The Baltimore Ravens restructured the contract for cornerback Lardarius Webb, which certainly raises a red flag.
The Ravens rarely restructure deals anymore, and general manger Ozzie Newsome once referred to it as "a last resort." It is believed that the last contract restructured by the Ravens came in May 2012, when they reworked the deal for guard Marshal Yanda.
So, the Ravens presumably have something in mind with that extra $3 million in cap room created when they restructured Webb's deal. This has ignited a lot of speculation, the most popular being that the Ravens need the space to acquire a cornerback in a trade. The Ravens now have about $7 million in salary cap room.
While nobody knows the Ravens' plans yet, we do know that the Ravens are doing something that they try to avoid. Why the Ravens don't like restructuring deals is because it bloats the salary-cap numbers for future years.
By converting $3 million of Webb's $7.5 million salary into a bonus, the Ravens lower the cornerback's cap number from $10 million to $7.5 million. But Webb's future cap numbers increase by $1 million, which means he'll now count $12 million against the cap in 2015 and 2016.
This was general manager Ozzie Newsome's stance on restructuring contracts in Feburary 2013:
"The only time we consider restructuring guys’ deals is [if] there is a player that comes available that we think has great value and is worth us restructuring a deal to get it done. But it has to be a player that we think has a pretty good chance of playing out his contract, because that’s when you get in trouble. If you restructure a deal, then all the sudden that player’s abilities fall off the cliff and you have to let him go, then you have to eat all that acceleration right away."
This is why the restructuring of Webb's contract makes you wonder what the Ravens are planning.