The Pittsburgh Steelers made their big move before free agency even started, agreeing to sign quarterback Russell Wilson in the early hours of Monday morning. They made one more move after the contact period began on Monday at noon, working out a deal with free agent punter Cameron Johnston.
Wilson will be playing under the veteran minimum contract for 2024, thanks to Denver guaranteeing his $39 million salary for this season. That figure will come in at $1.21 million for a player of Wilson’s experience level this season.
Johnston, meanwhile, will actually earn more. His three-year, $9 million contract will have a $2.875 million signing bonus, according to Aaron Wilson of KRPC-TV in Houston. In 2024, he will have a cap hit of $2.083 million.
With that, we can re-calculate how much Steelers general manager Omar Khan has to work with entering the second day of free agency. Steelers Now has also confirmed that Breiden Fehoko’s salary for 2024 will be $1.055 million, not the $985,000 that we estimated immediately after his singing broke.
After Monday’s moves, the Steelers have about $23.7 million in 2024 offseason salary cap space, according to Steelers Now‘s estimate. That’s down from $25.4 million as of late last week.
That number can be misleading. Before the start of the 2024 regular season, they will need to pay workout bonuses, sign their rookie class, account for the 52nd and 53rd players on the roster, sign a practice squad, account for players on the injured reserve and leave space for in-season acquisitions.
But unlike most of the rest of the offseason, the Steelers do figure to have enough room to fulfill all their offseason salary obligations. They have a functional $3.9 million in salary cap space to spend on free agents during this signing period, based on their current contracts.
They also have several avenues of achieving further savings, as the team can cut, restructure, or extend the contract of several veteran players, including Cam Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Alex Highsmith.
Khan could pretty comfortably ink another $15 million worth of commitments in 2024 without having to make any uncomfortable salary cap moves.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS 2024 SALARY CAP BREAKDOWN
| Functional 2024 cap space (est.) | $3,907,465 | T.J. Watt | $30,418,694 |
| Cam Heyward | $22,406,250 | ||
| Estimated 2024 NFL salary cap | $255,400,000 | Minkah Fitzpatrick | $21,355,000 |
| Steelers 2023 salary cap rollover | $2,340,191 | Diontae Johnson | $15,833,334 |
| Steelers 2024 salary cap (est.) | $257,740,191 | Alex Highsmith | $13,933,000 |
| Larry Ogunjobi | $13,283,333 | ||
| Top 51 salaries | $219,239,437 | James Daniels | $11,166,668 |
| Dead cap hits | $14,842,153 | Isaac Seumalo | $10,191,666 |
| Cole Holcomb | $7,640,000 | ||
| Offseason cap space (est.) | $23,658,601 | Nate Herbig | $5,460,000 |
| Chris Boswell | $4,720,000 | ||
| Draft pool | $3,013,936 | Elandon Roberts | $4,667,500 |
| End of rule of 51 | $1,830,000 | Najee Harris | $4,151,460 |
| Practice squad (est.) | $4,000,000 | Damontae Kazee | $3,875,000 |
| In-season buffer/injured reserve (est.) | $10,000,00 | Kenny Pickett | $3,836,701 |
| Workout bonuses (placeholder) | $907,200 | Broderick Jones | $3,778,719 |
| Dan Moore Jr. | $3,235,000 | ||
| Joey Porter Jr. | $2,185,988 | ||
| Cameron Johnston | $2,083,333 | ||
| Pat Freiermuth | $1,918,057 | ||
| George Pickens | $1,841,506 | ||
| Keeanu Benton | $1,666,619 | ||
| DeMarvin Leal | $1,414,608 | ||
| Darnell Washington | $1,216,798 | ||
| Russell Wilson | $1,210,000 | ||
| Isaiahh Loudermilk | $1,135,072 | ||
| Calvin Austin III | $1,111,084 | ||
| Nick Herbig | $1,083,231 | ||
| Denzel Mims | $1,055,000 | ||
| Connor Heyward | $1,023,806 | ||
| Mark Robinson | $1,013,089 | ||
| Jaylen Warren | $989,000 | ||
| Luq Barcoo | $985,000 | ||
| Marquez Callaway | $985,000 | ||
| Breiden Fehoko (est) | $985,000 | ||
| Dez Fitzpatrick | $985,000 | ||
| Thomas Graham Jr. | $985,000 | ||
| Kyron Johnson | $985,000 | ||
| Jonathan Marshall | $985,000 | ||
| Josiah Scott | $985,000 | ||
| Spencer Anderson | $934,446 | ||
| Kalon Barnes | $915,000 | ||
| Dylan Cook | $915,000 | ||
| Jalen Elliott | $915,000 | ||
| Devery Hamilton | $915,000 | ||
| Nate Meadors | $915,000 | ||
| Ryan McCollum | $915,000 | ||
| Jeremiah Moon | $915,000 | ||
| Darius Rush | $915,000 | ||
| Trenton Thompson | $915,000 | ||
| Rodney Williams II | $915,000 |
Salary figures from Steelers Now sources, the NFLPA, and OvertheCap.com.