Will Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joe Haden sign a contract extension before the start of the 2019 regular season? We’ll see, but upon his Thursday arrival at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for the start of the team’s annual training camp, Haden seemed optimistic about his chances of getting a deal done with the Steelers in the next several weeks.
According to Missi Matthews of steelers.com on Thursday, Haden, who originally signed with the Steelers just prior to the start of the 2017 regular season following his release from the Cleveland Browns, said he’s optimistic a deal will get done for him this summer. Haden also said there is communication between his agent Drew Rosenhaus and the Steelers right now.
“I’m optimistic,” Haden said, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We’re communicating, so that’s a good thing.”
If you’ve read my several offseason posts concerning Haden’s contract situation, you know that I am in no way surprised by what the Steelers veteran cornerback said on Thursday. I will be shocked if Haden doesn’t sign a contract extension prior to the start of the 2019 regular season and the only way I dont see that happening is if he suffers a serious training camp injury.
Haden is now in the final year of the three-year contract that he signed with the Steelers in 2017. He’s scheduled to earn $10 million in 2019 as part of that contract. I have long speculated that Haden will sign a two-year extension this summer that will come with a new money average of around $13-$14 million. Such an extension could even provide the Steelers with some minimal salary cap relief this year. The team could also do an extension with Haden that results in his currently scheduled salary cap charge in 2019 of $11,916,668 remaining roughly the same.
