Ben Roethlisberger restructuring his contract will only make Steelers cap situation worse in future

The Steelers stated they will restructure Ben Roethlisberger’s contract, and it would provide temporary relief, but more damage in the future.

The old NFL salary cap was easily manipulated; fake years and guaranteeing salaries aren’t the magic tricks they used to be.

According to Mike Florio profootballtalk.com, a simple restructuring of the quarterback’s contract would be a band aid, not healing elixir. Florio writes:

‘Roethlisberger’s base salary is $11.6 million.  The Steelers could drop it to the 10-year minimum of $940,000.  The $10.66 million difference would then be converted to a guarantee, with the amount spread out over the final three seasons of his contract.

This would create $7.1 million in cap space.  But it also would increase Roethlisberger’s cap number by $3.55 million in 2014 and 2015.  With last year’s restructuring, that’s another $6.225 million to be carried in each of the final two seasons of Roethlisberger’s deal.

And with a base salary of $12.1 million due in 2014, it converts to a minimum cap number of $18.325 million next year.’