The Pittsburgh Steelers signed tackle Alejandro Villanueva to a new four-year contract upon his arrival to training camp on Thursday and now a few numbers related to the deal appear to be surfacing.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Villanueva’s new four-year deal totals out at $24 million and if indeed true, that’s roughly what I predicted it to average a year several months ago. Rapoport, however, is the only one reporting these early figures so in no way should they be considered official due to his checkered history.
Villanueva really didn’t have much leverage when it came to negotiations with the Steelers as he was set to earn roughly $5 million at most over the course of the 2017 and 2018 seasons due to his limited accrued seasons in the league. He was scheduled to be a restricted free agent next offseason had he played in 2017 under his exclusive rights tender of $615,000.
In case you’re curious, $6 million per season is exactly what fellow Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert currently earns per season.
We still dont know what kind of cash flow and guarantees Villanueva received as part of his new deal but odds are good that only the signing bonus was guaranteed. I will pass along the full contract layout as soon as it is made known.
