On Wednesday, we took a quick look ahead at the Pittsburgh Steelers soon-to-be unrestricted free agents and today we’ll look at the few players who will be restricted and exclusive rights free agents at the end of the season.
Restricted Free Agents
Terence Garvin – LB – Garvin is the team’s only restricted free agent this year and even though he’s missed several games with a knee injury, he’s still one of the best special teams players on the roster. Because of that, it is expected that the Steelers will restricted tender Garvin at the minimum level.
Exclusive Rights Free Agents
Roosevelt Nix – RB – You can bet your bottom dollar that Nix will be tendered a one-year deal for the minimum that he must accept if he wants to play in 2016. The Kent state product has not only been an asset on offense as a fullback, he’s also a solid special teams player to boot. The good thing about Nix moving forward is that he’ll be easy to keep as he’ll be a restricted free agent after the 2016 season. What a great find.
Ross Cockrell – CB – Don’t worry, Cockrell will be back in 2016 as the Steelers will certainly tender him a one-year minimum contract that he must accept. He has two interceptions on the season and is playing regularly in the team’s nickel sub package.
Chris Hubbard – G – The Steelers really seem to like Hubbard’s position flexibility as they are currently expecting him to be the reserve swing tackle and extra blocking tight end on a weekly basis. While there’s no guarantee he will make the roster in 2016, it makes sense to tender him the minimum being as he’s an exclusive rights player.
Rob Blanchflower – TE – The Steelers former seventh-round draft pick just can’t seem to stay healthy and while it might be time to move on from him for good, there’s still an outside shot he gets a minimum exclusive rights tender.
Kelvin Palmer – T – Palmer suffered a serious knee injury during the preseason. He wasn’t going to make the roster, but he did have a shot at the practice squad before going down. Assuming he gets fully healthy, there’s an outside chance he’ll get a minimum tender. However, I’ll bet he doesn’t.
Mitchell Van Dyk – T – Like Palmer, Van Dyk suffered a serious injury during the preseason and because of that he landed on Reserve/Injured. His play wasn’t overly great, so I will be surprised if he’d tendered during the offseason.
