Patriots, Jerod Mayo Agree on Restructured Contract

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Patriots and Jerod Mayo have agreed on a one-year restructured contract that includes two options:

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#Patriots & captain Jerod Mayo agreed on a 1-year deal for $4.5M fully guaranteed. Chance to make $6M, source said. Then 2 option years.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 22, 2015

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Mayo's original deal came with cap hits in excess of $10 million for each of the next two seasons, followed by a $9.5 million cap charge in 2017, per spotrac.com.

For the second consecutive season, the former first-team All-Pro appeared in just six games. In 2013, Mayo suffered a torn pectoral. His 2014 campaign was cut short due to a knee injury, which he sustained against division rival Buffalo.

Mike Groll/Associated Press

While injuries and an exorbitant contract seemingly made Mayo a potential cap casualty, as Miguel Benzan of patscap.com explains, the two-time Pro Bowler had $4.5 million of his 2015 salary guaranteed for injury, creating incentive for the Patriots to restructure his contract:

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Coincidence that Mayo had $4.5 million of his 2015 salary gtd for injury and there are reports that as part of redo he got $4.5m gtd? No.

— CapSpace=$6,148,315 (@patscap) April 22, 2015

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Furthermore, as Kevin Patra of NFL.com reported, Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower may miss six to seven months due to a torn labrum, with which he played through New England's entire playoff run. The fact that his status to start the season is in question makes Mayo's presence that much more significant.

The Patriots kick off the NFL season on Thursday, September 10th when they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.