Now that Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has decided to retire, the team has several options as to how they will handle it as it relates to their salary cap.
Polamalu had two years left on his current contract and was scheduled to earn $6 million in 2015. He still has $4.5 million of bonus proration that needs to be accounted for, however, as a result of him having his contract extended last offseason.
Should the two sides agree to process the retirement papers prior to June 1, that $4.5 million will accelerate as a dead money charge for this season. Being as Polamalu was scheduled to count $8.25 million against the 2015 salary cap, processing his retirement before June 1 would result in a cap savings this year of $3.75 million.
Should, however, the retirement papers be filed after June 1, it would then result in a dead money charge in 2015 of $2.25 million with another dead money charge of the same amount going on the 2016 books. In that case, the Steelers would clear $6 million in 2015 salary cap space as that was the amount Polamalu was scheduled to earn this season.
