Derrick Johnson, Anthony Sherman rework contracts to help Chiefs cap space

Derrick Johnson and Anthony Sherman have reworked their contracts for 2017 to give the Chiefs some much-needed cap space.

ESPN’s NFL analyst Field Yates has the news that inside linebacker Derrick Johnson and fullback Anthony Sherman have agreed to rework their contracts, or at least the 2017 portions of them, to give the team some salary cap space that will help the team officially sign Bennie Logan for the season.

Logan came to the Chiefs from the Philadelphia Eagles on a 1-year, $8 million deal and will help the team’s run defense up the middle while simultaneously replacing Dontari Poe, who left for the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday. The Chiefs were nearing the cap after extending both Eric Berry and Daniel Sorensen in recent days.

Johnson is coming off of a torn Achilles tendon and is currently rehabbing his injury. Restructuring his deal makes a lot of sense given that it could have been conceivable for the Chiefs to cut him outright. The same can be said of Anthony Sherman, the team’s starting fullback who was set to make $1.5 million. While not pricey in the bigger scheme of things, it is a position that the Chiefs could get cheaper at through the draft.

Per Yates’ figures, Johnson agreed to lower his 2017 deal to a mere $1 million in guaranteed salary to go with a $1 million signing bonus, down significantly from the $4.75 million base salary. Yates also mentions his 2018 salary remains unaffected. Sherman dropped his base salary from the aforementioned $1.5 million to $1.1 and cut his game bonuses in half, which frees up approximately $500K for the Chiefs.

Johnson originally signed a 3-year, $21 million deal with the Chiefs last offseason, a surprise deal at the time in a swirl of moves that retained both DJ and Tamba Hali, longtime stalwarts of the Chiefs defense. Johnson’s cap hit for 2017 was due to be $7.75 million, per Spotrac.