Buster Skrine

Buster Skrine is entering Year 2 with the Jets. (AP Photo | Bill Kostroun)

The Jets have restructured cornerback Buster Skrine's contract to create $2.5 million in salary cap space for 2016, a league source told NJ Advance Media.

The Jets, pressed for cap space, gave Skrine a $3.75 million signing bonus, while dropping his 2016 base salary from $6.5 million to $2.75 million.

His old 2016 cap number was $7.754 million. It is now $5.254 million.

The Jets now have $5.676 million in 2016 cap space, according to NFLPA records. But that might not be accurate, because now that the regular season has begun, all of a team's contracts count against its cap, not just the top 51 (which was the case during the offseason).

Teams had to be under the cap by midnight Thursday, the first day of the regular season. Overthecap.com's estimate currently has the Jets with about $435,000 in cap room, counting all of their contracts, including the reworked Skrine deal.

Skrine, 27, is entering Year 6 in the NFL.

Skrine, who signed with the Jets before last season, is under contract through 2018. His salary cap and dead money figures for 2017 and 2018 both have now increased, because of his prorated $3.75 million signing bonus.

For the Jets, that's the trade-off to the immediate cap savings. Skrine's cap numbers in both 2017 and 2018 will be $8.5 million, while his dead money figures will be $5 million and $2.5 million in those seasons.

His cap numbers in each of the next two seasons are now $1.25 million higher, because of the prorated signing bonus ($3.75 million divided by three). His dead money figure in 2017 is now $2.5 million higher, and his dead money figure in 2018 is now $1.25 million higher.

Skrine's base salaries in 2017 and 2018 -- $6 million each year -- are not guaranteed.

But Skrine isn't making any less money overall in 2016, because the $3.75 million signing bonus makes up for the reduction in his 2016 base salary. This is just a simple contract restructuring, for cap purposes.

Because of Skrine's age, it seems likely he will play out his contract, which would make his increased dead money in 2017 and 2018 irrelevant. He is a logical player to receive a contract restructure, because he is not aging and declining.

Skrine serves as both the Jets' starting outside cornerback in their base defense, opposite Darrelle Revis, and their starting slot corner in their nickel defense -- which is the role he had for them last season.

Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.