Following the upcoming NFL draft the Steelers will begin the process of signing the draft picks. As those draft picks sign, the likelihood of their salary counting against the top 51 salaried players begins. At the current time, the Steelers are right up against the cap limit of $127,000,00.00, thus some players will need to be released that are currently in the top 51 salaries. Below are a few players I think will be released sometime in May.
LS Greg Warren – This grizzly veteran long snapper will save the Steelers around $650,000 in cap money and assuming Jared Retkofsky is fully recovered by mini camp time from his motorcycle accident injury, they will do Warren a favor by letting him find a new home early on.
TE Matt Spaeth – The Steelers hope to come out of the draft with a backup for Heath Miller and FB/TE Sean McHugh, Dezmond Sherrod and a undrafted to be named tight end will all be called upon to lighten the load. Spaeth is still a good player, but just an odd man out with a cap savings of around $460,000.
CB Fernando Bryant – Although he recently signed a one year deal, it means absolutely nothing if the Steelers come out of the draft with two cornerbacks. Bryant best years are behind him and a salary cap savings of $745,000 is too much to ignore on a cash strapped team.
The savings alone with those three players would be around $1.75 million dollars. Some other players that are close to making this list are OL Jeremy Parquet and DT Scott Paxson. Not saying they will be May casualties, but do not be shocked if they are.
