San Diego defensive end Marcellus Wiley has completed a so-called "simple" restructuring of the 2003 portion of his contract, a move that frees up spending room for the team, and reduces his salary cap charge for this season by $3.915 million.

The reworked deal is significant because, even with the lower cap charge for Wiley, the Chargers are just $3.243 million under the league spending limit.

Wiley, 28, essentially reduced his salary from $5.75 million to $530,000, the NFL limit for a player with six seasons of experience. The Chargers then guaranteed the $5.22 million difference, basically making it a signing bonus, and allowing the team to prorate the amount through 2006.

The move dropped Wiley's 2003 cap figure from $7.335 million to $3.4202 million, according to NFL Players Association documents. This marks the second consecutive spring that Wiley restructured his contract.

But the tradeoff is that the cap numbers for the remaining three seasons of the contract are now further inflated. Wiley's cap charge for 2004 is now $9.635 million. It rises to $10.635 million for 2005 and then tops out at a monstrous $11.635 million in 2006.

That means the contract will have to be reworked again next year.

Wiley is coming off a 2002 campaign in which he was a second alternate to the Pro Bowl squad. The former Columbia University star, who began his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills before signing with San Diego in 2001 as an unrestricted free agent, posted 36 tackles and six sacks in 14 games.

San Diego should now have more than enough cap space to sign its draft choices and perhaps pursue some modestly-priced veteran free agents.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.