Upon arriving to training camp on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers promptly signed tackle Alejandro Villanueva to a contract extension. And with that deal now out of the way, the organization can turn their attention to locking up defensive end Stephon Tuitt long-term.
Tuitt, the Steelers second-round selection in the 2014 NFL Draft, is now in the final year of his rookie contract so the timing is right to sign him to an extension prior to the start of the regular season. With training camp just getting underway, there’s still a lot of time left for the two sides to hammer out a deal.
So how much will Tuitt be looking for in new money average yearly value? Well, being as his defensive line counterpart Cameron Heyward is averaging $10,456,200 a season as part of the five year contract extension he signed nearly two years ago, that seems like a good starting target for Tuitt and his agent.
It’s worth noting, however, that the Tennessee Titans just signed defensive end Jurrell Casey to a four-year, $60.4 million extension on Friday and it will be interesting to see what his new money average is once all of the details of the deal are known as he had two years remaining on his old deal prior to signing his new one.
While Tuitt could potentially wind up topping Heyward’s nearly $10.5 million yearly average when the dust finally settles, one would think it wouldn’t be by very much if it does.
While he waits for a new deal, Tuitt, who has registered 11.5 sacks in his first three years in the league, is looking forward to potentially doubling that number in 2017.
“I want double digit sacks and I know I could get it,” Tuitt said Thursday upon his arrival to saint Vincent college in Latrobe for the start of training camp, per Jacob Klinger of pennlive.com. “It’s easy for me to do it, but I also want to be able to say we have an undefeated season for me.”
