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Steelers Salary Cap Situation after 2 Weeks of Free Agency

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Steelers salary cap draft free agency Omar Khan Salary Cap

The Pittsburgh Steelers still have some money to spend after adding five players over the first two weeks of free agency and re-singing three of their own.

The cap figures for all eight of those Steelers transactions are now available, and so the team’s current cap space and future cap commitments can again be accurately estimated.

The final moves that we have info for were the signing of guard Isaac Seumalo, whose three-year, $24 million contract will count for $3.617 million against the 2023 salary cap, and the re-singing of cornerback James Pierre. Pierre’s new, one-year deal is for $1.3 million, about half as much as the restricted free agent tender the Steelers declined to place on him.

With Pierre and Seumalo added to the team’s rolls, the Steelers’ top 51 contracts check in at about $206.29 million. They also have to account for $11.27 million worth of dead cap hits and a workout bonus placeholder that is currently just shy of $850,000. That gives the team about $10.8 million in current offseason salary cap space.

However, the Steelers will have to account for future expenses between now and the start of the season. They will have to sign their 2023 rookie class ($3.4 million), add the final to players to the 53-man roster ($1.88 million), sign a practice squad (approximately $5 million) and have enough left over to be able to put players on the injured reserve list and make in-season additions (approximately $10 million). 

That leaves the Steelers functionally $9.47 million over the cap as things stand entering the final week of March.

Steelers Cap

But Omar Khan has one big bullet to fire remaining when it comes to straightening out his salary cap for 2023. Restructuring the contract of outside linebacker T.J. Watt would save the Steelers $12.6 million in 2023 cap space. 

Like the contract of Minkah Fitzpatrick, which was already restructured, Watt’s deal is long enough to easily spread the hit over the remaining years and doing so would actually smooth out a peak in the percentage of the Steelers’ salary cap that Watt is occupying.

So if the Steelers pull the trigger on restructuring Watt, that leaves Khan and company about $3.14 million in current salary cap space. With roster displacement, that means the Steelers could comfortably sign a player with a $4 million 2023 salary cap hit.

Salary cap info via Steelers Now analysis and salary data from the NFLPA, OvertheCap.com and other sources.