Danny Amendola took huge pay cut to stay with Patriots

The New England Patriots saved a significant amount of salary cap space this offseason by once again getting wide receiver Danny Amendola to agree to a pay cut. And this wasn’t just a case of moving money around. Amendola will be making less money — a lot less.

Amdendola was originally supposed to make $5 million in salary and carry a $6.8 million cap hit in 2016. After the pay cut, his salary for 2016 will be $1.25 million and the contract will count just $2.92 million against the cap, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.

Danny Anendola was supposed to have a $5m salary and $6.8m cap hit. New deal has $1.25m salary, $100k signing bonus and $250k per-game bonus

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) May 10, 2016

His new cap number this year is $2,916,666. So #Patriots save $3.4m in cash and $3.9m in salary cap on Amendola

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) May 10, 2016

Amdendola’s 2017 salary of $6 million remains the same, though the Patriots will likely release him next offseason or look to restructure again. There are no incentives and no deferred money as part of the new deal, which means Amendola has simply agreed to make much less.

If Amendola thought he could get significantly more money on the open market, he would have just refused to take a pay cut and let the Patriots release him. Still, his contract is now an incredible value for a team with a system that is incredibly difficult for new receivers to grasp. While Amendola’s neighbors would probably rather see him play for another team, Bill Belichick should be thrilled to have him playing for peanuts in 2016.