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Report: Kansas City Chiefs and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif agree to restructured deal

The Kansas City Chiefs have freed up cap space ahead of the draft by restructuring offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif's contract.

In a move to free up salary cap space, the Kansas City Chiefs and offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif have come to an agreement on a restructured contract just ahead of the NFL Draft.

This was first reported by Terez Paylor of Yahoo Sports.

The new deal means Duvernay-Tardif will be back on the Chiefs' offensive line this season after speculation the team could release the guard due to his salary cap number. Duvernay-Tardif's cap hit will likely be pushed further down the line, freeing up capital to sign the 2020 draft class.

Duvernay-Tardif confirmed the restructuring to John Kryk of the Toronto Sun via his agent. He said, "This allows the team to create cap space and I am very excited to be able to defend our title for the upcoming season. We have a great opportunity to keep the core of the team to give us the best possible chances to have success.”

Last season for LDT was one to forget. The 6-foot-5, 322-pound right guard was coming off of a fractured tibia that ended his 2018 season. In 2019, Duvernay-Tardif played more than 1,000 snaps for the first time in his career, but his numbers were career lows.

Duvernay-Tardif started in all 14 games he appeared in last year, but received a 59.7 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. His 27 pressures and five sacks allowed were both career worsts.

Duvernay-Tardif and the Chiefs agreed to a five year, $42,363,000 contract when he was an unrestricted free agent in 2018. Before the restructuring, Duvernay-Tardif held an $8,937,500 cap hit for this season. The Canadian Doctor is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.