The Pittsburgh Steelers made several roster moves on Saturday in order to get down to 53 active players and along with those transactions some salary cap dead money was produced.
Of the 22 players who were cut on Saturday by the Steelers, only six of them produced new salary cap dead money and they are linebacker Travis Feeney, wide receiver Demarcus Ayers, linebacker Steven Johnson, defensive end Johnny Maxey, running back Brandon Brown-Dukes, and wide receiver Marcus Tucker.
The cutting Saturday of two of this year’s draft picks, Feeney and Ayers, produced dead money amounts of $100,356.00 and $79,652.00 respectively as that was the total of each of their signing bonuses. Being as both had their contracts terminated after June 1, only one-fourth of those amounts will go against the Steelers 2016 salary cap with the remaining three-fourths carrying over as dead money chargers in 2017.
As for Johnson, who the team signed to a one-year contract this past March, his release on Saturday only resulted in a dead money amount of $25,000 being as another $55,000 bonus that was due to him was tied to the linebacker making the final 53-man roster. That full $25,000 will be counted against the Steelers 2016 salary cap.
The three other players who were cut on Saturday who produced dead money as a result are Maxey, Brown-Dukes and Tucker. The last were given $1,500 signing bonuses as part of the three-year contracts they signed in May and as a result, each will presumably produce a dead money charge in 2016 of $500 and along with dead money chargers of $1000 respectively in 2017. Maxey was given a $3000 signing bonus of which $1000 will now be dead money in 2016.
It’s worth noting that rookie tight end Paul Lang was waived injured on Saturday and as a result of that he will likely revert to the team’s Reserve/Injured list on Sunday. Should the team then be unable to work out an injury settlement with Lang over the course of the next five business days, then his split salary will start being charged to this year’s salary cap until he’s healthy enough to be waived from the Reserve/Injured list.
| PLAYER | TOTAL DEAD | 2016 DEAD | 2017 DEAD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Feeney | $100,356.00 | $25,089.00 | $75,267.00 |
| Demarcus Ayers | $79,652.00 | $19,913.00 | $59,739.00 |
| Steven Johnson | $25,000.00 | $25,000.00 | $- |
| Brandon Brown-Dukes | $1,500.00 | $500.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Marcus Tucker | $1,500.00 | $500.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Al-Hajj Shabazz | $- | $- | $- |
| Antoine Everett | $- | $- | $- |
| Bryn Renner | $- | $- | $- |
| Cameron Stingily | $- | $- | $- |
| Caushaud Lyons | $- | $- | $- |
| Cobi Hamilton | $- | $- | $- |
| Donald Washington | $- | $- | $- |
| Doran Grant | $- | $- | $- |
| Jermauria Rasco | $- | $- | $- |
| Johnny Maxey | $3000.00 | $1,000.00 | $2000.00 |
| Lavon Hooks | $- | $- | $- |
| Matt Feiler | $- | $- | $- |
| Montell Garner | $- | $- | $- |
| Paul Lang | $- | $- | $- |
| Ray Vinopal | $- | $- | $- |
| Shahbaz Ahmed | $- | $- | $- |
| Wade Hansen | $- | $- | $- |
| TOTAL | $211,008.00 | $72,002.00 | $139,006.00 |
