With the 2016 NFL Draft set to get underway later on this evening, now is a perfect time to update you on the Pittsburgh Steelers salary cap situation.
As of today, the NFLPA has the Steelers $3,574,520 under the cap and as you can see below, I have them $3,581,936 under the cap and that’s a difference of $7,416, which quite honestly isn’t worth looking for.
Judging by the NFLPA numbers, all teams have yet to be charged for workout bonuses but they do have to budget for those until the sessions are over and a real number can be charged. in the meantime, you need to account for that number being $561,600, which would put the Steelers just over $3 million under the cap.
Now, once the draft takes place, all of the Steelers selections will be counted as earning the minimum base salary in 2016 of $450,000 until they actually sign their contracts. That’s not a big deal right now as none of those salaries will qualify for the top 51 on the team. However, when it comes to the undrafted free agents, they will sign contracts right away so whatever their prorated signing bonus amounts ultimately wind up being will go against the cap.
The Steelers rookie draft pool is estimated to be right around $5.1 million this year but the team won’t need that full amount of cap space to accommodate all seven picks because of roster displacement in the top 51. As of right now, they’ll need roughly another $1.425 million in cap space to accommodate their draft picks.
The Steelers will also need to eventually accommodate a 52nd and 53rd roster spot and a 10-man practice squad and at most that should require $2.1 million in cap space. Additionally, keep in mind that the team normally likes to enter the regular season with around $3 million in available cap space for in-season injuries.
As you can see, the Steelers will certainly need more cap space later on in the offseason and as I have written several times already, I fully expect them to sign guard David DeCastro and Lawrence Timmons to extensions at some point and both moves will free up quite a bit of cap space. Additionally, assuming kicker Chris Boswell wins the kicking job this year, the Steelers will free up $2.4 million minus roster displacement should they cut or trade veteran kicker Shaun Suisham after June 1.
Now, they might ultimately extend the contract of running back Le’Veon Bell in addition to paying wide receiver Antonio Brown forward like they did last offseason, and both moves would undoubtedly require the use of additional cap space.
The Steelers have yet to restructure any contracts so far this offseason and that’s definitely a good thing. However, should they ultimately need to, they would likely go to either defensive end Cameron Heyward or quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to free up any cap monies needed.
As you should be able to clearly see, the Steelers have done an excellent job of managing their salary cap situation this offseason and should they ultimately need to do a restructure, it shouldn’t big a big deal.
I will provide another update after the rookie undrafted free agents are signed and the exact draft pick contract amounts are known.
| PLAYER | BASE SALARY | CAP CHARGE |
|---|---|---|
| Roethlisberger, Ben | $17,750,000 | $23,950,000 |
| Timmons, Lawrence | $8,750,000 | $15,131,250 |
| Brown, Antonio | $6,250,000 | $12,370,833 |
| Pouncey, Maurkice | $3,500,000 | $10,551,000 |
| Heyward, Cameron | $3,000,000 | $10,400,000 |
| DeCastro, David | $8,070,000 | $8,070,000 |
| Mitchell, Mike | $5,000,000 | $6,763,750 |
| Gilbert, Marcus | $3,950,000 | $6,461,000 |
| Suisham, Shaun | $2,400,000 | $3,503,000 |
| Moats, Arthur | $2,500,000 | $3,133,333 |
| Jones, Jarvis | $1,592,115 | $2,769,933 |
| Shazier, Ryan | $1,284,292 | $2,592,874 |
| Williams, DeAngelo | $2,000,000 | $2,565,000 |
| Gay, William | $1,800,000 | $2,483,333 |
| Green, Ladarius | $1,250,000 | $2,437,500 |
| Foster, Ramon | $1,500,000 | $2,416,666 |
| Dupree, Bud | $854,195 | $2,095,974 |
| Wheaton, Markus | $1,671,000 | $1,818,844 |
| Harris, Ryan | $1,325,000 | $1,662,500 |
| Harrison, James | $1,250,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Wallace, Cody | $1,200,000 | $1,350,000 |
| Bell, Le’Veon | $966,900 | $1,311,100 |
| Tuitt, Stephon | $839,040 | $1,257,121 |
| Golden, Robert | $760,000 | $1,176,666 |
| Spaeth, Matt | $1,000,000 | $1,137,500 |
| Heyward-Bey, Darrius | $1,000,000 | $1,133,333 |
| Golson, Senquez | $616,866 | $909,328 |
| Adams, Mike | $873,225 | $873,225 |
| Thomas, Shamarko | $675,000 | $788,288 |
| Jones, Landry | $675,000 | $784,805 |
| Williams, Vince | $675,000 | $694,670 |
| Coates, Sammie | $525,000 | $682,879 |
| Johnson, steven | $760,000 | $680,000 |
| Warren, Greg | $985,000 | $680,000 |
| Ventrone, Ross | $675,000 | $675,000 |
| Zumwalt, Jordan | $600,000 | $626,213 |
| McCullers, Daniel | $600,000 | $619,670 |
| Cockrell, Ross | $600,000 | $600,000 |
| Frey, Isaiah | $600,000 | $600,000 |
| Hubbard, Chris | $600,000 | $600,000 |
| Mathews, Ricardo | $760,000 | $600,000 |
| Richardson, Daryl | $600,000 | $600,000 |
| Toussaint, Fitzgerald | $600,000 | $600,000 |
| James, Jesse | $525,000 | $577,228 |
| Walton, L.T. | $525,000 | $554,232 |
| Berry, Jordan | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Boswell, Chris | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Chickillo, Anthony | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Fort, L.J. | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Grant, Doran | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Lyons, Caushaud | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Nix, Roosevelt | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Vaughan, Dustin | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Villanueva, Alejandro | $525,000 | $525,000 |
| Rogers, Eli | $450,000 | $451,666 |
| Blakeney, Issac | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Dangerfield, Jordan | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Dooley, Matt | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Feiler, Matt | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Finney, B.J. | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Garner, Montell | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Grimble, Xavier | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Hagen, Jacob | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Hooks, Lavon | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Long, Ty | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Manhart, Cole | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Mihalik, Brian | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Neal, Rajion | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Norwood, Levi | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Palmer, Tobais | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Phillips, Shakim | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Philon, Roy | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Shabazz, Al-Hajj | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Toure, Abou | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Vinopal, Ray | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Bryant, Martavis | $- | $109,805 |
| RULE OF 51 TOTAL | * | $146,049,519 |
| DEAD MONEY | * | -$7,997,523 |
| NFLPA 2015 ADJUSTMENTS | * | -$641,349 |
| 2015 ROLLOVER | * | +$3,000,327 |
| PROJECTED 2016 SALARY CAP | * | $155,270,000 |
| UNDER SALARY CAP | * | $3,581,936 |
