Per The Times:
Defensive end Renaldo Wynn renegotiated his contract, saving the Redskins $1.52 million on the salary cap. Cornerback David Macklin and offensive tackle Jason Fabini both signed one-year deals with $40,000 bonuses on top of the veteran minimum base salary. ... Washington's rookie pool is $3.4 million.
I have no idea if Wynn restructured or took a pay cut, though I will say there's a good chance it is a pay cut as Renaldo Wynn is only under contract through 2007 anyways. The way restructuring works (my understanding) is that a player turns today's base salary into prorated signing bonus money that gets spread out over the remaining years on a contract. If no such years remain, there isn't really any way to reduce the amount you owe the player without forcing them to sign a new, smaller contract. Perhaps Wynn has some additional voidable years, or perhaps he signed on to a larger contract. Or maybe he really did take a pay cut. In any event, we've saved some money to add to our rookie pool, mentioned above.
Macklin and Fabini took league minimum and 40K signing bonuses which, by my estimation, qualifies them for Veteran League Minimum Exemption. Per The Hogs:
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams are rewarded for using veteran players by giving them a cap discount. For qualifying contracts, all minimum salaries for veterans (plus up to $40,000 signing bonus) with at least four years of experience will only count $425,000 against the team salary cap.
Both have been in the league for more than 4 years so this is fairly cut and dry. Both players will save us hundreds of thousands against the salary cap for signing their current contract. Cumulatively it could be over a million, though I'm not going to do the mathalon right now, nerds.
Also, hat tip to Ryan Wilson at Fanhouse on this, but per the Times the Redskins have 3 roster spots available for one of the 60 (million bajillion) players invited to the training camp this year meaning at least 3 of them will actually make the team. Reader(s) are encouraged to emotionally attach themselves to as many of these kids as possible in the hopes that one or three of your favorite underdog stories plays out Disney-style.