The Bills have made some minor changes to kicker Dan Carpenter‘s contract, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. The move creates a small amount of cap space and suggests that his place on the regular-season roster is not a lock.
According to Rodak, Carpenter’s pay has been reduced by $250K (from $2.025MM to $1.775MM), and a $250K roster bonus that was due this week is now contingent on him making the Week 1 53-man roster.
If he does make the roster, Carpenter will receive that $250K bonus and if he reaches certain performance incentives, he’ll also earn back his lost $250K in salary. However, if he struggles in camp and loses the starting job, the veteran kicker would lose out on that $500K, plus his remaining $1.775MM base salary, which is non-guaranteed.
The tweaks to Carpenter’s contract only free up another $250K in cap room for the Bills — that extra space likely won’t be put to use anytime soon, but it at least gives the club a little more breathing room. If Buffalo does decide to cut Carpenter before the season begins, it would create another $1.7MM+ in cap savings.
In 2015, Carpenter converted a respectable 23 of 27 field goals (85.2%), but struggled with the longer extra point, missing six of them over the course of the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.