The Pittsburgh Steelers recently re-signed free agent punter Jordan Berry to a one-year contract and finally the numbers related to his deal have been made public.
According to Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle, Berry signed a one-year, $1.09 million contract with the Steelers that included a signing bonus of $100,000, which makes this a benefit contract. This means Berry will have a discounted salary cap charge. In total, Berry will have a base salary of $990,000 base salary will carry a cap charge in 2021 of $950,000.
Berry, who previously was the Steelers punter for the previous five seasons heading into 2020, failed to make the team’s roster in 2020 out of training camp. Instead, the Steelers chose to sign veteran punter Dustin Colquitt just before the start of the regular season. Five games into the 2020 regular season, however, the Steelers had seen enough bad out of Colquitt, so they parted ways with him and brought back Berry.
Berry punted 57 times for the Steelers in the regular season for 2,609 yards with a long of 62 yards. He averaged 45.8 yards per punt and registered a net average of 40.5. His net average ranked 15th in 2020. 23 of his punts were inside the opponent’s 20-yardline. He didn’t have any punts blocked and 22 of his punts were fair caught. Berry also was the holder for kickers Chris Boswell and Mathew Wright on field goals and extra point attempts. In the Steelers lone playoff game, Berry punted three times for 41.7 yard average and a net of 32.3 yards. His long punt against the Browns was 59 yards, however. One of his three punts landed inside the Browns 20-yard-line. One of the three resulted in a touchback.
Here is why these two contracts come with reduced salary cap charges:
Veteran salary benefit: Formerly known as the minimum salary benefit, the veteran salary benefit allow teams to offer a “Qualifying Contract” to any player with at least four credited seasons at a reduced salary cap hit. Under this provision, a qualifying contract is a one-year deal worth the minimum base salary applicable to a player with his number of credited seasons, plus $137,500 in additional compensation (i.e., signing bonus, roster bonus, incentive, etc. — amount begins to increase in 2022). These contracts are charged against the salary cap at the rate of a player with two credited seasons that league year.
