NFL Salary Cap Increase Could Help Steelers in Offseason

The NFL will not release their salary cap projections until at least early January, ESPN reports. While that is generally par for the course, early estimates show that the ‘business is booming’ NFL is boosting the salary cap potential above $240 million. That would be an over $15 million increase from the $224.8 million salary cap now. That could help the Steelers.

So, that is about an increase that was on par with last year’s batch of $16.6 million. The Steelers can use every bit of salary cap help as they can get. According to projections by Over The Cap, the salary cap could be set at around $242 million, an increase of over $17 million, which could help Pittsburgh greatly.

If that happens, the Steelers will be about $6.4 million in the red heading into the offseason, with another $11 million or so needing to be shaved off before they can start making some moves. That’s okay for Pittsburgh, who have plenty of apparent moves they can make to shed off cap space. That includes all avenues, from waiving some players with bloated contracts to extensions to restructures.

The Steelers did not kick the can down the road too much with restructures this offseason, so they can afford that heading into the 2024 offseason, which will be a critical turning point in the franchise. In other words, while Pittsburgh has some work to do on their cap situation, there generally will not be much of a concern that they can get enough space to make moves. The higher the cap number comes in, the more flexibility the team will have once they enter the offseason. The Steelers will likely be again active in the free agency market to tweak the group and add more talent for a pivotal 2024 season. With more cap space on the way, they can do just that.