From a salary cap standpoint, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in relatively good shape as it relates to where they’ve been in past years and while they still will have some work to do in the coming weeks and months in that area, team president Art Rooney II hinted Thursday that we could see the organization go after a few free agents this year, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“I think it’s always something we’ve got to manage and be smart about and so we’ll have to make some decisions this year as we always do” Rooney said about the team’s salary cap situation in a recent interview with Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. “But I think its a manageable situation and we just have a number of decisions that well be making to be able to make sure that we are where we need to be.
As a wrote a few weeks ago, the Steelers will likely restructure the contracts of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and defensive end Cameron Heyward in the coming weeks in order to free up some salary cap space. Additionally, I fully expect the team will work out some sort of extension with linebacker Lawrence Timmons in order to lower his high scheduled cap charge in 2016. Throw in an expected extension for guard David DeCastro and the organization should have enough cap space at their disposal in order to re-sign a few of their own unrestricted free agents in addition to a few outside ones.
If the Steelers do make a splash in free agency this offseason, it’s easy to speculate that it will be on the defensive side of the football as the team could certainly use another starting cornerback and safety.
Last offseason, the Steelers sat on the sidelines during the main free agent signing period and their lone prize was veteran running back DeAngelo Williams, who was a street free agent following him being released by the Carolina Panthers. In 2014, the Steelers signed safety Mike Mitchell on the first day of free agency and then followed that up with a few lower-level signings in linebacker Arthur Moats and defensive lineman Cam Thomas.
