It took until the final buzzer but the Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to a two year extension with CB Joe Haden, according to this tweet from Adam Schefter.
A deal was always expected to happen and Kevin Colbert seemed optimistic when speaking about it Thursday night.
Haden was originally signed following his release by the Cleveland Browns shortly before the 2017 season began, inking a three year deal with the Steelers. Since then, he’s made 26 starts for the team and been their best corner, intercepting three passes.
A deal seemed inevitable. Haden publicly expresses his desire to stay and the Steelers their desire to keep him. This deal runs through 2021.
While we don’t yet have the full breakdown of Haden’s new extension, it does look like he’ll have a new money average of $11 million. It will be interesting to see if that $16.8 million signing bonus is indeed correct as it sounds a little high. It’s possible, however, with Haden already being due $10 million in 2019 as part of his previous contract.
Haden was previously scheduled to earn a base salary of $10 million in 2019 ahead of this new extension being worked out. A new money average of $11 million would put Haden in the top 15 highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL right now.
It’s hard to tell for sure based on early numbers, but Haden’s 2019 cap charge may have decreased by almost $3.5 million as part of this extension if indeed a $16.8 signing bonus was given.
We’ll have the full breakdown of Haden’s extension in the coming days and let you know what his new cap number will be for 2019.
