Why are the Bengals not clearing cap by restructuring deals?

[THE PISTONS]

(03-13-2023, 11:44 AM)Nepa Wrote: Every single year I see competitors that are over the cap and think they are in trouble, and the Bengals will have a big advantage in free agency. And every single year these competitors end up clearing cap space and get free agents.

Now the Browns? I thought they were dead in the water in terms of free agent signings. They were $14 million over the cap. But, they have managed to clear $36 million by restructuring the Watson deal. They are now free agent players.

"The Cleveland Browns have restructured the record-setting contract of quarterback Deshaun Watson, clearing $36 million in cap space ahead of free agency, a source told ESPN."

"Before restructuring Watson's deal, the Browns were roughly $14 million over the salary cap. Now, Cleveland has cap space heading into the free agency negotiating window."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35849938/source-browns-tweak-deshaun-watson-pact-36m-cap-space

Kind of curious on how the Watson restructure works because the contract was all guaranteed. I thought a restructure converted money to bonus allowing the cap hit to be pushed to later years.