The Pittsburgh Steelers signed wide receiver Eli Rogers to a new two-year contract last week after his 2018 deal had already tolled and the details associated with that transaction are now being reported after it was filed with the NFLPA.
According to Ian Whetstone of the Steel City Insider and the daily NFLPA salary cap update, Rogers’ new two-year contract totals out at $3.75 million and includes a $500,000 signing bonus. Rogers’ base salaries for the 2019 and 2020 are reportedly set to be $1.25 million and $2 million, respectively. Rogers’ salary cap charges in those two years are now scheduled to be $1.5 million and $2.25 million, respectively.
On Wednesday, the NFLPA salary cap update showed a decrease in Steelers salary cap space of $780,000 as it dropped from $7,222,799 to $6,442,799 with no new players being added to the roster count. Knowing that Rogers’ contract had already tolled in 2019 at amount of $720,000, that number, when added to the $780,000 cap decrease amount, shows that Rogers’ new cap charge for 2019 is indeed $1.5 million. In summation, Rogers’ new 2019 cap charge effectively used up just $780,000 of additional salary cap space as a result of him signing the new two-year contract.
Rogers will effectively pocket $1.75 million in 2019. Last season he was on the Steelers Reserve/PUP list for most of the year as he recovered from the knee injury he had suffered in during the team’s 2017 playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Rogers was eventually activated off PUP late last season and even played in a few games, him not being physically able to perform by the sixth week of the regular season, in addition to him being in his final year of his contract, resulting in his rights for 2019 remaining with the Steelers due to the toll clause in the CBA.
As previously mentioned above, the NFLPA shows that the Steelers have $6,442,799 in salary cap space as of Wednesday morning. However, that number still doesn’t account for the signing of new linebacker Mark Barron. His deal should hit the NFLPA update by Friday.
| YEAR | BASE SALARY | SIGNING BONUS | ROSTER BONUS | CAP CHARGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $1,250,000 | $250,000 | $0 | $1,500,000 |
| 2020 | $2,000,000 | $250,000 | $0 | $2,250,000 |
