And so it begins.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have restructured the contract of Lawrence Timmons who was Mike Tomlin’s first first round draft pick in the 2007 draft. Timmons renewed his contract with the Steelers in 2011 and had four years remaining on it.

The restructure will not require Lawrence Timmons to lose money, but rather converts a large portion of his 2013 base salary into a bonus and then pro rates it over the remaining years on the contract. Its been reported that the Timmons restructure will save the Steelers 5 million dollars against the salary cap.

• Prior to restructuring Timmons’ deal the Steelers were reportedly 14 million dollars over the NFL salary cap

This is the first of many coming restructurings. The Steelers are expected to restructure the deal of LaMarr Woodley and Heath Miller‘s name has also been mentioned

Roethlisberger to get Restructured Not Extended….

Also scheduled for a restructure is Steelers starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. There had been speculation that the Steelers might extend Ben Roethlisberger’s deal to gain additional cap relief but they are not taking that move.

Ben Roethlisberger has 3 years remaining on the deal he signed in 2008 and the Steelers typically do not extend deals of players before their final contract year, although they do make exceptions for quarterbacks, as they did with Tommy Maddox in 2003.

Steelers Talk with Bill Praise, James Harrison‘s Agent

The Steelers have also formally begun to talk with James Harrison about altering his deal. Harrison is due to cost the Steelers 6.57 million against the salary cap this year and the Steelers need space.

No one is sure what, if any, agreement the two sides will reach. Harrison’s agent Bill Praise has said that Harrison will not accept a reduced salary for 2013, which is what agents are supposed to say.

While there are incentives for both sides to reach a deal, the Steelers could release Harrison outright if an agreement cannot be reached.

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