Denver Broncos defensive tackle Mike Purcell agreed to a "restructured" contract this past week that essentially ensures he will be with the team this season. The term "restructured" is in quotes because a restructure technically means the team converted his base salary or a roster bonus into a signing bonus.
What Purcell really did was renegotiate his contract.
Usually, a renegotiation involves converting base salary into incentives. But per contract details that Over the Cap reported, Purcell accepted a clear pay cut.
Originally, Purcell was to receive $3.5 million in base salary and per-game roster bonus for 2023. He will instead receive $2.25M, with $1.485M in his base salary and $765K in per-game roster bonus.
The per-game roster bonus is divided among the 17 regular season games, with Purcell getting a portion for each game in which he is active.
However, while other players who take less in base salary get incentives for the year, OTC made no indications that Purcell has incentives for 2023. Thus, Purcell took a clear pay cut to stay with the Broncos.
The move saves the Broncos $1.25M in cash and will help with the salary cap situation. Where the cap ultimately goes, though, depends on final decisions made about the 53-man roster, injured reserve, and the practice squad.
Once the final rosters are set, all players will count toward the cap. Right now, only the top 51 cap hits count toward the cap.
We'll know more about the Broncos' cap situation once their roster is set, but as for Purcell, he's taking a clear pay cut based on the contract details OTC shared. And while the money saved isn't a large amount, every bit helps when it comes to the salary cap.
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