Steelers reportedly rework contract of tight end Eric Ebron to create cap savings

Tight end Eric Ebron appears to be the latest Pittsburgh Steelers player to have his contract restructured to create salary-cap space for the team.

According to an ESPN.com report Wednesday, Ebron agreed to have the final year of his two-year contract with the Steelers reworked, which would clear $3.9 million in cap space for the 2021 season.

Ebron signed a two-year, $12 million contract in 2020 that included a $5 million signing bonus. His cap hit for the 2021 season was scheduled to be $8.5 million, which covered $5.5 million in base salary, a $500,000 roster bonus and $2.5 million as part of the signing bonus.

The cap savings likely is due to the Steelers adding voidable years to Ebron’s contract. If the Steelers took his $5.5 million salary and $500,000 bonus, converted $4.925 million into a signing bonus and tacked on four voidable years, it would reduce his salary-cap hit to $4.56 million this year — a savings of $3.94 million.

Until this offseason, the Steelers never had used voidable years while structuring contracts. But creative measures were needed when the NFL salary cap was reduced from $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million this year.

Ebron would be the fourth Steelers player to have voidable years added to his contract this offseason.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was the first to agree to such a deal, having voidable years added to his restructured contract. The Steelers also added voidable years when they re-signed free agents Cameron Sutton and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

After terminating the contract of cornerback Steve Nelson on Tuesday, the Steelers were about $8.7 million under the salary cap, according to overthecap.com. Restructuring Ebron’s contract would increase that figure to approximately $12.6 million.

Ebron, 27, had 56 receptions for 558 yards and five touchdowns in his first season with the Steelers. His seven dropped passes were tied for second most among all tight ends.