Actually Peyton has restructured several times before.
Several is an overstatement, he has restructured twice in this deal. Each time he has simply allowed them to convert roster bonus (now totaling $19M) into signing bonus and spread over the remainder of his deal. He doesn't lose a nickle on the deal. Peyton has been paid next to nothing in salary on this deal. It's almost all signing and roster bonus through 2007 ($53.5M) plus a couple of million in salary over the first 4 years. The remainder of the deal is all salary going forward beginning in 2008, and double digit salary to boot. Of course that too can be converted and amortized forward by guaranteeing all or a portion of it. When you have $8M cap hits on a deal that averages $14M per, the chickens will come home to roost eventually.
It was long assumed by the media that Mannings 9 year $120M deal had voided into a 7 year $98M deal. But we now know that regardless of that perception, based on the requirements to void having been met, Polian is amortizing money into those voided years even as we speak - $3M+ to date moved into the void - as he did with the about to be voided years in Freeney's deal. That will just make it harder to structure a cap friendly extension of Mannings deal because there will already be essentially dead cap awaiting through 2012 which the new deal will sit on top of. And Peyton will be 37 heading into a 2013 season.
Miguel now says he believes they will eventually do what the Packers are doing which he characterizes as living with the hits to avoid increasing dead cap. Only I believe the hits they would be living with under that scenario would be close to double the Favre hits, so they best hope they are getting a lot more out of Manning in the next several years then the Pack has been getting out of Favre, and that Peyton doesn't void 2011-2012 as Freeney just did for another little bite of the bonus apple at 35. Because the last time they faced a tag situation for Manning it was $18M, but coming off a $19M cap hit in 2010 and with dead cap to boot, I shudder to think what his tag would be in 2011.
I thought I recalled Miguel once saying he believed they would likely take the hit on this years roster bonus to avoid $8M in ever increasing amortization, but apparently they didn't. So I tend to doubt they will bite the bullit on back to back to back cap hits of $18-21M in 2008-2009-2010 either.
This is/was Miguel's estimate of Manning's deal as it evolves created last off season. Not sure how up to date it is (maybe he'll update it being we are having our usual off season Manning contract/Indy cap stragegy go arounds)since it shows proration into 2012. It's always a fascinating thing to broadly scope out though - ever mindful that 2011-2012 remain voidable at Manning's discretion and 2013 doesn't exist yet, and will cost a few bucks to create.
http://www.patscap.com/manning.gif
