The always excellent Pat Yasinskas of ESPN continues breaking the news of contract restructures throughout the NFC South with the report of the Saints’ Curtis Lofton converting his $5 million dollar roster bonus into a signing bonus.
The move should have been expected as the Saints had already included a void year at the end of his contract that he signed last season in preparation for this move which creates an additional $4 million in cap room for the Saints. New Orleans finds themselves in a tough dilemma as I think they feel they are far better than their record from last season which makes them prefer to keep the team intact rather than moving players off of the team.
The danger in moves like these comes in the future in the event that the Saints miscalculated the value of the current members of the team. Lofton’s restructure will add an additional $1 million in cap to the remaining years on his contract and more importantly increase the dead money in his contract. The big difference comes in 2015 with his dead money rising from $2 to $5 million, a number that is high enough to either protect a roster spot or clog up a salary cap if released. Time will tell if the Saints continue to do this with their players or begin a bit of a roster purge to get under the 2013 salary cap.
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