The Cincinnati Bengals usually sit near the top of the free cap space list in the NFL.

In the aftermath of the massive trade for Dexter Lawrence, the Bengals are almost near the very bottom of the NFL in free cap space.

According to Over the Cap, the Bengals have the sixth-smallest total free cap space at just $7.4 million.

And that’s a good thing. They just went to get a defense-changing player. They’re actually using the space, rather than keeping flexibility for future years and even doing rollover cap space to the next year.

There’s a fun little hidden element here, too: A giant contract restructure for someone like Joe Burrow could be on the way in order to free up space.

A Joe Burrow contract restructure would free up roughly $19 million. Doing the same for Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins would free up roughly $13 million each.

Every team in a championship window with an elite quarterback does contract restructures while being aggressive. The Bengals sitting near the very bottom in free cap space might mean they finally join those modern contenders in this sense, too.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ cap space after big trade is alarming…in a good way