After two of the top tight ends in the league signed huge contracts this offseason, Zach Ertz had some very interesting comments regarding his contract negotiations with the Eagles.
How were the Eagles able to restructure Jason Peters’ contract?
With a little help from Lane Johnson.
Johnson agreed to allow the Eagles to restructure his contract in order to be able to give Peters a raise to move from right guard to left tackle, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Thursday afternoon.
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According to his tweet, the Eagles created $5 million in cap space by converting some of Johnson’s base salary into a signing bonus.
It’s a great move for Johnson, who gets some extra cash now and also becomes part of a stronger offensive line at the same time.
Johnson posted this tweet about the move Thursday night:
The move is similar to one the Eagles pulled off two years ago, with Brandon Brooks restructuring his contract so the Eagles could give Nick Foles a pay raise following the Super Bowl win.
It was Brooks’ injury that got the Eagles to re-sign Peters, and it was Andre Dillard’s injury that necessitated Peters’ move back to left tackle.
NFL
Although details of Johnson’s restructure were not immediately available, Johnson was due to earn $7.785 million in base salary this year as part of the four-year, $54.595 million extension he signed last year.
The Eagles signed Peters in July to a one-year, $3 million contract with incentives that could have brought the total value to $6 million. When Dillard suffered a season-ending injury and the Eagles needed a left tackle, Peters balked without a contract bump.
Doug Pederson said Monday that Peters had agreed to swing out to left tackle, and on Thursday morning, the Eagles rewarded him by bumping his salary to $4 million guaranteed with a $2 million signing bonus and incentives that could raise the total value of the deal to $8 million.
