The Indianapolis Colts made a splash move this week by acquiring veteran quarterback Matt Ryan from the Atlanta Falcons.
While their new quarterback is now in the building, the move did force the Colts to take on his contract. It’s not an egregious deal relative to other quarterbacks, but it did set the Colts back a bit when it comes to salary-cap space.
After leading the league in cap space, the Colts are now middle of the pack with roughly $15-16 million left.
With so many needs to address like wide receiver, left tackle and cornerback, the Colts are likely going to need some players to restructure their deals to open up some money.
The most common method of doing this is to convert a player’s base salary for the upcoming season. While the player gets the money upfront, the Colts can spread out the amount over the life of the contract in order to save money against the cap. They do this typically by setting the base salary to the veteran minimum while the remainder of the money gets spread across the rest of the contract (h/t Kyle Rapoza).
There are some candidates that could restructure their deals without even having to add voided years to the contract, which typically leads to dead money down the road.
Here’s a look at five Colts players who could restructure their deals to help free up some salary-cap space:
