The Kansas City Chiefs restructured the contract of starting RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft in order to help the team free some cap space. On his original deal, the Chiefs had committed nearly $27 million to Duvernay-Tardif over the next three seasons. The restructured deal has substantially lowered that amount and it might have shortened the time he’ll remain with Kansas City.
Here’s a look at the base salary, bonus numbers and cap numbers on Duvernay-Tardif’s restructured contract courtesy of OverTheCap:
| Year | Base Salary | Prorated Bonus | Per game | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2020 | $2,750,000 | $2,000,000 | $750,000 | $5,500,000 | $9,000,000 |
| 2021 | $0 | $2,000,000 | $0 | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| 2022 | $0 | $2,000,000 | $0 | $0 | $2,000,000 |
From the looks of it, the restructured contract will void after the 2020 NFL season, allowing for Duvernay-Tardif to become a free agent. The Chiefs will still have to pay Duvernay-Tardif his prorated bonus money in 2021 if they void those years on the contract. So despite becoming a free agent, he’ll still count for $4 million against the salary cap in Kansas City.
Overall, this seems like a good deal for the Chiefs and a pretty significant restructure for Duvernay-Tardif. Similar to Sammy Watkins, expect a lot of his money to be recouped with bonus goals for the 2020 NFL season. At the end of the day, the Chiefs will get another year out of Duvernay-Tardif and an opportunity to groom a successor. He’ll get a chance to become a free agent at 30 years old and sign a lucrative deal elsewhere in the league if he so chooses.
