We can't yet put this one in the beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt category, but it appears new defensive tackle Ryan Sims has restructured his contract.

According to the players' union database of salaries, Sims contract reflects a base salary of $595,000 for 2007 and nothing for '08 nor '09. When Sims was traded to the Bucs last week from Kansas City for an undisclosed draft pick, he had $5.7-million in base salary remaining over the next three seasons.

We reached out to Sims' agent to determine what exactly was done to the contract because the database does not reflect bonuses, guaranteed salary nor incentives, making it tricky to determine a contract's actual value. His agent, Peter Schaffer, didn't exactly answer the question, which leads us to believe seeing is believing in this case. That means the final two years of the deal were likely voided, too.

What Schaffer did say in our email exchange was the following: "Ryan's goal right now is to make the Bucs, make them better and show everyone why he was the sixth pick in the (2002) draft. He is thankful that the Bucs have shown him this type of confidence and hopes to repay them with a great year."

We won't know the specifics of the restructure until we get the contract details, but this looks like a pretty significant overhaul, which should result in major savings for the Bucs. Once the Chiefs determined they were moving on without Sims, it's likely Sims determined that his best bet was to get on board with a trade and agree to restructure his contract with his new team. That might have been more appealing to the alternative: being released.

All in all, if the guy pans out -- and that's a big if -- it looks like the Bucs might have gotten a steal. If he doesn't pan out, the Bucs can move on knowing they didn't invest much in him.