The contract restructure for defensive lineman Cameron Heyward may have hit the headlines for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, but it appears he was not the only player to have his contract reworked this week. J.J. Wilcox has only been with the team a few days, but he has already agreed to restructure his deal to and help provide the Steelers a bit more cap space this season.

In a change first noticed by salary cap specialist Ian Whetstone of Steel City Insider, Pittsburgh has turned $1.35 million of his base salary into a signing bonus and prorated it against the length of the contract.

Wilcox had been due to earn a base salary of $2.125 million in 2017 for a cap hit of $2.375 million when his LTBE bonus was taken into account. With this reworking, he will earn the same amount but see his cap number reduce by $675,000 in 2017 and increase by the same amount next year.

While the move has obviously been done to provide the Steelers a bit more cap flexibility to complete the expected extension for Stephon Tuitt, the choice of Wilcox is an interesting one. Even before this restructure. this recent trade acquisition looked a likely candidate for release in 2018 as a cap saving move. Adding the burden of $675,000 in dead money for the same cap saving seems rather strange.

At $3.8 million for a second season in Pittsburgh, Wilcox will be carrying a rather high charge for a backup in a year in which the Steelers will be pressed for salary cap space. For the practical cap savings the front office has made with this restructure, it is a surprise the team did not opt to rework the deal of someone like Vince Williams or Ramon Foster. Both players are almost guaranteed to be on the roster in 2018 and have contracts capable of providing similar cap relief.

If the Steelers are already feeling committed to their new safety and believe he will be a significant part of the team going forward, an extension in the offseason could easily offset the cost of this restructure.

With 54 players under contract, Pittsburgh should have around $7.2 million available to re-sign Stephon Tuitt, a figure that will increase slightly when the Steelers activate Le’Veon Bell and release a player to compensate.