Tyson Jackson’s New Contract Details

John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs were expected to cut DE Tyson Jackson unless he agreed to restructure his contract.

And Jackson restructured.

Jackson was scheduled to make $14.72 million. Now, his deal is much more manageable.

Jackson’s new base salary is $4.2 million. He will receive $4 million guaranteed. He’ll also receive a $500,000 workout bonus and can achieve $3.875 million in escalators.

That makes Jackson’s new deal count as $7.2 against the salary cap.

I seriously doubt Jackson was going to be able to swing $7 million in 2013 through a free agency contract.

By restructuring his deal, Jackson guarantees himself at least $4 million and also buys himself more time to develop and prove he really is worth a big time payday.

Jackson isn’t exactly hurting for money. He was drafted in the era of monster rookie contracts and he was taken as the third pick in his draft class.

But Jackson hasn’t lived up to his draft stock. While most players can’t wait to hit free agency, for other players, sometimes staying with their current team and taking an abbreviated version of their deal is advantageous. Jackson is worth more to the Chiefs right now than he is to the market, and he and his agent probably realize that.

For the Chiefs, they buy themselves another year of Jackson’s services and while he isn’t a world beater, “Tin Man” is certainly adequate enough to start.