The Buccaneers have restructured receiver Mike Evans’ contract to create salary cap space for the 2019 season, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Basically, a contract restructuring is an accounting trick. Tampa Bay frees up $3.2 million by converting $4 million of Evans’ $17 million base salary into a signing bonus. The Bucs can pay the bonus immediately, but not all of it will count against the cap. NFL rules state that teams have to spread signing bonus money over the life of a contract, which for Evans is five more seasons. In others words, only $800,000 of the $4 million signing bonus counts toward this season’s cap.