Report: David Andrews restructures contract, allowing Patriots to sign their remaining draft picks

The New England Patriots needed to create some salary cap space in order to sign the rest of their draft class, and they did just that by restructuring the contract of center David Andrews. According to ESPN's Field Yates, the team was able to free up $2.1 million enough to process the final three rookie signings.The Patriots signed first-round guard Cole Strange, second-round wide receiver Tyquan Thornton and fourth-round quarterback Bailey Zappe on Thursday Yodny Cajuste Jersey, but no additional moves were announced. That meant that the team had neither cut nor traded any players to make room under its cap to sign the three youngsters. Instead, a contractual move such as a restructure or extension was made.The move in question saw New England convert $3.15 million of Andrews' compensation this season into a signing bonus that will be spread out over the remaining length of his current contract. As a result, his cap number in 2022 has dropped from previously $6.38 million down to $4.28 million.Meanwhile, Andrews' cap numbers in both 2023 and 2024 will increase by $1.05 million. He will now count $6.93 million against New England's books in both of those seasons.The Patriots entered Thursday with only $142, 280 in available cap space, which was not enough to sign any of their three remaining draft choices. However, the Andrews restructure allowed them to not just sign one but all three of Strange, Thornton and Zappe.With all those moves processed https://www.thepatriotsteamstore.com/112-Sam_Roberts_Jersey, New England now is left with $359, 634 in salary cap space.