The recent moves by the Steelers to keep in tact most of the offensive line and depth from the 2008 season now opens up the chance to truly draft the best player available in the upcoming 2009 NFL draft. Free agents Chris Kemoeatu, Willie Colon, Trai Essex and Max Starks are all back in the fold with only Marvel Smith and Kendall Simmons being allowed to get away, both of which were injury concerns going forward. Headed into free agency and the draft, it look that drafting an offensive lineman in round one would be a priority. Now the Steelers can let round one come to them and choose the best player available with the pick. The Steelers will indeed likely address the offensive line still with at least two of their picks, but do not have to be locked into doing so with the first pick. Going into the draft, the Steelers have 4 major position needs. The offensive line, with priority being a center, the defensive line, with nose tackle being a priority, cornerback and lastly a wide receiver to challenge for the number 3 or 4 role on the team. I see these four positions as being the ones the Steelers look to use most of their draft picks on. The luxury now with having a Super Bowl winning offensive line back in tact, is the Steelers can let the draft come to them and not have to be locked into one position in the first few rounds.
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As free agency officially begins at midnight tonight, the Steelers will likely be on the sidelines watching all of the action. A salary cap report earlier in the day by Adam Schefter said the Steelers were only $7,400,000.00 under the $127,000,000.00 salary cap. My Steelers salary cap estimation has them at $9,476,280.00 under the cap after the release of Simmons and Humpal and the tendering of the other five players. This leaves me off by $2,076,280.00 which I am sure is an error on my part by missing some dead money along with being off a bit on a few contracts.
Before the Steelers go after any free agents they need to house clean themselves by extending James Harrison and signing Max Starks to a new contract. Also they may consider in redoing a few more contracts as well to reduce the cap number. Right now, Starks and Ben Roethlisberger account for 22 million dollars of the 2009 salary cap. If you were planning on staying up tonight, don't do it on the Steelers behalf as I expect it to be very quiet on the Steelers news wire.
Updated 9:17 PM Central:
I found 2.4 million in dead money left over from center Sean Mahan. That puts the Steelers at $119,923,720.00 or $7,076,280 under the salary cap. I am sure there are a few more errors on my part, so realistically the Steelers are around only 5-6 million under the cap at this time.
The Steelers released former 2002 first round draft pick right guard Kendall Simmons and linebacker Mike Humpal on Thursday. Simmons tore his Achilles tendon in the fourth game of 2008 and was placed on injured reserve. Humpal, was a 2008 sixth-round draft pick and also was on injured reserve with a neck injury.
Here is an early look at the Steelers 2009 salary cap situation. These numbers are not exact, but to the best of my research are close. Listed is the 2009 base salary of players under contract and the estimated 2009 cap charge. The 2009 NFL salary cap is set to be 127 million dollars per team and my best estimation, the Steelers are right at about 100 million. This means they are roughly 27 million under the cap at this time. I will break down who will likely be a cap casualty in future post, but as of right now, I could see Larry Foote and Kendall Simmons as possible cap casualties. Please note these numbers are estimations.
Edited on 2/25/09 to reflect Max Starks franchise tag number which leaves the Steelers around $18,757,000.00 of cap room.
Edited again to reflect the tenders, the releases and some dead money. Steelers roughly just 7 million or less under the cap at this point headed into free agency.
Edited again to reflect the closer exclusive rights tender amounts of Carey Davis & Jeremy Parquet, Also addded Chris Kemoeatu contract and adjusted the new contract for Sean McHugh. Steelers roughly just 3.5 million or more under the cap at this point.
Edited on 3/02/09 to reflect the "Rule of 51" which I totally forgot about in all of my number crunching. This rule states that only the top 51 salaries are counted against the Steelers salary cap in the offseason. Right now that number is ROUGHLY $121,046,097.00 which would mean the Steelers are around 6 million dollars under the salary cap. Being as some of my numbers are not exact, I figure I have a plus or minus error of around 3 million dollars, so realistically the Steelers may have around 9 million in available cap room or as low as 3 million left available as of this date.
Edited on 3/04/09 to reflect the real contract numbers of Sean McHugh and added Martin Nance who re-signed. Cap total around $120,809,430.00
Edited on 3/12/09 to reflect Willie Colon and Andre Frazier signings. Cap total around $121,106,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This leaves the Steelers around 6 million under the cap with a plus or minus error of 3 million
Edited on 3/16/09 to reflect Chris Kemoeatu true contract numbers. Cap total around $118,894,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This leaves the Steelers around 8 million under the cap with a plus or minus error of 2 million. This is yet to reflect the Arnold Harrison signing which I should have in a few days.
Edited on 3/17/09 to reflect Trai Essex, Fernando Bryant and Arnold Harrison signings. Cap total around $119,814,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This leaves the Steelers around 7 million under the cap with a plus or minus error of 1.5 million.
Edited on 4/13/09 to reflect Keyaron Fox signings. Cap total around $120,500,000.00 when applying the rule of 51. This leaves the Steelers around 6.5 million under the cap with a plus or minus error of 1.5 million.
Edited on 4/14/09 to reflect Charlie Batch signing. Cap total around $120,749,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This does not include the new James Harrison contract of which I am expecting the new numbers on any day. Harrison likely will count at or around 5 million against the cap, thus putting the Steelers around $124,500,000.00 This would leave the Steelers around 2.5 million under the cap if my numbers are correct.
Edited on 4/15/09 to reflect James Harrison contract numbers. Cap total around $125,205,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This would leave the Steelers around 1.75 million under the cap if my numbers are correct. It should be noted the Harrison contract is extremely front loaded and creatively done. His base salary is only $800,000 with a $6.2 million dollar cap hit. I will detail his contract in a future post.
Edited on 4/16/09 to reflect Gary Russell release. This leaves me to believe my numbers are pretty close as this was a salary cap move to ensure enough money would be allocated to the rookie pool of the upcoming draft. The Russell release frees up $75,000 in the cap as the next salary to move up in the Rule of 51 is $385,000 versus the salary of Russell was to be $460,000. Cap total around $125,130,930.00 when applying the rule of 51. This would leave the Steelers around 2 million under the cap which for this time of year and a week away from the draft seems spot on. I would note my margin of error at plus or minus $1 million dollars at this point, but truly believe I am very close.
Edited on 4/23/09 to reflect updated Charlie Batch numbers. Also I had been counting Kendall Simmons and Sean Mahan in the top 51 salaries. There salary cap dead money counts, but they are not to be included in the top 51 as they are no longer on the roster. The current cap number I have is $125,135,930.00 which leaves only less than $2.0 million under the cap. I am missing some incentive and bonus money still probably in the neighborhood of 1 million dollars. So realistically they are only a million or less under the cap.
Edited on 6/23/09 to reflect Fernando Bryant retirement, Max Starks new cap number, 6 released players and all current rookie signings. The total salary cap number when applying the Rule of 51 is around $121,956,930.00 or roughly 5 million dollars under the 127 million salary cap. This total has a margin of error of around 1.5 million dollars to the best of my calculations.
Edited on 6/23/09 Forgot to do the new Hines Ward contract numbers. Roughly with best estimates this leaves the cap number at $117,956,930.00 or 9 million under the cap with a margin of error of 2 million dollars.
Edited on 7/30/09 To reflect the Ziggy Hood, Kraig Urbik and Heath Miller contracts. Right now the Miller contract is a gross estimation until I get the true base numbers. Right now my best estimation is the total Rule 51 salary cap total is $123,581,597.00 or 3.5 million under the cap with a margin of error of 2 million dollars.
Edited on 8/3/09 To reflect the new Heath Miller contract. Based on the numbers below, the 2009 cap charge for Miller will be in the neighborhood of $3,960,000.00. This puts the Steelers 2009 salary cap total at about $121,541,597.00 or about 5.5 million dollars under the cap with a plus or minus area of 2 million dollars.
Edited on 9/2/09 To reflect the new Brett Keisel contract and the release of Steven Black, Martin Nance, Alex Stepanovich and Derrick Richardson. This puts the Steelers 2009 salary cap total at about $119,793,597.00 or about 7 million dollars under the cap with a plus or minus area of 2 million dollars.
Edited on 9/6/09 To reflect the final cuts and 53 man roster that includes two players on injured reserve and all dead money of players released or traded that were owed signing bonus money that has to go against the cap. This puts the Steelers 2009 salary cap total at about $120,195,833.33 or about 6.75 million dollars under the cap with a plus or minus area of 2.5 million dollars. With all likelihood, the real cap total is around $123,000,000.00 or 4 million under the cap.
| POS | PLAYER | 2009 BASE SALARY | 2009 CAP HIT |
| LB | Patrick Bailey | $385,000.00 | $392,280.00 |
| S | Tyrone Carter | $745,000.00 | $843,014.00 |
| S | Ryan Clark | $1,700,000.00 | $2,419,780.00 |
| QB | Dennis Dixon | $385,000.00 | $435,613.00 |
| DE | Nick Eason | $620,000.00 | $474,118.00 |
| LB | James Farrior | $2,975,000.00 | $3,979,680.00 |
| LB | Larry Foote | Released | $1,047,500.00 |
| CB | William Gay | $460,000.00 | $501,708.00 |
| DT | Casey Hampton | $3,075,000.00 | $6,552,084.00 |
| LB | James Harrison | $800,000.00 | $5,701,030.00 |
| OL | Justin Hartwig | $1,750,000.00 | $2,629,160.00 |
| OL | Tony Hills | $385,000.00 | $493,780.00 |
| DT | Chris Hoke | $1,300,000.00 | $1,681,240.00 |
| WR | Santonio Holmes | $700,000.00 | $1,845,200.00 |
| LB | Mike Humpal | Released | $50,000.00 |
| DE | Brett Keisel | $2,250,000.00 | $5,003,220.00 |
| DE | Travis Kirschke | $1,150,000.00 | $1,305,200.00 |
| RB | Rashard Mendenhall | $385,000.00 | $1,493,740.00 |
| TE | Heath Miller | $1,460,000.00 | $4,678,740.00 |
| RB | Mewelde Moore | $1,475,000.00 | $1,931,240.00 |
| RB | Willie Parker | $3,350,000.00 | $4,542,180.00 |
| S | Troy Polamalu | $2,900,000.00 | $6,500,200.00 |
| K | Jeff Reed | $1,375,000.00 | $1,979,574.00 |
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger | $4,750,000.00 | $13,221,560.00 |
| P | Daniel Sepulveda | $460,000.00 | $582,280.00 |
| OL | Kendall Simmons | Released | $4,670,000.00 |
| DE | Aaron Smith | $2,350,000.00 | $3,955,200.00 |
| TE | Matt Spaeth | $460,000.00 | $654,304.00 |
| OL | Darnell Stapleton | $460,000.00 | $468,908.00 |
| WR | Limas Sweed | $385,000.00 | $775,613.00 |
| CB | Ivan Taylor | $2,640,000.00 | $5,674,680.00 |
| LB | Lawrence Timmons | $460,000.00 | $2,104,740.00 |
| CB | DeShea Townsend | $1,800,000.00 | $2,377,180.00 |
| WR | Hines Ward | $2,750,000.00 | $5,698,013.00 |
| LS | Greg Warren | $650,000.00 | $788,946.00 |
| LB | LaMarr Woodley | $460,000.00 | $816,240.00 |
| OL | Max Starks | $1,400,000.00 | $5,406,240.00 |
| FB | Sean McHugh | $620,000.00 | $756,240.00 |
| S | Ryan Mundy | $310,000.00 | $317,280.00 |
| RB | Stefan Logan | $310,000.00 | $314,680.00 |
| OL | Doug Legursky | $310,000.00 | $317,280.00 |
| OL | Sean Mahan | Dead Money | $2,400,000.00 |
| OL | Chris Kemoeatu | $1,765,000.00 | $2,792,000.00 |
| OL | Willie Colon | $2,198,000.00 | $2,198,000.00 |
| LB | Andre Frazier | $620,000.00 | $688,740.00 |
| LB | Arnold Harrison | Released | Released |
| OL | Trai Essex | $620,000.00 | $876,240.00 |
| LB | Keyaron Fox | $620,000.00 | $810,000.00 |
| QB | Charlie Batch | $845,000.00 | $510,000.00 |
| WR | Shaun McDonald | Released | Released |
| CB | Keiwan Ratliff | Released | Released |
| WR | Mike Wallace | $310,000.00 | $495,000.00 |
| CB | Joe Burnett | $310,000.00 | $348,875.00 |
| RB | Frank Summers | $310,000.00 | $348,416.00 |
| CB | Keenan Lewis | $310,000.00 | $470,000.00 |
| OL | Raymon Foster | $310,000.00 | $312,666.00 |
| TE | David Johnson | $310,000.00 | $321,066.00 |
| DE | Ziggy Hood | $1,100,000.00 | $1,118,535.00 |
| OL | Kraig Urbik | $310,000.00 | $507,667.00 |
| LB | Bruce Davis | Released | $333,333.33 |
| DE | Sonny Harris | $310,000.00 | $218,823.00 |
| LB | Rocky Boiman | $745,000.00 | $745,000.00 |
| WR | Tyler Grisham | $310,000.00 | $310,500.00 |
| CB | Anthony Madison | $535,000.00 | $535,000.00 |
| CB | Trai Williams | $310,000.00 | $310,500.00 |
| WR | Joey Galloway | $745,000.00 | $510,000.00 |
| RULE 51 TOTAL | $122,540,026.33 |
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Tomorrow's game against the New York Giants will be a huge measuring stick of where exactly the Steelers are in comparison to the rest of the league. The Steelers combined opponents record thus far is 13-24, with no opponent having better than a .500 record. The rest of the schedule starting Sunday has Steeler opponents at a 35-29 record, with four teams having a better than .500 winning percentage. The Steelers have a league-high 25 sacks on defense and are back to their old blitzing ways under defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. On Sunday the Steelers must put pressure on Giants quarterback Eli Manning and concentrate on holding running back Brandon Jacobs under 100 yards. Once again the Steelers secondary will likely be left on a island with cornerback William Gay having to fill in for the injured Bryant McFadden. The 6-5 former Steeler wide receiver, Plaxico Burress will look to match up against the shorter 5-10 Gay. The Steelers will likely try to assign Ike Taylor to Burress most of the day, with help over top by safety Troy Polamalu.
On offense the Steelers will once again turn to running back Mewelde Moore to fill the void of the still absent Willie Parker. Wide receiver Santonio Holmes will be inactive after his marijuana charge on Thursday, so Nate Washington, Dallas Baker and rookie Limas Sweed will all be counted on in the passing game. The offensive line has been playing better as Darnell Stapleton has filled in well for the injured Kendall Simmons. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger must be mistake free versus a fast attacking Giants defense.
The key on Sunday will come down to the all important turnover and big play categories. This will be a hard hitting slug fest.
Prediction: Steelers 23 Giants 20
The Steelers today signed former running back Najeh Davenport to help add depth to their injured offensive backfield roster. Davenport worked out late this morning and signed a contract early this afternoon. Davenport played for the Steelers the past two seasons but was released after the Steelers drafted running back Rashard Mendenhall. To make room on the roster the Steelers placed Mendenhall (fractured shoulder) and guard Kendall Simmons (ruptured Achilles) on injured reserve.
The Pittsburgh Steelers survived a bloodbath of injuries and inconsistent play to beat the rival Baltimore Ravens 23-20 Monday Night. Jeff Reed nailed home a 46 yard field on the Steelers first possession in overtime. The game was marred with injuries for both teams, but more so for the Steelers. Rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall will be lost for the season with a fractured shoulder as will right guard Kendall Simmons with a torn Achilles tendon. Backup linebacker and special teamer Andre Frazier was carted off the field on a stretcher when he was injured on the games opening kickoff. Frazier appears to escaped a serious spinal injury and was in the locker room after the game. Backup running back Carey Davis left the game early on in the fourth quarter with a sprained ankle and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday. With starter Willie Parker sidelined with a knee injury and Mendenhall and Davis injured, the Steelers turned to Mewelde Moore to finish the game. Moore only had 13 yards on 8 carries, but had 3 key catches for 37 yards, the last being a 7 yard game to set up the game winng field goal.
The Steelers will likely call up Gary Russell from the practice squad and will likely sign a free agent running back to add depth. Darnell Stapleton replaced thew injured Simmons and was playing with the first-team offense for the first time in his two years. The Steelers will also likely scout the free agent list for guards to sign as well.
The Steeler defense buckled down in the second half and pressured Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco late in the game. The Steeler offense was a slow starter after an opening drive that resulted in a field goal, the offense didn't get back on track until midway through the 3rd quarter. Ben Roethlisberger was 14 for 24 in pass attempts for 191 yards and one touchdown. The offensive line was leaky all night, but played better once the Steelers went to a no huddle hurry up offense.
The Steelers now lead the division with 3 wins and one lost and must now travel to Jacksonville on a short week to play the Jaguars.
