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Steelers 2016 Salary Cap Update Ahead Of The NFL Draft

With the 2016 NFL Draft set to get underway later on this evening, now is a perfect time to update you on the Pittsburgh Steelers salary cap situation.

As of today, the NFLPA has the Steelers $3,574,520 under the cap and as you can see below, I have them $3,581,936 under the cap and that’s a difference of $7,416, which quite honestly isn’t worth looking for.

Judging by the NFLPA numbers, all teams have yet to be charged for workout bonuses but they do have to budget for those until the sessions are over and a real number can be charged. in the meantime, you need to account for that number being $561,600, which would put the Steelers just over $3 million under the cap.

Now, once the draft takes place, all of the Steelers selections will be counted as earning the minimum base salary in 2016 of $450,000 until they actually sign their contracts. That’s not a big deal right now as none of those salaries will qualify for the top 51 on the team. However, when it comes to the undrafted free agents, they will sign contracts right away so whatever their prorated signing bonus amounts ultimately wind up being will go against the cap.

The Steelers rookie draft pool is estimated to be right around $5.1 million this year but the team won’t need that full amount of cap space to accommodate all seven picks because of roster displacement in the top 51. As of right now, they’ll need roughly another $1.425 million in cap space to accommodate their draft picks.

The Steelers will also need to eventually accommodate a 52nd and 53rd roster spot and a 10-man practice squad and at most that should require $2.1 million in cap space. Additionally, keep in mind that the team normally likes to enter the regular season with around $3 million in available cap space for in-season injuries.

As you can see, the Steelers will certainly need more cap space later on in the offseason and as I have written several times already, I fully expect them to sign guard David DeCastro and Lawrence Timmons to extensions at some point and both moves will free up quite a bit of cap space. Additionally, assuming kicker Chris Boswell wins the kicking job this year, the Steelers will free up $2.4 million minus roster displacement should they cut or trade veteran kicker Shaun Suisham after June 1.

Now, they might ultimately extend the contract of running back Le’Veon Bell in addition to paying wide receiver Antonio Brown forward like they did last offseason, and both moves would undoubtedly require the use of additional cap space.

The Steelers have yet to restructure any contracts so far this offseason and that’s definitely a good thing. However, should they ultimately need to, they would likely go to either defensive end Cameron Heyward or quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to free up any cap monies needed.

As you should be able to clearly see, the Steelers have done an excellent job of managing their salary cap situation this offseason and should they ultimately need to do a restructure, it shouldn’t big a big deal.

I will provide another update after the rookie undrafted free agents are signed and the exact draft pick contract amounts are known.

PLAYER BASE SALARY CAP CHARGE
Roethlisberger, Ben $17,750,000 $23,950,000
Timmons, Lawrence $8,750,000 $15,131,250
Brown, Antonio $6,250,000 $12,370,833
Pouncey, Maurkice $3,500,000 $10,551,000
Heyward, Cameron $3,000,000 $10,400,000
DeCastro, David $8,070,000 $8,070,000
Mitchell, Mike $5,000,000 $6,763,750
Gilbert, Marcus $3,950,000 $6,461,000
Suisham, Shaun $2,400,000 $3,503,000
Moats, Arthur $2,500,000 $3,133,333
Jones, Jarvis $1,592,115 $2,769,933
Shazier, Ryan $1,284,292 $2,592,874
Williams, DeAngelo $2,000,000 $2,565,000
Gay, William $1,800,000 $2,483,333
Green, Ladarius $1,250,000 $2,437,500
Foster, Ramon $1,500,000 $2,416,666
Dupree, Bud $854,195 $2,095,974
Wheaton, Markus $1,671,000 $1,818,844
Harris, Ryan $1,325,000 $1,662,500
Harrison, James $1,250,000 $1,500,000
Wallace, Cody $1,200,000 $1,350,000
Bell, Le’Veon $966,900 $1,311,100
Tuitt, Stephon $839,040 $1,257,121
Golden, Robert $760,000 $1,176,666
Spaeth, Matt $1,000,000 $1,137,500
Heyward-Bey, Darrius $1,000,000 $1,133,333
Golson, Senquez $616,866 $909,328
Adams, Mike $873,225 $873,225
Thomas, Shamarko $675,000 $788,288
Jones, Landry $675,000 $784,805
Williams, Vince $675,000 $694,670
Coates, Sammie $525,000 $682,879
Johnson, steven $760,000 $680,000
Warren, Greg $985,000 $680,000
Ventrone, Ross $675,000 $675,000
Zumwalt, Jordan $600,000 $626,213
McCullers, Daniel $600,000 $619,670
Cockrell, Ross $600,000 $600,000
Frey, Isaiah $600,000 $600,000
Hubbard, Chris $600,000 $600,000
Mathews, Ricardo $760,000 $600,000
Richardson, Daryl $600,000 $600,000
Toussaint, Fitzgerald $600,000 $600,000
James, Jesse $525,000 $577,228
Walton, L.T. $525,000 $554,232
Berry, Jordan $525,000 $525,000
Boswell, Chris $525,000 $525,000
Chickillo, Anthony $525,000 $525,000
Fort, L.J. $525,000 $525,000
Grant, Doran $525,000 $525,000
Lyons, Caushaud $525,000 $525,000
Nix, Roosevelt $525,000 $525,000
Vaughan, Dustin $525,000 $525,000
Villanueva, Alejandro $525,000 $525,000
Rogers, Eli $450,000 $451,666
Blakeney, Issac $450,000 $450,000
Dangerfield, Jordan $450,000 $450,000
Dooley, Matt $450,000 $450,000
Feiler, Matt $450,000 $450,000
Finney, B.J. $450,000 $450,000
Garner, Montell $450,000 $450,000
Grimble, Xavier $450,000 $450,000
Hagen, Jacob $450,000 $450,000
Hooks, Lavon $450,000 $450,000
Long, Ty $450,000 $450,000
Manhart, Cole $450,000 $450,000
Mihalik, Brian $450,000 $450,000
Neal, Rajion $450,000 $450,000
Norwood, Levi $450,000 $450,000
Palmer, Tobais $450,000 $450,000
Phillips, Shakim $450,000 $450,000
Philon, Roy $450,000 $450,000
Shabazz, Al-Hajj $450,000 $450,000
Toure, Abou $450,000 $450,000
Vinopal, Ray $450,000 $450,000
Bryant, Martavis $- $109,805
RULE OF 51 TOTAL * $146,049,519
DEAD MONEY * -$7,997,523
NFLPA 2015 ADJUSTMENTS * -$641,349
2015 ROLLOVER * +$3,000,327
PROJECTED 2016 SALARY CAP * $155,270,000
UNDER SALARY CAP * $3,581,936
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