The fact that the salary cap continues to make huge jumps each year, having increased over $100 million in just five seasons, allows for more flexibility and almost no reason for teams to holdback on restructuring contracts.
On Friday, Berry did just that with CB Denzel Ward’s contract, the first of two likely restructures of his deal, to save the team a little over $2 million against the salary cap. Cleveland also reportedly added a void year, the third such on Ward’s contract, for 2030 with a $99 million value:
While eye-popping for our headline, the amount of the void year is mostly pointless. Ward’s contract will void in 2028, barring an extension, with the team having a dead cap hit of around $12 million, unless Ward is a post-June 1st release.
Void years provide two benefits for teams, with the player not losing anything. First, the void years help minimize the current cap hit by spreading the bonuses over more seasons. Second, being under contract, even with these void years, allows the team to release the player as a post-June 1st decision and spread the dead cap hit over two seasons instead of just one.
Again, in general, pushing cap hits into future seasons is always cheaper against the cap than taking them all in the present year.
Ward’s contract allows for a larger restructure later in the offseason if Berry chooses, which he is likely to do. At that time, Cleveland will save another $12 million against this year’s salary cap.