The Pittsburgh Steelers have been fairly quiet when it comes to the 2017 free agent signing period as they’ve only re-signed two of their own and one outside player since the new league year got underway on March 9. At this point, even if the Steelers do manage to sign a few more outside free agents moving forward, those players aren’t likely to command huge salaries as the lot has been picked over fairly well as of right now. With it now looking like the bulk of the Steelers free agency signings are done, it’s time once again to look at the team’s 2017 salary cap situation.
Below is an up-to-date projection as to where the Steelers currently sit salary cap wise on March 19 and it includes the re-signings of quarterback Landry Jones and tight end David Johnson in addition to wide receiver Justin Hunter, formerly of the Buffalo Bills. While Hunter’s one-year contract numbers have yet to be reported to the NFLPA, it’s not very hard to guess what his deal might ultimately look like and thus consider his numbers below to be my own projection.
As of Sunday morning, the Steelers have 77 players under contract officially and 78 if you count Hunter. According to the NFLPA, the Steelers currently have $19,854,218 in available salary cap space pending the signing of Hunter. My projection, that includes Hunter, results in the Steelers having $19,549,218 in available salary cap space.
In short, my difference of $305,000 from the NFLPA number can be easily explained and thankfully it is a nice round number. First, the Hunter contract speculated displacement accounts for the $155,000 of that difference. Second, it appears as though the NFLPA is not currently including the 2017 base salary of wide receiver Martavis Bryant in their numbers and that’s likely because he’s yet to be reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodell. As you can see, I included Bryant in my projections below along with Hunter’s.
Now, while the Steelers currently have more than $19 million in available salary cap space at their disposal, it’s important to remember to think ahead about future charges that await the team and those projected amounts are detailed near the bottom of the table and will surely not be exact. In short, the Steelers essentially have roughly $11 million in real available salary cap space as we sit here on March 19.
With the bulk of free agency now out of the way and with roughly $11 million in future available salary cap space at the Steelers disposal, you can count on some of it being eaten up by defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who I have stated several times is expected to receive a contract extension later on in the summer. The same could go for tackle Alejandro Villanueva even though he’s an exclusive rights free agent this year.
On the safe side, an extension for Tuitt will likely wind up eating up roughly $5 million of the Steelers available remaining salary cap space and especially if he signs a contract similar to the one fellow defensive end Cameron Heyward inked a few years ago.
As for a possible contract extension for Villanueva, it’s hard to project how much additional salary cap space will be used on him, but if pressed to make guess, I would speculate $3 million at that very most if he ultimately signs a new deal.
If my speculation winds up being correct, extensions for Tuitt and Villanueva would eat up roughly $8 million of available salary cap space and thus leave the Steelers with roughly $3 million to spend. But wait, there’s more offseason business that needs to be handled.
Now, the Steelers hope to work out a long-term contract extension with running back Le’Veon Bell between now and July 15, the deadline for them to do so after placing the franchise tag on him ahead of the start of the league year. When and if that extension ultimately happens, one would think Bell’s 2017 salary cap charge would go down some. By how much, however, is unknown and it will be interesting to see if the Steelers give him a good portion of his first-year money in base salary as opposed to a signing bonus in order to decrease future dead money liability due to his injury history and the position that he plays. I know that’s the way I would attack his extension as we sit here in middle of March if at all possible.
| STEELERS 2017 PROJECTED SALARY CAP RECAP – 3/19/17 | ||
|---|---|---|
| CONTRACTED PLAYERS | ||
| PLAYER | BASE SALARY | CAP CHARGE |
| Ben Roethlisberger | $12,000,000 | $18,200,000 |
| Antonio Brown | $910,000 | $13,618,334 |
| Le’Veon Bell (FRANCHISE TAG) | $12,120,000 | $12,120,000 |
| Maurkice Pouncey | $7,500,000 | $11,051,000 |
| David DeCastro | $6,750,000 | $11,050,000 |
| Cameron Heyward | $5,000,000 | $10,400,000 |
| Mike Mitchell | $5,000,000 | $8,135,416 |
| Marcus Gilbert | $4,000,000 | $7,308,500 |
| Ladarius Green | $5,000,000 | $6,187,500 |
| Ramon Foster | $2,675,000 | $3,591,666 |
| Ryan Shazier | $1,716,438 | $3,025,020 |
| Arthur Moats | $2,250,000 | $2,883,334 |
| William Gay | $2,000,000 | $2,633,333 |
| Bud Dupree | $1,273,390 | $2,515,169 |
| Vince Williams | $2,000,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Landry Jones | $1,900,000 | $2,200,000 |
| Artie Burns | $885,954 | $2,179,769 |
| James Harrison | $1,200,000 | $1,950,000 |
| Robert Golden | $1,465,000 | $1,881,666 |
| Chris Hubbard (RFA TENDER) | $1,797,000 | $1,797,000 |
| Ross Cockrell (RFA TENDER) | $1,797,000 | $1,797,000 |
| Stephon Tuitt | $1,048,560 | $1,466,641 |
| Darrius Heyward-Bey | $1,200,000 | $1,333,333 |
| Senquez Golson | $798,732 | $1,091,194 |
| David Johnson | $900,000 | $1,017,500 |
| Sean Davis | $635,771 | $928,856 |
| Sammie Coates | $615,000 | $797,379 |
| Martavis Bryant | $690,000 | $793,346 |
| Javon Hargrave | $560,000 | $733,314 |
| Daniel McCullers | $690,000 | $709,670 |
| Greg Warren | $1,000,000 | $695,000 |
| Justin Hunter (Projected) | $775,000 | $695,000 |
| Steven Johnson | $775,000 | $695,000 |
| Fitzgerald Toussaint (ERFA TENDER) | $690,000 | $690,000 |
| Zach Mettenberger | $690,000 | $690,000 |
| Jesse James | $615,000 | $667,228 |
| L.T. Walton | $615,000 | $644,232 |
| Alejandro Villanueva (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Anthony Chickillo (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Chris Boswell (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Greg Ducre | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Jordan Berry | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| L.J. Fort | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Roosevelt Nix (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Jerald Hawkins | $465,000 | $597,622 |
| Tyler Matakevich | $540,000 | $555,763 |
| Eli Rogers | $540,000 | $541,668 |
| Al-Hajj Shabazz | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| B.J. Finney (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Brian Mihalik | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Cobi Hamilton (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| DeMarcus Ayers | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Jordan Dangerfield (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Keavon Milton | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Brandon Dixon | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Trey Williams | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Xavier Grimble (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Akil Blount | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| A.J. Hughes | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Canaan Severin | $465,000 | $467,666 |
| Brandon Brown-Dukes | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Devonte Johnson | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Dez Stewart | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Dreamius Smith | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Farrington Huguenin | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Gus Johnson | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Jacob Hagan | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Jason Fanaika | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Johnny Maxey | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Kameron Canaday | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Kyle Friend | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Lavon Hooks | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Matt Feiler | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Marcus Tucker | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Mike Hilton | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Mike Matthews | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Roy Philon | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Ryan Malleck | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Projected Top 51 Under Contract | $148,835,119 | |
| DEAD MONEY | CHARGE | |
| Shaun Suisham | * | $2,206,000 |
| Ryan Harris | * | $337,500 |
| Travis Feeney | * | $75,267 |
| Demarcus Ayers | * | $59,739 |
| Jordan Zumwalt | * | $26,213 |
| Giorgio Newberry | * | $6,667 |
| Devaunte Sigler | * | $5,334 |
| Tyriq McCord | * | $4,667 |
| Will Monday | * | $3,334 |
| Quinton Schooley | * | $2,667 |
| Johnny Maxey | * | $2,000 |
| David Reeves | * | $1,334 |
| Brandon Brown-Dukes | * | $1,000 |
| Marcus Tucker | * | $1,000 |
| Projected Dead Money Total | $2,732,722 | |
| Projected Rule Of 51 Total | $151,567,841 | |
| ADDITIONAL FUTURE CHARGES | AMOUNT | |
| Projected Draft Pick Signing Bonus Displacement | $1,433,277 | |
| Projected Practice Squad Players | $1,224,000 | |
| Projected Final Cap Loan Repayment | $1,000,000 | |
| Projected 52nd & 53rd Players | $930,000 | |
| Projected Workout Bonuses | $500,000 | |
| Projected Allocated In-Season Cap Space | $3,500,000 | |
| SALARY CAP CREDITS | AMOUNT | |
| 2016 Salary Cap Rollover | $3,269,367 | |
| 2016 Salary Cap Credit 3/10 | $847,692 | |
| 2017 SALARY CAP NUMBER | AMOUNT | |
| 2017 NFL Salary Cap As Of 3/2017 | $167,000,000 | |
| AVAILABLE SALARY CAP SPACE | AMOUNT | |
| Projected 2017 Salary Cap Space As Of 3/19/2017 | $19,549,218 | |
| Projected Expendable 2017 Salary Cap Space As Of 3/19/2017 | $10,961,941 | |
Data credit to: NFLPA, Over the Cap, Joel Corry, Aaron Wilson
