With a little over three weeks remaining before the Pittsburgh Steelers 2017 regular season opener, the team has still yet to sign defensive end Stephon Tuitt to a long-term contract extension. With that said, work is currently being done to rectify that.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers team president Art Rooney II said Thursday that the organization is currently attempting to get Tuitt signed to an extension before start of season.
Tuitt, who is now in the final year of his rookie contract after originally being drafted in the second-round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, has long been a potential candidate this offseason for an extension and it will be surprising if the two sides don’t ultimately come to terms over the course of the next three weeks.
The Steelers have a long history of not negotiating contracts once the regular season gets underway so September 9 is the perceived deadline for them to get something done with Tuitt as that’s the date they’ll travel to Cleveland for the regular season opener.
Tuitt is likely looking for a deal that will pay him roughly what fellow defensive end Cameron Heyward is now earning a year. Heyward, who signed a five year contract extension with the Steelers on July 21, 2015, now currently averages $10,456,200 per year in new money as a result of that deal that included a $12 million signing bonus.
