Details revealed on Cowboys star’s contract restructure

We had news last week that Cowboys offensive tackle Tyron Smith had agreed to restructure his contract with the team, reducing his massive $17.6M cap hit. Thanks to Todd Archer of ESPN, we now have some details on the deal. Smith was headed into the last year of an eight-year agreement, so his restructure essentially functions as a one-year contract.

The newly restructured contract will be a one-year, $6M deal with a potential maximum value of $17M. He received a $3M signing bonus for the changes and has his $3M base salary guaranteed. The deal rapidly escalates from there with several playing-time incentives. Smith will receive an additional $1M bonus for each of these snap share thresholds: 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85% and 90%. If he plays more than 90% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps, he will receive $9M, one for each of the nine levels.

He can also receive playoff incentives, 75% of which are paid off of wins alone. The remaining 25% is paid if he plays more than half of the team’s offensive snaps in those wins. He would receive $500,000 for each playoff win in which he plays the majority of the snaps. With four possible playoff wins, that’s a total of $2M in playoff bonuses. Those plus the $9M from the playing time incentives and the $6M guaranteed at signing push the contract to it’s maximum value of $17M.

Here is some other news on restructures from around the league:

• The Chiefs created some financial breathing room by restructuring star quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘s massive contract, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. The team converted $12M of his 2023 roster bonus into a signing bonus, creating $9.6M in cap space for the season.
• Yates also reports that the Steelers found some cap space by restructuring the contract of a star. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick agreed to a restructured deal that would reward the Steelers with $10.07M of additional cap space in 2023 by converting $13.42M of his 2023 salary into a signing bonus.
• The Saints were able to gain some cap room by restructuring the deal of guard Andrus Peat, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. The team converted $4M of his 2023 salary into a signing bonus, reducing his salary from $11.83M to $7.83M. He then took an additional pay cut to reduce his 2023 base salary to $1.5M as the team voided out his 2024 salary, adding three more voidable years to the deal. The moves resulted in an additional $9.53M in cap space for New Orleans.
• Another NFC South player reportedly took a pay cut, as Panthers tight end Ian Thomas agreed to a restructured deal, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. In his new deal, Thomas will earn $3M in 2023 and $3.65M in 2024. The deal creates an additional $2.88M in cap space.
• Another report from Yates tells us that the Bills have agreed to a renegotiated contract with running back Nyheim Hines. While the details are not yet available, it entails a $1M signing bonus and the opportunity to earn $4.79M in bonuses, clearing out some cap space for Buffalo while providing some incentives for Hines next season.
• Lastly, following the tight end’s trade to the Giants, Darren Waller has agreed to a renegotiated deal with his new team, according to Yates. New York has converted $9.84M of his 2023 base salary into a signing bonus. The move creates $7.87M in additional cap space for the Giants.