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 Chiefs have restructured G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s deal, a source tells me. Chiefs needed to create cap space.

— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) April 22, 2020

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.

Cap space for the draft. Will be really, really interesting to see what this looks like for next year. https://t.co/dHyshofDWR

— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) April 22, 2020

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.

#Chiefs G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is coming off the worst season of his career, despite playing 1,000+ snaps for the first time.

• 59.7 Overall (Career Low)
• 54.3 Run Block (Career Low)
• 27 Pressures (Career Worst)
• 5 Sacks + Hits (Career Worst)#ChiefsKingdom https://t.co/pFcnFTbeHh

— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) April 23, 2020

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.