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Antonio Brown re-worked contract to make cap space for Le’Veon Bell

Le'Veon Bell Antonio Brown, Jan 8, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) celebrates with Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell (26) after scoring a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Wild Card playoff football game at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in really rough shape heading into the offseason in terms of cap space. In fact, until Antonio Brown re-worked his contract on Wednesday, the franchise didn’t have the cap space to sign Le’Veon Bell to his franchise tag.

Brown posted a video of himself signing a new deal that fully guarantees his 2018 salary while creating necessary space for Pittsburgh to sign Bell.

As noted by Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the restructure converts his base pay to bonus, which opens up the room needed to fit Bell’s $14.5 million contract into the team’s cap.

This won’t be the last move the Steelers make to creatively carve out more cap space. A couple of the team’s veterans recently re-worked their contracts as well, which saved the team over $13 million. These moves are exceptionally important because both Pittsburgh and Bell would rather do a long-term deal that finally puts their contract dispute in the rear-view mirror.

At this point, without a long-term deal in place ahead of the July deadline, Bell has made it clear he’s going to hold out of training camp, at the least.

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