Chiefs Pick Up $4.8M Of Cap Room By Reworking Derrick Johnson & Anthony Sherman’s Deals

Field Yates of ESPN reports that Chiefs veteran ILB Derrick Johnson and FB Anthony Sherman both agreed to restructured contracts in recent days.

According to Yates, Johnson agreed to a “major pay cut” after he suffered a season-ending Achilles tear late last year. Johnson was set to make a base salary $4.75 million for 2017 and up to $1M in per-game roster bonuses. However, his new deal will pay him a $1 million signing bonus and a $1 million fully guaranteed base salary with the 2018 portion of his contract remaining the same outside of a $500,000 proration of his new signing bonus.

This move created around $4.25 million of cap space for the Chiefs.

As for Sherman, he also agreed to reduce his salary from $1.55 million to $1.1 million, but his the new salary is now fully guaranteed for the 2017 season. Sherman’s per-game roster bonuses of $12,500 that were reduced to $6,250, which created, in turn, created $550,000 in cap space for the Chiefs.

By making these moves, the Chiefs were able to sign DT Bennie Logan earlier in the week.

Johnson, 34, is a former first-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2005. He is entering in the second year of his three-year, $21 million contract that includes $9.75 million guaranteed and was set to make base salaries of $1.5 million and $4.75 million over the next two years.

In 2016, Johnson appeared in 13 games and recorded 90 tackles, one sack, an interception returned for a touchdown and three pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 21 linebacker out of 89 qualifying players.