Steelers Take on $19.8m in Dead Cap Space after Ebron, Roethlisberger, Smith-Schuster Contracts Void

The contracts of Steelers tight end Eric Ebron, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster will officially be voided on Friday and the players are set to become unrestricted free agents at the start of the new league year in March.

The three players had negotiated voidable years in their contracts during the 2021 offseason in order to spread out their salary cap impact over multiple seasons. The contracts voiding on Friday was done automatically as part of the initial language.

Because he is retiring, the Steelers could have worked out an arrangement to modify Roethlisberger’s contact in order to push his money into the 2023 season, but they did not do so before the contract voided.

Between Ebron, Roethlisberger and Smith-Schuster, the Steelers will absorb a dead salary cap hit of $19.8 million. That figure had been anticipated.

The Steelers can still negotiate new contracts with Ebron and Smith-Schuster, should they choose to. Otherwise, they will hit the open market when the contact period

The Steelers will repeat this process in the future with Joe Schobert, Cameron Sutton and Stephon Tuitt in the future, all of which also have voidable years on their contracts with the team.