Deebo Samuel Sr.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Commanders reworked Deebo Samuel’s contract, guaranteeing his $17 million salary while adding $3 million in incentives.

The “reworked” nomenclature is typically reserved for pay cuts, but that couldn’t be further from the truth here. The Commanders only took on non-guaranteed money from Samuel’s contract when they traded for him, meaning they technically owed him nothing. There was never any chance of them cutting him, so guaranteeing his salary was a low-risk move for the Commanders. Washington may have also added void years to the deal, spreading out his cap hit over multiple seasons. Even after being big spenders in free agency, the Commanders still had over $20 million in cap space before this restructure.