Butting up against the salary cap heading into the 2022 season, the Detroit Lions executed a simple restructure of offensive tackle Taylor Decker's contract to create the necessary operational space for the months ahead, according to an ESPN report.
A common practice in the NFL, the Lions converted a portion of Decker's 2022 base salary to an immediately paid bonus. While salary counts against the cap the year it's paid, a bonus is evenly distributed over the remaining years on a contract.
In this instance, the Lions converted $6 million of Decker's $14.75 base salary to a bonus.