If you follow the NFLPA salary cap data report like I do, you may have noticed that the Pittsburgh Steelers lost $849,600 in 2022 salary cap space on Thursday morning as the team dropped down to $28,829,229 in available space. This recent deduction was the annual place holder charge for offseason workout bonus charges. That debit was expected to happen and I have been mentioning it in my Steelers salary cap updates.
The league charged all 32 teams $849,600 and that figure is determined by multiplying 90 players by $295 per day and then by 32, the number of organized team activity sessions planned. This placeholder remains on the books until the actual workout bonus amounts for each team are calculated.
Per the NFL CBA: ARTICLE 13, Section 5:
(g) Offseason Workouts. Beginning on the first day of the League Year, each Club’s Team Salary will be charged an amount that is calculated as follows: multiply the minimum daily amount set forth in Article 21, Section 3 ($295 for the 2023 League Year) by 2,880 (90 players (or the maximum roster limit for that League Year) × 4 days/week × 8 weeks = 2,880). At the conclusion of the program, but no later than August 15, this charge will be adjusted based upon the amounts actually paid to players who participated in the offseason program. At that time, the amount paid to each player will be charged to Salary and Team Salary, and the original charge set forth in the first sentence of this Subsection shall be removed from Team Salary. In addition to these amounts, any incentives in Player Contracts related to offseason workouts shall be included in Team Salary pursuant to Section 6(c) below.
This recent charge that took place was very much expected. The Steelers currently are listed as having 60 players under contract per the NFLPA report. The team is expected to restricted tender a few more players in the next few days, ahead of the new league year starting on March 16 at 4:00 p.m. EST.
