Steelers Restructure LaMarr Woodley's Contract; Clear $6.5M In 2012 Cap Space

[86WARD]

The Pittsburgh Steelers cleared $6.56 million of salary cap space by renegotiating the contract of outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley, a league source confirmed on Tuesday.

Franchised by the Steelers prior to last year's lockout, Woodley signed a five-year extension worth $52.5 million on August. Woodley received a $13 million signing bonus, $4 million option bonus and a $1.1 million base salary which resulted in a 2011 cap number of $7.7 million. In 2012, Woodley was due a $3.4 million base salary and had a $5.5 million roster bonus due on the 5th day of the 2012 league year for a cap number of $11.5 million.

On Monday, Woodley agreed to a restructure that lowered his base salary to $700,000. The remaining $2.7 million in base salary was combined with his $5.5 million roster bonus and converted into an $8.2 million signing bonus, which will be prorated over the remaining five seasons of Woodley's contract.

Woodley's cap number in 2012 is now $4.94 million.

Woodley's base salaries in 2013-16 were unchanged, but $1.64 million was added to each year's cap number.

Even with the Woodley restructure, the Steelers are still well over a 2012 salary cap that is not expected to increase much, if at all. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, safety Troy Polamalu and linebackers James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons each have cap numbers in excess of $9 million and are potential restructure candidates.

http://www.macsfootballblog.com/2012...-woodleys.html

[ShutDown24]

Good, this helps.

[Galax Steeler]

This is a start who is next.

[86WARD]

Timmons, Ben, Ward, Silverback, Troy...a lot of "banks" to go to there...

[polamalubeast]

good start!

[lilyoder6]

thats not too bad getting ridding of that decent size cap hit.. i know timmons contract is set up the same way.. so hopefully we see almost the same thing with him

[stillers4me]

One of the hosts on Sirius today ( I can't recall who) stated that he had this conversation with someone within the Steelers organization and that the plan was already under way to clear up cap space and that they weren't even worried about it.

so ....let's move on to the fire Haley threads......

[Count Steeler]

Way to go Omar. Sure is nice to have him in our FO.

Thanks Lamar. Now just get out there and hustle.

[Butch]

Great Job Woodley and front office!!!

[The Duke]

I don't know how he does it, but way to go Omar Khan!

that's a big chunk with just one player

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Woodley lacks the necessary hustle to run that paycheck over to his bank. Now that its smaller he might be able to.

[Chidi29]

Only adding 1.6 million to each year on the remaining five years. Not bad at all, good job Mr. Khan.

[steelreserve]

I'm sure glad they took care of that $11M abomination we were facing, although as someone else explained, some of it would have gone away anyway.

[GBMelBlount]

Woodley lacks the necessary hustle to run that paycheck over to his bank. Now that its smaller he might be able to.

[tube517]

Woodley lacks the necessary hustle to run that paycheck over to his bank. Now that its smaller he might be able to.

[tube517]

This is a start who is next.

Harrison's net salary after fines is about $100.00

[SteelGhost]

Kudos to Wood and the FO

[Austin87]

This helps a lot. Good job FO.

[mortgageman]

Who knows, after we restructure some contracts and cut some of the older players that are projected to get cut, we may have some money to play with.

[steelerdude15]

Thank you LaMarr and the FO.

[suitanim]

Good job both sides.

Interesting. The cap this year is 120 million, with a floor of 108 (and we definitely won't be at the floor, but at the cap), and Rooney himself is only worth 150 million total.

[atlsteelers]

I just hope woodley doesn't pull his hammy signing his restrucutred contract

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I just hope woodley doesn't pull his hammy signing his restrucutred contract

Maybe he can get Jason Worilds to go sign it for him.......but Worilds probably cant even get around Omar Khan to get to the pen.

[Steeldude]

Maybe he can get Jason Worilds to go sign it for him

It would get done quicker if he did.

[XxKnightxX]

Maybe he can get Jason Worilds to go sign it for him.......but Worilds probably cant even get around Omar Khan to get to the pen.

And Woodley cant get through the door using that one trick rip move.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

It would get done quicker if he did.

He would be quicker, but never finish and actually get to the pen.

And Woodley cant get through the door using that one trick rip move.

He could push the security guard, Khan and others thru the door and right back to the pen and contract. Bullrush the front office, but probably pull a hammy again.

[katmandu]

And Woodley cant get through the door using that one trick rip move.

You guys a f**king retarded.

9 sacks in 2011 and didn't play in 4 full games and partially in a few others.

http://www.lamarrwoodley56.com/ssp/stats

[fansince'76]

You guys a f**king retarded.

9 sacks in 2011 and didn't play in 4 full games and partially in a few others.

http://www.lamarrwoodley56.com/ssp/stats

It was sarcasm and please watch it with the namecalling.

[Dino 6 Rings]

I trust our front office to always find a way to get this stuff done so I don't usually concern myself with the money aspect of who's going to be on the team. They usually let go a few veterans we hate to see go, but open cap that way, and then restructure contracts, then sign the new guys on the cheap for a couple years til we see how they pan out.

By the time it comes to re-signing guys like Cam or Ziggy...Hampton and other Vets on defense like Harrison or dare I say it, Troy, will most likely be moving on.

[TMC]

The Steelers salary cap demise is always greatly exaggerated. Fans of other teams like to banter about it because they hope that every season the franchise will collapse. To this point, it has not happened.

The Steelers will push some salaries forward this off season and have some work to do in 2013. The salary cap will explode by more than $30M in 2014. That is a given. The new TV deals have been announced and the players get 55% of that revenue. The total TV money per year right now is $3.085 billion. That accounts for $53M of the current salary cap (this does not include Direct TV, only Fox, NBC, CBS, and ESPN). In 2014, the TV money increases to $4.95 billion per season. That is $85M towards each teams salary cap. So, the difference is roughly $32M with Direct TV yet to renew their deal. Direct TV pays $1 billion a season right now and they will have to renew their deal that runs out in 2014, so 2015 should see a bump as well.

The Steelers will bump cash forward until the 2014 season and then get some relief. They could also cut/reduce the salary of some players this season.

Ward has stated he will take a pay cut. If he will take the minimum for a guy of his tenure, which is $925,000, he opens $3.685 million. They already dumped McFadden and Battle to open $3.5M. They could dump Kemo (not a starter anymore) and save roughly $2.4M. Aaron Smith saves $2.1M. Farrior is $2.85M and Foote is $3M...one probably goes. So, Ward, Kemo, Aaron, and the LB of choice could open another $11M or so.

Timmons will likely open around $6M with his restructure. Ben could open $7.5M if they do $10M of his salary. They can restructure Troy to save @$4M. That is $27M more in space if they need it.

And, at this point, no one knows the salary cap number. It has not been released. Casserly reported that teams were told in December it would not climb much. That may be true, but you really need to know the context it was delivered and Casserly is not a front office guy any longer, so he was not in that meeting either.

Andrew Brandt, a former front office guy that works with agents, reported the league fell $300 million short of the salary cap which means they should have fell short of the 2010 floor, meaning a CAM adjustment should take place. If Brandt is right, you could see a $6-$8M bump in the cap as an adjustment.

At this point, there is TOO much unknown to pin down where they are.