The Pittsburgh Steelers made several roster moves on Sunday and two of them resulted in the tam now having dead money on the books for 2021.
Two of the eight players waived on Sunday by the Steelers were defensive end Josiah Coatney and offensive lineman Christian Montano, both of whom were signed as undrafted free agents earlier in the offseason. Both players were given signing bonuses as part of their three-year rookie contracts and them being waived now results in the Steelers not only having more dead money on the books for 2020, but initial dead money in 2021 as well.
Coatney, who played his college football at Mississippi, was given the highest signing bonus of the 10 players signed as free agents right after the draft. His bonus was $15,000 and that means his waiving on Sunday results in a $5,000 dead money charge in 2020 and a $10,000 dead money charge in 2021.
As for Montano, who played his college football art Tulane, he was given a much smaller signing bonus of $2,500. Him being waived on Sunday results in an $833 dead money charge in 2020 and a $1,667 dead money charge in 2021.
Why are these minuscule amounts not absorbed in one year? Because the cuts happened after June 1. The result of the moves coming after June 1 is that the original prorated bonus amount for 2020 stays as is and the left-over years of proration accelerate to 2021.
This won’t be all the dead money that the Steelers incur in 2020 as several more is on the way as the team continues to make cuts. Some of the dead money will come from undrafted free agents and maybe a draft pick or two.
