The 2017 legal free agent tampering period will get underway Tuesday afternoon ahead of the start of the league year on Thursday and with that, it’s time to take another look at the Pittsburgh Steelers salary cap situation.
As of Tuesday morning, the Steelers have 76 players under contract for the 2017 league year and thanks to Over the Cap and several NFL agents, below is a table of those signed players along with the base salaries and cap chargers for each.
During the offseason, the NFL works under the Rule of 51 which is the total of the top 51 cap charges on a team along with any prorated signing bonus amounts that fall below that number in addition to all dead money on the books. In the case of the Steelers, that number is currently projected to be $149,275,341.
While the 2017 NFL salary cap was set at $167 million last week, the Steelers 2017 cap number is essentially $170,269,367 as the team had $3,269,367 in unused cap space from the 2016 season that they chose to rollover, according to the NFLPA. If you subtract the Steelers current Rule of 51 number from the team cap number listed above, you will see that there is $20,994,026 in available space as of Tuesday morning.
Now, while that $20,994,026 looks great on paper, the Steelers have several future charges ahead of them that really need to be accounted for and I have itemized those for you below near the bottom of the table. Those future charges even include the offset amounts for the Steelers eight draft selections they’re currently slated to make at the end of April. That number is derived by subtracting the bottom eight base salaries of the players currently in the top 51 ($4.32 million) from the Steelers rookie pool amount, which OTC currently has projected as being $5,828,277. The other future charges I have itemized for the Steelers should be self-explanatory and while they might not be exact, they should be close.
The total of the Steelers projected future charges is $8,162,277 and if you subtract that from the $20,994,026 available cap space the team has right now you get a real expendable number of $12,831,749, which is at the very bottom of the table.
In short, while $12.8 million is a far cry from the nearly $21 million in cap space number that you’re likely to see floating around right now, it’s still more than enough to go free agent shopping with should the team decide to do so. Additionally, it’s important to remember that when and if running back Le’Veon Bell receives a contract extension ahead of the July 15 deadline that his 2017 salary cap charge should decrease quite a bit.
Now, as I have written several times over the course of the last several weeks, you can probably expect the Steelers to sign defensive end Stephon Tuitt to a contract extension once the team arrives in Latrobe for training camp. Additionally, tackle Alejandro Villanueva might ultimately receive a contract extension between now and the start of the 2017 regular season as well. As a result of any extension for those two players their 2017 cap charges will increase.
It will also now be interesting to see if the Steelers ultimately re-sign linebacker Lawrence Timmons and quarterback Landry Jones over the course of the next several days or weeks as both are currently scheduled to be unrestricted free agents come Thursday afternoon. If that happens, it will eat into some of the available salary cap space as well.
In summation, the Steelers are in great shape salary cap-wise as we sit here just before the start of the 2017 league year and in roughly two weeks from now we’ll be able to recap any new signings that will have likely occurred.
| STEELERS 2017 PROJECTED SALARY CAP RECAP – 3/7/17 | ||
|---|---|---|
| CONTRACTED PLAYERS | ||
| PLAYER | BASE SALARY | CAP CHARGE |
| Ben Roethlisberger | $12,000,000 | $18,200,000 |
| Antonio Brown | $910,000 | $13,618,334 |
| Le’Veon Bell (FRANCHISE TAG) | $12,120,000 | $12,120,000 |
| Maurkice Pouncey | $7,500,000 | $11,051,000 |
| David DeCastro | $1,100,000 | $11,050,000 |
| Cameron Heyward | $5,000,000 | $10,400,000 |
| Mike Mitchell | $5,000,000 | $8,135,416 |
| Marcus Gilbert | $4,000,000 | $7,308,500 |
| Ladarius Green | $5,000,000 | $6,187,500 |
| Ramon Foster | $2,675,000 | $3,591,666 |
| Ryan Shazier | $1,716,438 | $3,025,020 |
| Arthur Moats | $2,250,000 | $2,883,334 |
| William Gay | $2,000,000 | $2,633,333 |
| Bud Dupree | $1,273,390 | $2,515,169 |
| Vince Williams | $2,000,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Artie Burns | $885,954 | $2,179,769 |
| James Harrison | $1,200,000 | $1,950,000 |
| Robert Golden | $1,465,000 | $1,881,666 |
| Chris Hubbard (RFA TENDER) | $1,797,000 | $1,797,000 |
| Ross Cockrell (RFA TENDER) | $1,797,000 | $1,797,000 |
| Stephon Tuitt | $1,048,560 | $1,466,641 |
| Darrius Heyward-Bey | $1,200,000 | $1,333,333 |
| Senquez Golson | $798,732 | $1,091,194 |
| Sean Davis | $635,771 | $928,856 |
| Sammie Coates | $615,000 | $797,379 |
| Martavis Bryant | $690,000 | $793,346 |
| Javon Hargrave | $560,000 | $733,314 |
| Daniel McCullers | $690,000 | $709,670 |
| Greg Warren | $1,000,000 | $695,000 |
| Steven Johnson | $775,000 | $695,000 |
| Fitzgerald Toussaint (ERFA TENDER) | $690,000 | $690,000 |
| Zach Mettenberger | $690,000 | $690,000 |
| Jesse James | $615,000 | $667,228 |
| L.T. Walton | $615,000 | $644,232 |
| Alejandro Villanueva (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Anthony Chickillo (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Chris Boswell (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Greg Ducre | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Jordan Berry | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| L.J. Fort | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Roosevelt Nix (ERFA TENDER) | $615,000 | $615,000 |
| Jerald Hawkins | $465,000 | $597,622 |
| Tyler Matakevich | $540,000 | $555,763 |
| Eli Rogers | $540,000 | $541,668 |
| Al-Hajj Shabazz | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| B.J. Finney (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Brian Mihalik | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Cobi Hamilton (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| DeMarcus Ayers | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Jordan Dangerfield (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Keavon Milton | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Karlos Williams | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Brandon Dixon | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Trey Williams | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Xavier Grimble (ERFA TENDER) | $540,000 | $540,000 |
| Akil Blount | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| A.J. Hughes | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Canaan Severin | $465,000 | $467,666 |
| Brandon Brown-Dukes | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Devonte Johnson | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Dez Stewart | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Dreamius Smith | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Farrington Huguenin | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Gus Johnson | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Jacob Hagan | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Jason Fanaika | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Johnny Maxey | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Kameron Canaday | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Kyle Friend | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Lavon Hooks | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Matt Feiler | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Marcus Tucker | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Mike Hilton | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Mike Matthews | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Roy Philon | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Ryan Malleck | $465,000 | $465,000 |
| Projected Top 51 Under Contract | $146,542,619 | |
| DEAD MONEY | CHARGE | |
| Shaun Suisham | * | $2,206,000 |
| Ryan Harris | * | $337,500 |
| Travis Feeney | * | $75,267 |
| Demarcus Ayers | * | $59,739 |
| Jordan Zumwalt | * | $26,213 |
| Giorgio Newberry | * | $6,667 |
| Devaunte Sigler | * | $5,334 |
| Tyriq McCord | * | $4,667 |
| Will Monday | * | $3,334 |
| Quinton Schooley | * | $2,667 |
| Johnny Maxey | * | $2,000 |
| David Reeves | * | $1,334 |
| Brandon Brown-Dukes | * | $1,000 |
| Marcus Tucker | * | $1,000 |
| Projected Dead Money Total | $2,732,722 | |
| Projected Rule Of 51 Total | $149,275,341 | |
| ADDITIONAL FUTURE CHARGES | AMOUNT | |
| Projected Draft Pick Signing Bonus Displacement | $1,508,277 | |
| Projected Practice Squad Players | $1,224,000 | |
| Projected Final Cap Loan Repayment | $1,000,000 | |
| Projected 52nd & 53rd Players | $930,000 | |
| Projected Workout Bonuses | $500,000 | |
| Projected Allocated In-Season Cap Space | $3,000,000 | |
| SALARY CAP CREDITS | AMOUNT | |
| 2016 Salary Cap Rollover | $3,269,367 | |
| 2017 SALARY CAP NUMBER | AMOUNT | |
| 2017 NFL Salary Cap As Of 3/2017 | $167,000,000 | |
| AVAILABLE SALARY CAP SPACE | AMOUNT | |
| Projected 2017 Salary Cap Space As Of 3/7/2017 | $20,994,026 | |
| Projected Expendable 2017 Salary Cap Space As Of 3/7/2017 | $12,831,749 | |
