It was reported that the Steelers and Heath Miller agreed on contract rework earlier this week, but the details were not available. As I said previously, it was indeed an extension that lowered his 2014 cap number. He is now under contract with the Steelers through 2016. Here is a before and after of the numbers.

[table]

Player, Year, Base Salary, Signing Bonus, Salary Cap Number

“Miller, Heath”, 2014, “$6,020,000”, “$3,446,500”, “$9,466,500”

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[table]

Player, Year, Base Salary, Signing Bonus, Salary Cap Number

“Miller, Heath”, 2014, “$1,020,000”, “$5,113,166”, “$6,133,166”
“Miller, Heath”, 2015, “$4,000,000”, “$1,666,666”, “$5,666,666”
“Miller, Heath”, 2016, “$4,000,000”, “$1,666,666”, “$5,666,668”

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As you can see, the extension lowers Heath’s salary cap hit for 2014, clearing $3,333,334 in cap space to be exact.

According to Ian Rapoport, the Steelers have reworked Heath Miller’s contract to create needed cap space for 2014.

The #Steelers have restructured TE Heath Miller’s deal to create cap space, I’m told. Had a cap number of $9.5M, this will lower it.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 3, 2014

2014 is the final year of  Heath’s contract, so a traditional restructuring isn’t an option.  I posted previously that I expect the Steelers to extend Heath’s contract. The Steelers restructured Miller’s contract  in September to make additional cap room for the 2013 season.

Traditional restructuring reduces the player’s base salary and rolls it over into a signing bonus, thus reducing the cap number for that year. Since Heath is in the final year of his contract, obviously his salary cannot be pushed forward without extending the duration of his contract.

Here are Heath’s 2014 numbers before today’s moves:

[table]

Player, Base Salary, Signing Bonus, Salary Cap Number

“Miller, Heath”, “$6,020,000”, “$3,446,500”, “$9,466,500”

[/table]

I’ll post Heath’s contract details when more information becomes available.

Update- See all of the Steelers contracts and Steelers salary cap related news here:  Steelers Salary Cap

The team restructured Heath Miller’s contract yesterday to free up cap space for recent signings. Going into Tuesday, the Steelers only had approximately $1.5 million in available cap space, so the team really had little choice but to restructure after getting hit by the injury tsunami on Sunday. None of the three players who required surgery this week had split contracts that would provide cap relief to the team in case of injury.

$3,187,500 of Heath’s $5,162,000 2013 base salary was converted into a prorated signing bonus. The move freed up just under $1.6 Mil of cap room this year. Heath’s salary cap numbers for 2013 and 2014 are as follows:

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Here are the financials for the signings the team made this week:

Base Salary Cap Number
Jonathan Dwyer~  $630,000 $592,941
Fernando Velasco~ $715,000 $522,353
Shayne Graham~  $940,000 $522,353

The three signings combined cost the team $1,637,647, so before restructuring Heath Miller’s contract, the signings were not possible. As of right now, the team has $1,385,253 in salary cap space, and that includes restructuring Heath.