{"id":379267,"date":"2025-09-19T03:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T03:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/379267\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T03:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T03:10:10","slug":"simmons-johnson-gardner-johnson-ward-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/379267\/","title":{"rendered":"Simmons, Johnson, Gardner-Johnson, Ward, Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Titans recently gave Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons<\/a> a $633k raise to rectify a miscalculation of his fifth-year option, per Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Titans drafted Simmons with the 19th overall pick in the 2019 draft, and after 8.5 sacks and his first Pro Bowl in 2021, the team knew they had a long-term anchor for their defensive line. Tennessee picked up Simmons\u2019 fifth-year option during the 2022 offseason and signed him to a $94MM extension the following year. That extension was meant to include the fifth-year option, but the deal undercounted his 2023 salary by one game, resulting in a $633k shortage.<\/p>\n

Simmons\u2019 agent discovered the error and the Titans agreed to rectify the mistake with a signing bonus, according to Florio. The adjusted contract is not considered an extension.<\/p>\n

A few other players from the 2019 draft class who signed extensions off their fifth-year options had a similar miscalculation in their deal. As a result, Simmons\u2019 new deal could set a precedent around the league with other players seeking similar retroactive payments.<\/p>\n

The Bears restructured the contract of cornerback Jaylon Johnson<\/a>\u00a0to create $8MM of cap space, per ESPN\u2019s Field Yates<\/a>. $12MM of his 2025 salary was converted to a signing bonus and prorated across the three remaining years of the deal. Chicago made the move before Johnson went down with a groin injury that could end his season.
\nThe Texans completed a maximum restructure of safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson<\/a>\u2018s deal to reduce his cap hit to $3.1MM, according to KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson<\/a>. His $7.75MM salary was reduced to the veteran minimum with the remaining $6.58MM converted into a signing bonus and prorated across the remainder of the contract, which includes void years from 2027 to 2030.
\nThe Browns also did a maximum restructure with cornerback Denzel Ward<\/a>\u2018s contract, per ESPN\u2019s Daniel Oyefusi<\/a>. His salary was also reduced to the veteran minimum with $12.22MM converted into a signing bonus. As a result, his 2025 cap hit dropped by $9.78MM to $14.78MM, per OverTheCap<\/a>.
\nIn another AFC North restructure, the Ravens converted $12MM of linebacker Roquan Smith<\/a>\u2018s 2025 salary that was prorated across the three remaining years of his deal. The move cleared $8MM in cap space, according to Russell Street Report\u2019s Brian McFarland<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Titans recently gave Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons a $633k raise to rectify a miscalculation of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[117,1172,391,54,7345,7,253,16149,10563,6,466,526,394,2411,527,3571],"class_list":{"0":"post-379267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-c-j-gardner-johnson","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-cleveland-browns","12":"tag-denzel-ward","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-houston-texans","15":"tag-jaylon-johnson","16":"tag-jeffery-simmons","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-roquan-smith","19":"tag-tennessee","20":"tag-tennessee-titans","21":"tag-tennesseetitans","22":"tag-titans","23":"tag-transactions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115228772334528862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}