UNITY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Steelers contract with inside linebacker Kwon Alexander has been registered with the NFLPA, and his salary appears to be coming at a significant bargain.
Alexander and the Steelers agreed to a one-year deal. He will have a $1.165 million salary and a $152,500 signing bonus. His contract will qualify for the veteran cap recapture benefit, meaning that even though the Steelers are paying him over $1.3 million, he will count for just $1.09 million against the cap
When accounting for salary displacement in the team’s Top 51 offseason contracts, Alexander will cost the Steelers less than $200,000 in functional salary cap space.
With Alexander in the fold, along with the recent moves to add Cory Trice and Alfonzo Graham to the injured reserve list, the team now has approximately $9.4 million in offseason salary cap space.
That number remains misleading, as the team still must account for the end of the Rule of 51, add a practice squad and have a buffer for in-season moves.
Functionally, the Steelers are about $7.5 million over their cap requirements, though the easily have the ability to create that much space and more by restructuring contracts. Restructuring the contract of outside linebacker T.J. Watt alone would clear over $12 million.
The final makeup of the 53-man roster will also impact the cap figure. If more young people make the team at expense of veterans, they will cost less against the cap.
