When news of the New England Patriots signing of defensive tackle Terrance Knighton surfaced, the contract was reportedly one year for $4.5 million.

Not so fast.

Per ESPN's Mike Reiss, Knighton's contract is a lot more team friendly than expected.

Base Salary: $900,000 Signing Bonus: $250,000 Workout Bonus: $100,000 Per-Game Roster Bonus: $31,250 (total of $500,000) Likely to be Earned Incentives: $300,000 Cap Hit: $2,018,750

Based upon this salary structure, Knighton can't be considered a roster lock- unlike tight end Clay Harbor. Knighton will have to make the roster in order to achieve the full potential of his deal.

There's still a chance that the original $4.5 million amount is covered in Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE) Incentives, but that would mean Knighton has roughly $2.45 million in NLTBE deals. That would be an incredibly large chunk of the contract.

The Patriots could very well still take a defensive tackle in the draft, should a top tier candidate fall to the end of the second round, but if Knighton remains with the team, it will be under a much more palatable contract than originally reported.

Edit: Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Knighton's contract includes $2 million in playing time incentives and a $500,000 bonus if he is named to the Pro Bowl. Since Knighton played less than 35% of Washington's snaps last season, that is likely the first playing time incentive checkpoint.