Last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a roster move that involved the placing of cornerback Justin King on injured reserve and in doing so it freed up a little bit of cap space in the process. According to the NFLPA, King no longer counts in the Steelers Rule of 51 during the offseason being as he is not part of the 90 man roster at this point. Since King's $715,000 was then displaced in the top 51 by a $480,000 base salary of another player on the team, the Steelers cleared $235,000 in cap space with the move. Now, the Steelers will eventually have a 53 man roster at the start of the season, Read more [...]

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have wrapped up all of their OTA sessions of the 2013 season they head into next week with eight of their nine 2013 draft picks under contract, as only fourth-round quarterback Landry Jones remains unsigned. This past week the Steelers signed linebacker Jarvis Jones, running back Le'Veon Bell and defensive end Nick Williams, and all of their contracts have been filed with the NFLPA. Below is a look at all eight of the rookie contracts, and it should be noted that the contract of Jarvis Jones is fully guaranteed and also includes a fifth-year club option in Read more [...]

In a few more days the Pittsburgh Steelers second OTA session of the 2013 season will be completed and the calendar will flip over to June. With the arrival of June comes the arrival of $5.5 million in additional salary cap space for the Steelers as the March release of guard Willie Colon will finally hit the ledger. So how will the Steelers spend their new found riches? By the end of this week the Steelers could very well have seven of their nine draft picks under contract with only linebacker Jarvis Jones and running back Le'Veon Bell left to sign. In total, the four remaining unsigned draft Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders had an eventful off-season that included him signing an one-year restricted offer sheet with the New England Patriots. The Steelers of course matched that offer right before the deadline and now that he is under contract for the 2013 season, Sanders was asked Wednesday on 93.7 The Fan if there has been any talk about an extension. "Of course, and those conversations are going on right now," Sanders said. Despite admitting that he has had extension talks with the Steelers, Sanders wanted to make it clear that those talks are not the main thing Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers now have one of their nine 2013 draft picks under contract as it was announced on Thursday morning that fourth-round safety Shamarko Thomas has come to terms. The four year contract signed by Thomas will total out at just shy of $2.7 million and will include a signing bonus of a little more than $450,000. The base salaries for each of the years are as follows: $405,000, $495,000, $585,000, and $675,000. Thomas will have a 2013 cap hit of around $518,300. The Steelers traded a 2014 third round draft pick to the Cleveland Browns to get into the fourth round to select Read more [...]

Thanks to the new slotting system provided in the 2011 CBA, almost 100 of the players selected last month in the 2013 NFL Draft are now under contract. The Pittsburgh Steelers, however, have yet to sign any of their nine selections, but you shouldn't be losing any sleep over that. Being as the Steelers will be close up against the salary cap until after June 1st, you can probably expect that Jarvis Jones, Le'Veon Bell and Markus Wheaton will remain unsigned until at least then as that's when the Steelers receive the $5.5 million worth of cap space coming to them from the early offseason release Read more [...]

Despite being severely cap-strapped until June 2nd rolls around, the Pittsburgh Steelers have still been able to sign a few free agents over the course of the last week in the form of running back LaRod Stephens-Howling and punter Brian Moorman. So how are they able to do this with such little cap room? They are doing it with the help of top 51 displacement and one year qualifying contracts. Displacement I have discussed before, and here is a post that I wrote on that subject a little while back. As far as one-year qualifying contracts go, those are given to players with four or more credited Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran punter Brian Moorman to their 90 man roster on Tuesday and the details of the contract are now in. Moorman signed a one-year qualifying contract with a base salary of $940,000 and the deal included no signing bonus. Being as it was a qualifying contract, the cap charge for Moorman will be $555,000. Thanks to displacement in the Rule of 51, the signing of Moorman only used up $75,000 in additional cap space. This leaves the Steelers with approximately $392,427.00 in cap room until June when at that time they will get an additional $5 million plus in cap Read more [...]

Due to a trade on Saturday in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, their total rookie pool number increased another $2.6 million plus. With nine draft picks now to get under contract, the Steelers total rookie pool number should come in just shy of $30 million. As far as cap hit totals for the nine players selected, that should now total just over $5.6 million when the dust clears and all of the contracts are signed. Thanks in part to displacement, however, the Steelers do not need $5.6 million in cap space to accommodate their nine selections and 15 undrafted Read more [...]

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers are past the period of having to worry about their restricted free agents, they are left with just $607,427.00 in salary cap space to work with as we inch closer to the 2013 NFL draft. That doesn't leave much room to sign additional players, even when you factor in displacement. Over a week ago, there were reports suggesting former New York Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw would be returning to Pittsburgh prior to the draft to have his surgically repaired foot looked at again, and while that still indeed might take place, it is unlikely that he will be signed, Read more [...]

An agent friend has passed along the contract numbers of the three-year, $7.25 million contract signed Thursday by Pittsburgh Steelers nose tackle Steve McLendon and they are a little different from my original guess. McLendon's base salaries for all three years are as follows: 2013 $900,000, 2014 $2,425,000 2015 $2,250,000. The salary cap charges for McLendon in all three years are set to be 2013 $1,458,333, 2014 2,983,333, 2015 2,808,334. McLendon was previously scheduled to count $1.323 million against the 2013 cap under because of his restricted tender, and his new contract only increases Read more [...]

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on Thursday that Pittsburgh Steelers nose tackle Steve McLendon signed a three-year deal with a max value of $7.25 million that included $1.675 million signing bonus that will pay him $5 million in the first two years of the deal. We do not know the exact breakdown of the contract as of yet, but if the signing bonus number, and the two year take are indeed correct, that could mean McLendon receives a base salary of $1.325 million in 2013, $2 million in 2014 and $2.25 million in 2015. If the above numbers hold true, the 2013 cap hit for McLendon would be $1,883,333, Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers nipped the situation with nose tackle Steve McLendon in the bud on Thursday as Adam Schefter of ESPN reports via Twitter that McLendon signed a three-year deal with a max value of $7.25 million that included $1.675 million guaranteed and $5 million in the first two years of the deal. McLendon, a restricted free agent, was tendered at right of first refusal level in the amount of $1.323 million prior to the start of free agency. He also reportedly visited with the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday, but hadn't signed an offer sheet yet. Had the Packers inked McLendon to Read more [...]

It was reported Wednesday evening that Pittsburgh Steelers restricted free agent nose tackle Steve McLendon visited with the Green Bay Packers. While no offer sheet has been signed as of yet, the obvious question being asked, is how much could the Steelers afford to match. The Steelers currently have $742,760.00 in cap space at their disposal, and when added to the $1.323 million right of first refusal tender given to McLendon, that means the Packers would have to sign the Troy product to a one-year offer sheet worth more than $2 million to make it tough for Pittsburgh to match. Should the Read more [...]

As expected, the talk about Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who had his one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet that he signed with the New England Patriots matched on Sunday, has now shifted to whether or not a long-term deal can be worked out between now and the start of the 2013 season. Sanders agent Jordan Woy reportedly told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday that his client is indeed looking for a long-term deal right now, but is also open to becoming an unrestricted free agent next offseason if one can't be reached. "We are open to discussing a multiyear Read more [...]

So now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have decided to match the $2.5 million offer sheet given to restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders by the New England Patriots, do they have enough cap room to sign more players moving forward? Thanks to displacement in the Rule of 51, yes, but only within reason being as the team has just $742,760 in salary cap space right now. Let's take free agent offensive lineman Doug Legursky, for example. Should the Steelers sign him to a one-year deal at his minimum amount of $715,000, it would only use up another $235,000 in cap space after displacement Read more [...]

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have made the decision to match the one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet signed by restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders with the New England Patriots, the discussion will now move on to whether or not they will be able to work out a long-term extension with him between now and the start of the 2013 season. As I pointed out in a post earlier in the weekend, the rules of the CBA state that Sanders 2013 base salary of $2.5 million can't be lowered. That means any additional money that Sanders were to receive in the form of a signing bonus would be Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers made the decision on Sunday to match the one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet that restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders signed with the New England Patriots and here is a look at the salary cap situation as it stands right now. Heading into Sunday, the Steelers had $1,919,760.00 in cap space at their disposal and when you factor in the additional $1.177 million used to match the Sanders offer sheet, it leaves them with just $742,760 in available cap space. The Steelers will gain roughly an additional $5.02 million in cap space  after displacement on Read more [...]

A few people have asked about what rules the New England Patriots must follow in regard to giving restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders an extension should the Pittsburgh Steelers not match the one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet that he signed. Here is what the CBA says about it restricted free agents and offer sheets: The player and the New Club may not renegotiate such Player Contract to reduce the Salary in such contract until after the end of the first regular season covered by the Contract. Neither the player nor the New Club may exercise an option in such Player Contract Read more [...]

Should the Pittsburgh Steelers wind up matching the one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet that restricted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders with the New England Patriots, all the discussion will then shift to the possibility of working out a long-term extension with him before the 2013 season. Personally, I don't see an extension in his future. First off, Sanders, much like Mike Wallace last season, will have over $2 million in his pocket and a potential breakout season ahead of him to improve his value. Not signing an extension this offseason would allow him to become an unrestricted Read more [...]