The Arizona Cardinals made a small chance to running back James Conner’s contract a couple of months ago to save some cap space.
Conner was due a $2 million roster bonus in March as part of the three-year contract he signed last offseason.
According to Over the Cap, the Cardinals did a bonus conversion for cap reasons.
Conner was paid the $2 million but it was converted into a signing or restructure bonus. A roster bonus counts fully against the salary cap in the year it is paid. Signing bonuses, option bonuses and restructure bonuses are prorated over the remaining life of the deal.
By converting the roster bonus to a signing bonus, it saved the Cardinals $1 million in cap space this year but adds $1 million in 2024.
There was another tweak that happened at some point.
Based on his original contract numbers when they came out a year ago, his 2023 and 2024 salaries were scheduled to be $5.75 million and $3.24 million.
Somewhere along the line, Conner got a raise.
His salaries for 2023 and 2024 are now listed as $6.25 million and $3.735 million.
His cap hit for 2023 would have originally been as much as $10.01 million.
With the increase in salary and the savings from the bonus conversion, his cap hit in 2023 will now be as much as $9.51 million.
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