The Steelers freed up some salary cap room this past week as they restructured the contract of defensive end Aaron Smith and extended it a season in addition to do so. Smith was currently in the final year of his contract that pays him a base salary of $4.5 million. The Steelers converted $1.75 million of that base into a signing bonus to lower his 2011 cap hit by $875K and added on another year to the contract.
The extension will likely create $875K in dead money for the Steelers in 2012 should this be the final year Smith plays. Smith suffered a mid foot sprain last week against the Texans and has been ruled out this week against the Titans. Due to the amount of games that Smith has missed over the recent years, it is hard to see him playing out the extra year added to his contract this past week.
