Especially if the contract is front end loaded with signing bonuses. A team can take he on the cap without having to pay a lot of actual dollars in the back half of a well structured deal.
There are still some ways a team with financial strength can us dollars to their advantage. For example, offer Tanev $5M more over the life of what will be his last contract by offering more years and load it with signing bonuses in the early years. Say, $20M over seven years with $15M paid our in the first three years (or whatever the max allowable is to front end load these days).