The Rams have reworked the contracts for a pair of their players, creating a little more cap flexibility as the 2014 season gets underway. Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap has the details on the team’s new agreement with wide receiver Austin Pettis, while Brian McIntyre tweets the information defensive end Chris Long‘s restructure.
Pettis, 26, has agreed to slice his base salary for 2014 by more than half, from $1.431MM to just $700K. In exchange for taking a pay cut, the former third-round pick received a $250K signing bonus. Because he’s in the final year of his contract, the bonus won’t be prorated at all, but it still results in nearly $500K worth of cap savings for the Rams. And for Pettis, is likely means his roster spot is safe.
Long’s restructure was a simpler move, with the team converting $3MM of his 2014 base salary into a signing bonus. That bonus will be prorated across the final three years of his deal at a rate of $1MM per season, meaning his ’14 cap number has been reduced by $2MM.
Overall, the Rams created about $2.48MM in cap room.