I have received a few emails and tweets today wondering what the cost of cutting rookie nose tackle Alameda Ta\’amu is following his early Sunday morning arrest by Pittsburgh police.
Ta\’amu signed a four year, $2,565,312 contract after being drafted in the fourth round by the Steelers and that deal included a a $433,312 signing bonus.
The base salary for Ta\’amu in 2012 is $390,000 and he has received 6 weeks of that. Cap wise in 2012 he counts $498,328, should he stick the whole season, which is his base salary plus is amortized signing bonus.
Should the Steelers release him next week, the $108,328 amortized portion would stick this year against the cap and the remaining unamortized amount of $324,984 would hit as dead money in 2013.
As you can see by the amounts, the Steelers are not married to Ta\’amu from a cap standpoint as the figures and cap hits are very manageable. The decision whether or not to release the rookie will come down to what they think of him moving forward and what they think of what he did Sunday morning.
