Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith Staying With Saints After Restructuring Contracts

The quarterback of the New Orleans Saints defense, linebacker Jonathan Vilma, is staying with the team after restructuring his contract yesterday. Ditto for defensive end Will Smith.

The two actually took a combined $10 million pay cut to stay with the team. They pretty much had to, or they would've been goners.

Vilma had been scheduled to earn $4.8 million in base salary in 2013. That got reduced to $1 million. His salary was to count $8.633 million towards the salary cap. Now his new cap figure is $3.833 million.

Smith's pay cut was even more severe. His base salary dropped from $9 million to $3 million. His original cap hit was scheduled to be $13.9 million and now it's at $8.502 million.

Pay cuts for veterans like these two are rare but they showed their loyalty to the team that stood by them during the whole Bounty scandal. And really, are they going hungry anytime soon?

[ESPN]