As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers will carry over all of their unused salary cap space from the 2018 season to the 2019 season, the NFLPA announced on Thursday.
While NFLPA only listed the Steelers in their Twitter graphic as choosing to rollover $18.2 million in unused 2018 salary cap space to the 2019 season, the actual number should be $18,248,921, as that is what’s listed in their online report that’s updated daily. That $18,248,921 has been the number in place since the Steelers last salary cap adjustment from the 2018 season was tabulated on January 11.
The large amount of unused Steelers salary cap space from the 2018 season is mainly a result of running back Le’Veon Bell choosing to sit out the entire year instead of signing and playing under the $14.544 million franchise tag he was given last offseason. While the Steelers were initially debited the full $14.544 million after placing the franchise tag on Bell, they were eventually credited back that full amount as I had previously reported this past November.
As a means of comparison, the Steelers carried over all of their $4,041,060 in unused salary cap space from the 2017 season to the 2018 season at around this same time last year.
In case you missed the report from the middle of December, the NFL told its teams at that time that the 2019 salary cap is projected to be in the range of $187-to-$191.1 million. Many salary cap experts, however, believe the final number will come in at right around $190 million. The official number will be known right around the start of the 2019 NFL league year in the middle of March, which is now six weeks away.
I recently took a detailed look ahead at the Steelers 2019 salary cap situation and included in that post was my projection that the team would have a rollover from 2018 of exactly $18,248,921. You read that post by following the link below and the only think that has changed since posting it is the Steelers waiving of cornerback Trey Johnson from their Reserve/Injured list earlier this week.
I will provide another full Steelers 2019 salary cap update in a few more weeks and most likely after the team signs quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a contract extension. Such a transaction is expected to take place right around Roethlisberger’s birthday in early March.
