After news broke that Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard had agreed to a restructured deal, many couldn’t help but notice the description in the report made it look like a pay cut, not a restructure.
As it turns out, it’s as complicated as it seemed when the deal was first reported.
According to Over the Cap, via John Glennon of Nashville Post, Byard’s 2023 cap number has been reduced from $19.6 million to $11.3 million, which bumps Tennessee’s cap space from $8.3 million to $16.7 million.
That significant increase in cap space will certainly be enough to fit in wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and also quite possibly free-agent offensive tackle George Fant, who the team is bringing in for a workout on Saturday.
Of course, the latter will depend upon how Fant’s deal is structured, but we’ll cross that bridge if we ever get to it.
Changes to #Titans S Kevin Byard's contract were both a restructuring and a reduced salary, per @Jason_OTC.
Bottom line approximations:
–Byard's 2023 cap hit drops from $19.6 to $11.3 million.
–Team's 2023 cap space rises from $8.3 to $16.7 million. pic.twitter.com/Oip6IUips2— John Glennon (@glennonsports) July 22, 2023
So, does this mean Byard actually took a pay cut? Essentially, yes.
Again, it’s very complicated, but Zach Lyons over at Stacking The Inbox is excellent on contract matters and does a thorough breakdown better than I ever could of what all this actually means.
Make sure to check out his article that we’ve linked to in the hyperlink above for more information.
