Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens rework contract to clear cap space

The Baltimore Ravens are slowly checking their way down their to-do list, but their rapidly dwindling cap space is an issue for a team which still has holes to fill. The Ravens have taken care of the Joe Flacco extension, franchised Pro Bowl kicker Justin Tucker, cut Chris Canty and Daryl Smith, resigned Albert McClellan, Shareece Wright and Morgan Cox, and just yesterday signed veteran tight end Ben Watson away from the New Orleans Saints.

Now, with limited cap space and free agency starting this afternoon at 4 pm, the Ravens have made a move to create some more cap space:

Ravens G Marshal Yanda converted $5.3M of his $6.19M base salary of 2016 into a signing bonus, creating $3.975M of cap space, per source.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 9, 2016

The Ravens front office usually tries to avoid pushing money into future years, but with the rapidly rising cap, it is less concerning these days. Converting $5.3 million of the base salary into a bonus spreads it out over the four years of his deal, moving $3.95 million out of 2016 and spreading it out over 2017-2019, adding $1.325 million to each of those seasons.

Here is the reworked contract, c/o spotrac.com, with the restructured money bolded:

YEAR		AGE	BASE SALARY	SIGNING BONUS	WORKOUT BONUS	RESTRUC. BONUS	CAP HIT	DEAD CAP
2015		30	$2,231,764	$3,800,000	-	$950,000	$6,981,764	$20,367,646
2016		31	$885,000	$1,800,000	-	$1,325,220	$4,010,220	$11,585,882
2017		32	$6,000,000	$1,800,000	-	$1,325,220	$9,125,220	$7,575,662
2018		33	$7,000,000	$1,800,000	-	$1,325,220	$10,125,220	$4,450,442
2019		34	$7,000,000	$1,800,000	-	$1,325,222	$10,125,222	$3,125,222
2019		35	UFA
Contract Notes: $16.05M initially guaranteed (signing bonus + 2015 base salary + 2016 base salary) 2016 Restructure: $5.3M/4 years