By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Eagles have until 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to cut $9.8 million in salary and they just freed up a good chunk of that by restructuring Lane Johnson's contract. Johnson, slated to have a cap hit of over $12 million in 2018-19, will now have one just under $5 million due to Howie Roseman's magical cap structuring talents.
Johnson will now have a base salary of $790,000 for 2018, down from $10.25M. He collects the same amount of money in total, it just gets paid out differently. Win-win for the team and player.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 13, 2018
Johnson bounced back from a 2016-17 season that saw him suspended for banned substances to reclaim his spot among some of the top offensive lineman in the NFL. Near the end of the season, Johnson received an overall grade of 85.2 and ranked fifth amongst all offensive tackles by Pro Football Focus. Prior to the 2016-17 season, the Eagles and Johnson agreed to a six-year, $63 million contract with over $35 million guaranteed.
With a big chunk of cap space now open, the Eagles will likely shift their focus to Brent Celek and Vinny Curry, both of whom are candidates to be released today.
