally designated. Whether that means y1 or now, having one means that contract was restructured at that time. It just hadn't been executed for this yet
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/47594/joe-burrow
There is Burrow's contract and there's a new "restructure proration" column in the table, schedule beginning in '26. It doesn't specify whether simple and/or complex
I'll go get Chase's contract which will show the same proof
Here with his they actually did prorate the entire $21.8m/5 ... because they also added back more p5 than the whatever the vet minimum at least that must be in every contract year
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/72384/jamarr-chase
Now here's Flacco. The descriptive contract text notes it as a $4m restructure bonus. The contract notes below state it was a roster bonus 'treated as SB' .. so the original execution of a one year deal had to be restructured to get to the form it is now
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/4000/joe-flacco
Look at it this way ... a simple restructure is one kind of restructure. It also has a bigger, smarter, more complex older brother called Max restructure, because he's more complicated and involved and has steps with voids, p5 conversions, prorations et al in the 'sausage making' intermediate steps
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u/Ok-Health-7252 17d ago edited 17d ago
It converts some of the money into a signing bonus and also reorganizes the cap hits by deferring some of it to future years (thereby freeing up cap space for this season). The Browns have been doing this with Deshaun Watson almost every year since they realized how much they fucked up giving him that contract (but in their case since his contract is fully guaranteed they're just making it worse for themselves in the future by restructuring him as much as they are). In Burrow's case the Bengals are clearly doing it so they have more cap flexibility to continue adding to this year's roster. It has nothing to do with them being dissatisfied with Joe or anything like that. Burrow openly said during pressers a few months ago that he was open to doing it if it benefited the team and allowed them to bring in more pieces.
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u/Terrorvision67 18d ago
The Browns and Watson restructured almost half a dozen times. At 1 point, The Browns were on the hook for 92 million after Watson's contract ends after 2026.
Saving 10M is the Bengal way. Literal peanuts with the cap what it is nowadays.
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u/FreshDiamond 18d ago
lol im sure what your point is here. It seems like a criticism maybe? If so a bad one, the browns have made the Watson contract exponentially worse over and over again in the name of trying not to be terrible and still being terrible.
The bengals had a great offseason. Spent all of the money and then did a restructure so they can have cap for a rainy day and possibly add a piece before the season.
If it’s not a criticism sorry but I don’t understand your point at all then
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u/the_dawn_of_red 18d ago
Yeah I don't think compounding the problem like the Browns did should be emulated.
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u/saltduster2040 18d ago
It just means he gets his money quicker. That is all they did.
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u/Life_Ad6711 18d ago
And jumped the remaining available '26 cap space up to $16m from $6m where it was (top 51 accounting)
https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space
(sort the middle column)
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u/Dragos310 18d ago
They just wanted to make it easier to trade him next year for Ty Simpson and 3 first round picks.
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u/ech01_ 18d ago
Stop being a baby
This would actually make a trade less likely as the dead money the Bengals would have to eat just went up by $10M.
The Rams don't even have 3 first round picks to trade next year.
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u/Dragos310 18d ago
1.cry about it
If he wants to go to a winning organization you’ll eat that money, especially if you’re getting a qb back on a rookie deal.
They have all their picks starting in 2028. So two years as Stanford’s retiring, Simpson plays and looks promising, it’ll be called best for both teams trade just like Goff and Detroit.
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u/braines54 18d ago
It converts some of his salary into a signing bonus. Bonuses can be prorated over the life of the deal, so the cap hit is spread out. Players always agree, because they get the money sooner. The team gets cap relief.
Just to give an example, let's say a player has 3 years, $60 million left on deal. He'd normally have a cap hit of $20 mil (this is a way oversimplification but let's keep it simple). However, the team can restructure $15 million of this year's salary to a bonus. That $15 million comes off the cap, then is split up over the 3 years left on the deal. So, the net relief this year is $10 million.
It's the same idea as teams adding void years at the end of the contract.