Steelers Salary Cap Situation with Patrick Peterson Contract

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be paying less against the 2023 salary cap for the Patrick Peterson than they did in 2022 for Cameron Sutton.

Peterson, who the Steelers agreed to contract terms with on Monday for a two-year, $14 million contract, will have a cap hit of $4.225 million in 2023. Last year, Sutton counted for over $5 million against the Steelers cap.

Peterson’s two-year deal contains a $5.85 million signing bonus, salaries of $1.3 and $3.85 million and a $3 million roster bonus for 2024.

His cap hit will rise significantly, to $9.775 million in 2024. But very little of Peterson’s contract is guaranteed. If he retires or the Steelers decide to release him, Peterson would count for just $2.925 million in dead money against the 2024 cap.

With Peterson included in the list, the Steelers’ top 51 contracts are now at $213.3 million. Combined with $8 million in dead cap hits, the Steelers have $221.3 million in current salary cap obligations. Compared to their team cap of $229.2, that means the Steelers have $7.9 million in current salary cap space at their disposal entering the second day of free agency.

The team will eventually need to account for $21.3 million or so in expected expenses between now and the start of the season, so the team still functionally needs to clear about $13.4 million in cap space just to get back to even. That will likely be accomplished by restructuring contracts like those of T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick.

So the Steelers do have some more money to spend in free agency this week, likely another $8 to $15 million before things start to get really tight.

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