The Denver Broncos are making news Friday morning as they are now on the verge of signing safety Justin Simmons to a contract extension after placing the franchise tag on him a few weeks ago. That news somewhat relates to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the extension for Simmons, once completed, will have a new money average of more than $15 million person, which seems about right with his franchise tag amount being $13.729 million this year. This is big news as this could wind up being the new target amount for Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick next summer.
While it has yet to happen, the Steelers are expected to pick up the fifth-year option on Fitzpatrick prior to May 3. When that happens, and it will happen, Fitzpatrick will then be scheduled to make $10.612 million in 2022. At that point, one would think that Fitzpatrick would be primed to sign a contract extension sometime during the summer of 2022 and specifically after training camp gets underway.
Could the Steelers sign Fitzpatrick to an extension earlier than that? Sure, but as far as non-quarterbacks go, they usually don’t do deals that far out. Besides, doing an extension with Fitzpatrick this offseason would result in his 2021 cap charge increasing quite a bit and the Steelers just can’t afford for that to happen. So, look for it to happen just prior to the start of the 2022 season.
Fitzpatrick is currently scheduled to earn a base salary of just $2,722,878 in 2021.
