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Steelers in Great Salary Cap Situation Heading into Free Agency
Between the NFL undergoing a massive salary cap increase, and the work of Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan to continue to create himself some more salary cap space, the Steelers are set to enter free agency with a ton of room to work with and cash to spend.
The Steelers negotiated a pay cut with linebacker Cole Holcomb on Thursday, reducing Holcomb’s salary to $2 million for the 2025 season. He had been scheduled to earn $6 million in salary and roster bonus.
With the league salary cap finalized at $279.2 million and the latest savings calculated, the Steelers now have $63.69 million in offseason salary cap space that can spent immediately as the free agency period opens on Monday. They had less than $30 million to spend at this time last year.
Not only that, the Steelers easy ways to make more space, through releases, a contract extension for starting outside linebacker T.J. Watt and/or restructuring some contracts. The Steelers could potentially clear up to another $60 million in offseason cap space.
That’s a good thing, because they’ll need it. The Steelers must sign at least two quarterbacks, will be heavily involved in the wide receiver market, and would probably prefer to address holes at cornerback and running back before the 2025 NFL Draft comes around.
That will be a tall ask for Khan as he works the free agent wire, but one thing is for sure, he has the money to do it.
According to Over the Cap, the Steelers have the sixth-most offseason salary cap space in the NFL right now.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS 2025 SALARY CAP SNAPSHOT
| Salary Cap | $279,200,000 |
| 2024 Rollover | $6,831,465 |
| Team Cap | $286,031,465 |
| Top 51 Salaries | $222,293,364 |
| Dead Money | $45,335 |
| Current Salary Cap Space | $63,692,766 |
Offseason salary cap space can be deceiving. Omar Khan can’t spend all the money in the Steelers’ coffers. The Steelers will have some expenses between now and the start of the season that while known, are not yet on the books. Those include the players in the 2025 NFL Draft class, offseason workout bonuses, the final two players on the 53-man roster (only 51 count in the offseason), a practice squad, players on the injured reserve, and a buffer for in-season moves.
Those items will functionally reduce the team’s ability to spend by about $17 million. Because those items won’t hit the ledger until the summer, the Steelers can actually over-spend now and figure out how to get back under the cap later.
KNOWN STEELERS 2025 FUTURE EXPENSES
| Workout Bonuses (est.) | $900,000 |
| 52nd & 53rd Players | $1,920,000 |
| 2025 NFL Draft Rookie Pool | $2,635,817 |
| Practice Squad (est.) | $4,000,000 |
| In-season Buffer (est.) | $5,000,000 |
| Functional 2025 Salary Cap Space (est.) | $46,601,132 |
That’s where moves like releasing players or signing Watt to a contract extension could come into play. The Steelers could also restructure the contract of players like Alex Highsmith, Cam Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Pat Freiermuth to make more salary cap space.
POTENTIAL STEELERS 2025 SALARY CAP SAVINGS
| T.J. Watt Extension | $19,163,695 |
| Larry Ogunjobi Release | $7,000,000 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson Release | $2,800,000 |
| Dean Lowry Release | $2,500,000 |
| Alex Highsmith Restructure | $7,886,667 |
| Pat Freiermuth Restructure | $7,211,250 |
| Minkah Fitzpatrick Restructure | $7,122,500 |
| Cam Heyward Restructure | $6,747,500 |
| Potential Salary Cap Savings | $60,431,612 |
PITTSBURGH STEELERS 2025 PLAYER-BY-PLAYER SALARY CAP HITS
| T.J. Watt | $30,418,695 |
| Minkah Fitzpatrick | $22,355,000 |
| Cam Heyward | $19,650,000 |
| Alex Highsmith | $18,602,000 |
| Patrick Queen | $17,693,333 |
| Pat Freiermuth | $12,885,000 |
| Larry Ogunjobi | $10,533,334 |
| Isaac Seumalo | $10,191,668 |
| Chris Boswell | $4,720,000 |
| Broderick Jones | $4,534,463 |
| Miles Killebrew | $4,245,000 |
| George Pickens | $4,178,670 |
| Cordarelle Patterson | $3,750,000 |
| DeShon Elliott | $3,750,000 |
| Cole Holcomb | $3,640,000 |
| Cameron Johnston | $3,458,333 |
| Troy Fautanu | $3,421,658 |
| Dean Lowry | $3,125,000 |
| Montravius Adams | $3,125,000 |
| Joey Porter Jr. | $2,623,186 |
| Keeanu Benton | $1,999,943 |
| Zach Frazier | $1,714,594 |
| DeMarvin Leal | $1,650,376 |
| Darnell Washington | $1,460,158 |
| Roman Wilson | $1,305,720 |
| Christian Kuntz | $1,278,333 |
| Payton Wilson | $1,271,889 |
| Calvin Austin III | $1,226,084 |
| Nick Herbig | $1,198,231 |
| Mason McCormick | $1,151,224 |
| Connor Heyward | $1,138,806 |
| Mark Robinson | $1,128,089 |
| Brandon Johnson | $1,100,000 |
| Skylar Thompson | $1,100,000 |
| Corliss Waitman | $1,100,000 |
| Cory Trice Jr. | $1,051,109 |
| Spencer Anderson | $1,049,446 |
| Devin Harper | $1,030,000 |
| Eku Leota | $1,030,000 |
| Jonathan Ward | $1,030,000 |
| Beanie Bishop | $968,333 |
| Joshuah Bledsoe | $960,000 |
| Dylan Cook | $960,000 |
| Evan Hull | $960,000 |
| D’Shawn Jamison | $960,000 |
| Lance McCutcheon | $960,000 |
| Aaron Shampklin | $960,000 |
| Logan Lee | $895,018 |
| Ryan Watts | $885,671 |
| Domenique Davis | $840,000 |
| Steven Jones | $840,000 |
| Cameron McCutcheon | $840,000 |
| Kyler McMichael | $840,000 |
| Doug Nester | $840,000 |
| Thomas Rush | $840,000 |
| Jacob Slade | $840,000 |
| Julius Welschof | $840,000 |
Salary figures from Steelers Now sources, the NFLPA, and Over The Cap.