Will the Pittsburgh Steelers have defensive end Stephon Tuitt back in 2022? As of Friday, it is still too early to answer that question.
On Friday. Steelers team president Art Rooney II held his annual end-of-the-season session with the media, and during it he was asked about the future of Tuitt, who sat out the entire 2021 season after tragically losing his brother in a hit-and-run accident in Georgia last summer.
“I wish I had an answer,” Rooney said of Tuitt’s future, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “We’ll be evaluating that situation. Having a discussion with Stephon in the next few weeks. Hopefully be able to say something more definitively in the future.”
Tuitt, who will not turn 29 years of age until May, is scheduled to earn a base salary of $9,048,560 in 2022 and carry a salary cap charge of $13,975,750. The Steelers would save $4.295 million in 2022 salary cap space prior to roster displacement should they decide to terminate his contract prior to June 1. Making Tuitt a post June 1 termination, however, would result in the Steelers eventually saving $9.05 million in 2022 salary cap space after roster displacement.
On the surface, it seems like Tuitt missed the 2021 season due to him struggling mentally with the tragedy his family went through last summer. That said, he reportedly did need some minor knee surgery last summer, as well. It sounds like the Steelers need to figure out if Tuitt still wants to continue his NFL career.
The Steelers will obviously likely need to figure out the 2022 status of Tuitt prior to the start of the new league year in March. That decision could impact how the team goes about doing business in free agency and the draft.
