The Pittsburgh Steelers got new cornerback Donte Jackson to take a $4.5 million pay cut for the 2024 season, according to a report by Over the Cap on Monday morning.
The Steelers and Jackson had a Saturday deadline to re-work his deal, which was originally set to pay hm $10.5 million this season and $4 million of that on Saturday. The Steelers apparently got under that deadline, even though the news didn’t come out until Monday morning.
Jackson agreed to take a pay cut of $4.5 million, from $10.5 million down to $6 million total for the season. They did so with only giving him another $750,000 in guaranteed money on top of the $4 million he had already been expected to get over the weekend. The Steelers could have cut Jackson without penalty if they released him before paying him the bonus.
With Jackson agreeing to a significant pay cut, the Steelers have about $14.8 million in 2024 offseason salary cap space, according to Steelers Now‘s estimate. That’s up from $10.3 million in our last update on Sunday.
That comes with the caveat that we still haven’t seen the contract details for the contract of safety DeShon Elliott, so his salary is estimated in this update. There is only so much wiggle room in a contract like his two-year, $6 million deal. His 2024 salary cap hit has to be somewhere between $1.125 million and $4.875 million, and both of those extremes are very unlikely. We’ll estimate his 2024 cap hit at $2.625 million until we get a better figure.
No details have been released regarding the new contract of wide receiver Van Jefferson. He is not included at all.
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 complaint before the start of the season after this weekend’s moves. They are functionally $4.9 million over the 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.) | -$4,901,530 | 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 | $218,509,516 | 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.) | $14,849,606 | Donte Jackson | $6,000,000 |
| Nate Herbig | $5,460,000 | ||
| Draft pool | $3,013,936 | Chris Boswell | $4,720,000 |
| End of rule of 51 | $1,830,000 | 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. | $3,235,000 | ||
| Justin Fields | $3,233,448 | ||
| DeShon Elliott (est.) | $2,625,000 | ||
| Miles Killebrew | $2,255,000 | ||
| Joey Porter Jr. | $2,185,988 | ||
| Montravius Adams | $2,125,000 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Christian Kuntz | $1,163,333 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Kalon Barnes | $915,000 | ||
| Dylan Cook | $915,000 | ||
| Jalen Elliott | $915,000 | ||
| Devery Hamilton | $915,000 | ||
| Ryan McCollum | $915,000 |
Salary figures from Steelers Now sources, the NFLPA, and OvertheCap.com.