How Much Money Did The Browns Free Up After Restructuring Denzel Ward's Contract?

Originally posted on FanNation Browns Digest
By Spencer German | Last updated 2/28/24

Browns general manager Andrew Berry has plenty of work to do to do this offseason as he looks to build the 2024 roster.

Phase one of his offseason plan began on Wednesday morning, as Berry executed a restructure of Denzel Ward's contract, freeing up more than $11 million in salary cap space.

The restructure featured a conversion of $14.1 million of Ward's base salary number into a signing bonus money and spreading it out over the next five years, according to Spotrac. A voided year was added to the end of the deal as well as the Browns are now slated to be on the hook for $2.8 million accredited to the cap in 2028, even though Ward's will no longer be under contract.

The #Browns converted $14.199M of Denzel Ward's base salary into signing bonus, adding 1 void year, freeing up $11.35M of 2024 cap space.

The move brings Cleveland into the black for the first time this offseason.https://t.co/nyiVLm78vA
— Spotrac (@spotrac) February 28, 2024

Because the restructure turned base salary money into bonus money, Ward gets paid that money immediately. The spreading of the figure over a five year span is just for book keeping purposes.

This article first appeared on FanNation Browns Digest and was syndicated with permission.

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