It’s been three weeks since we updated the Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 salary cap situation and since that time there have been several moves that have taken place.
For starters, the Steelers re-signed safety Will Allen and added linebacker Shayon Green, punter Jordan Berry and long snapper Brandon Hartson. In addition to those players now being under contract for the 2015 season, safety Troy Polamalu has now retired and has since been added to the Steelers reserve/retired list.
Polamalu’s retirement and subsequent placing on the reserve/retired list now means that the Steelers will have an additional $4.5 million dead money charge in 2015 and that brings their current dead total in that column to $14,496,743. Polamalu was scheduled to count $8.25 million against the 2015 salary cap, however, so the team will save $3.75 million this year now that he has retired.
Of the four other players listed above that were recently added to the Steelers offseason roster, Allen is the only one that moved the salary cap needle as his 2015 cap charge qualified to be listed in the top 51.
As you can see at the bottom of the table below, the Steelers current ‘Rule of 51’ number is $134,315,818 and that number is a result of the top 51 cap charges added to bonuses outside of the top 51 and the total amount of dead money. While that number is $8,964,182 under the league’s $143,280,000 salary cap, there are still a few credits and debits that need to be accounted for.
As we’ve mentioned several times throughout the offseason, the Steelers were able to rollover $778,469 in unused cap money from last season. In addition to that, they will have two debits at some point of $561,600 and $1,125,000. The first debit is an approximate workout bonus charge that the team must absorb until the real number is determined just prior to the start of the regular season. The second larger charge is a veteran cap credit payment stemming from the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
When you apply the credits and debits, you will see that the Steelers are essentially $8,056,051 under their adjusted salary cap number with the draft now right around the corner.
As I mentioned in the last post, the Steelers will only need roughly $1.4 million in additional salary cap space to sign all eight of their draft selections. In addition to those draft picks, the Steelers will also eventually need to accommodate the salaries of a 52nd and 53rd player. Both of those cap charges aren’t likely to exceed a million dollars, however. In addition to those two charges, a 10 player practice squad also needs to be accounted for and that total charge will more than likely come in at around $1.1 million.
Just to be on the safe side, you should probably plan on roughly $3.5 million being needed to accommodate the draft class, final two roster spots and the practice squad. Please keep in mind that the organization usually likes to keep roughly another $2 million free in available space for in-season injury replacements. Add that to the $3.5 million and you have $5.5 million in cap space that is already essentially “spent”.
The Steelers should ultimately sign defensive end Cameron Heyward and tackle Kelvin Beachum to contract extensions later on in the summer and the net results of that should be more cap space as the former is currently scheduled to count nearly $7 million against the 2015 salary cap.
| Steelers 2015 Projected Salary Cap Numbers As Of 4/20/2015 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Players Under Contract | ||
| Player | Base Salary | Cap Charge |
| Ben Roethlisberger | $1,000,000 | $17,245,000 |
| Lawrence Timmons | $7,500,000 | $12,566,250 |
| Antonio Brown | $6,000,000 | $9,787,500 |
| Cortez Allen | $2,631,000 | $6,981,000 |
| Cameron Heyward | $6,969,000 | $6,969,000 |
| Heath Miller | $4,000,000 | $5,666,666 |
| Maurkice Pouncey | $745,000 | $4,296,000 |
| Shaun Suisham | $2,595,000 | $3,665,000 |
| Marcus Gilbert | $745,000 | $3,256,000 |
| Steve McLendon | $2,250,000 | $2,808,334 |
| Mike Mitchell | $745,000 | $2,508,750 |
| Cam Thomas | $2,000,000 | $2,500,000 |
| David DeCastro | $1,030,531 | $2,486,240 |
| Jarvis Jones | $1,196,410 | $2,374,228 |
| Ryan Shazier | $852,146 | $2,160,728 |
| Ramon Foster | $1,850,000 | $2,150,000 |
| Bruce Gradkowski | $1,550,000 | $1,833,334 |
| William Gay | $1,500,000 | $1,666,668 |
| Kelvin Beachum | $1,542,000 | $1,553,474 |
| Antwon Blake | $1,542,000 | $1,542,000 |
| Robert Golden | $1,542,000 | $1,542,000 |
| Will Johnson | $1,542,000 | $1,542,000 |
| Arthur Moats | $850,000 | $1,483,333 |
| DeAngelo Williams | $870,000 | $1,435,000 |
| Cody Wallace | $1,100,000 | $1,250,000 |
| James Harrison | $1,000,000 | $1,250,000 |
| Mike Adams | $873,225 | $1,127,525 |
| Le’Veon Bell | $779,600 | $1,123,800 |
| Matt Spaeth | $925,000 | $1,062,000 |
| Stephon Tuitt | $629,520 | $1,047,601 |
| Sean Spence | $680,000 | $816,345 |
| Markus Wheaton | $605,000 | $752,844 |
| Shamarko Thomas | $585,000 | $698,288 |
| Landry Jones | $585,000 | $694,805 |
| Clifton Geathers | $745,000 | $665,000 |
| Darrius Heyward-Bey | $745,000 | $665,000 |
| Greg Warren | $970,000 | $665,000 |
| Will Allen | $970,000 | $665,000 |
| Dri Archer | $518,000 | $644,504 |
| Martavis Bryant | $510,000 | $619,805 |
| Vince Williams | $585,000 | $604,670 |
| B.W. Webb | $585,000 | $585,000 |
| Matt Conrath | $585,000 | $585,000 |
| Michael Egnew | $585,000 | $585,000 |
| Ross Ventrone | $585,000 | $585,000 |
| Terence Garvin | $585,000 | $585,000 |
| Daniel McCullers | $510,000 | $529,670 |
| Brad Wing | $510,000 | $510,000 |
| Chris Hubbard | $510,000 | $510,000 |
| Josh Harris | $510,000 | $510,000 |
| Jordan Zumwalt | $435,000 | $461,213 |
| Shawn Lemon | $435,000 | $437,500 |
| Alden Darby | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Alejandro Villanueva | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Brandon Hartson | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Brelan Chancellor | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| C.J. Goodwin | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Ethan Hemer | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Howard Jones | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Ian Wild | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Isaiah Lewis | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Joe Kruger | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Jordan Berry | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Jordan Dangerfield | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Kevin Fogg | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| L’Damian Washington | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Mitchell Van Dyk | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Richie Leone | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Rob Blanchflower | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Roosevelt Nix | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Shayon Greene | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Tajh Boyd | $435,000 | $435,000 |
| Total 72 Players Under Contract | $80,387,432 | $128,954,075 |
| Dead Money | ||
| Player | Cap Charge | |
| LaMarr Woodley | $8,580,000 | |
| Troy Polamalu | $4,500,000 | |
| LeGarrette Blount | $475,000 | |
| Lance Moore | $322,500 | |
| Brett Keisel | $250,000 | |
| Shaquille Richardson | $142,539 | |
| Wesley Johnson | $108,420 | |
| Rob Blanchflower | $44,550 | |
| Nick Williams | $28,924 | |
| David Paulson | $11,474 | |
| Howard Jones | $6,667 | |
| Eric Waters | $5,000 | |
| Josh Mauro | $5,000 | |
| Roy Philon | $4,000 | |
| Brendon Kay | $3,334 | |
| Ethan Hemer | $3,334 | |
| Will Simmons | $3,334 | |
| Chris Elkins | $2,667 | |
| Total 18 Players Dead Money | $14,496,743 | |
| Total Rule Of 51 Number | $134,315,818 | |
| 2015 Salary Cap | $143,280,000 | |
| Rule Of 51 Under Cap | $8,964,182 | |
| 2014 Cap Rollover Credit | $778,469 | |
| Workout Bonus Charge | $561,600 | |
| Veteran Cap Credit Payback Charge | $1,125,000 | |
| Total Projected Cap Space Available | $8,056,051 | |
