The Pittsburgh Steelers signed five players over the last couple of weeks, adding defensive tackle Dean Lowry and running back and kick returner Cordarelle Patterson to two-year deals and inking wide receivers Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins and quarterback Kyle Allen on one-year contracts.
Now, those contracts have been registered with the NFLPA, and the Steelers’ salary cap situation can again be calculated.
All three of Jefferson, Watkins and Allen signed one-year contracts that are known as veteran benefit contracts. They are designed to give teams a reason to sign veteran players that might be in danger of washing out of the league, but minimizing their cap hit. All three players will have a cap hit $1,525,500 this season, while the Steelers will actually pay them slightly more than that.
Patterson and Lowry both have more significant deals. Lowry’s contract is for two years and $5 million, with a $1.25 million signing bonus. His salary cap hit in 2023 will be $1.825 million. Patterson’s two-year deal has a $1.9 million signing bonus and he’ll have a $2.25 million cap hit this season.
All five of those players displaced players from the Top 51 offseason salaries, which are the only ones that count until the final roster is set in August. So their cap impact will not be equal to their cap figure. The Steelers currently have 74 players under contract for 2024.
As of right now, the Steelers have about $12.2 million in 2024 offseason salary cap space, according to Steelers Now‘s estimate. That’s down from $14.8 million in our last estimate.
That total number can still 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.
The Steelers once again will have some work to do to get salary cap compliant before the start of the season after this week’s moves. They are functionally about $7 million over their salary cap.
The Steelers 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.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS 2024 SALARY CAP BREAKDOWN
| Functional cap space (est.) | -$7.374,584 | 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 | Alex Highsmith | $13,933,000 |
| Steelers 2024 salary cap (est.) | $257,740,191 | Larry Ogunjobi | $13,283,333 |
| James Daniels | $11,166,668 | ||
| Top 51 salaries | $221,142,016 | Isaac Seumalo | $10,191,666 |
| Dead cap hits | $24,381,069 | Cole Holcomb | $7,640,000 |
| Patrick Queen | $6,113,333 | ||
| Offseason cap space (est.) | $12,217,106 | Donte Jackson | $6,000,000 |
| Nate Herbig | $5,460,000 | ||
| Draft pool | $2,714,490 | Chris Boswell | $4,720,000 |
| End of rule of 51 | $1,970,000 | Elandon Roberts | $4,667,500 |
| Practice squad (est.) | $4,000,000 | Najee Harris | $4,151,460 |
| In-season buffer/inj. reserve (est.) | $10,000,00 | Damontae Kazee | $3,875,000 |
| Workout bonuses (placeholder) | $907,200 | Broderick Jones | $3,778,719 |
| Dan Moore Jr. | $3,540,475 | ||
| Justin Fields | $3,233,448 | ||
| Miles Killebrew | $2,255,000 | ||
| DeShon Elliott | $2,250,000 | ||
| Cordarelle Patterson | $2,250,000 | ||
| Joey Porter Jr. | $2,185,988 | ||
| Montravius Adams | $2,125,000 | ||
| Cameron Johnston | $2,083,333 | ||
| Pat Freiermuth | $1,918,057 | ||
| Dean Lowry | $1,875,000 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Christian Kuntz | $1,163,333 | ||
| Van Jefferson | $1,152,500 | ||
| Kyle Allen | $1,152,500 | ||
| Quez Watkins | $1,152,500 | ||
| Isaiahh Loudermilk | $1,135,072 | ||
| Calvin Austin III | $1,111,084 | ||
| Nick Herbig | $1,083,231 | ||
| Breiden Fehoko | $1,055,000 | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 |
NOTE: Because the Steelers have registered all of their reported contracts with the NFLPA, the league’s salary cap tracking is currently up to date. The NFLPA says the Steelers have $12,195,998 in cap space. That’s $21,108 more than my estimate, which is completely meaningless in the big picture, but also still bothersome. If anyone smarter than me can figure out where I’m wrong, let me know in the comments.
Salary figures from Steelers Now sources, the NFLPA, and OvertheCap.com.