The Pittsburgh Steelers finally signed outside linebacker Alex Highsmith to his expected extension this offseason and on the heels of that happening this past week, I can now update the team’s 2023 salary cap situation with training camp getting underway next week.
The result of Highsmith’s extension used up an additional $1.467 million in 2023 salary cap space. That’s a bit lower than expected and it is because of an estimated $3 million cash flow win for the Steelers through the first new year of the deal, 2024.
In real time, the Steelers are currently $12,201,261 under the cap and $11,351,661 under with the offseason workout bonus placeholder charge accounted for. The NFLPA has yet to show that $849,600 placeholder amount this offseason and that’s likely a clerical error on their part.
The Steelers still have yet to sign one member of their 2023 draft class, cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Once Porter does sign his four-year rookie contract, the offset of that inked deal should use roughly another $808,790 in 2023 salary cap space, based on how the team’s Rule of 51 currently sits on this Sunday. So, effectively, the Steelers are currently $10,542,871 under the cap on this July Saturday, if we are talking about real-time numbers.
While $10.5 million might seem like quite a bit of salary cap space, it’s important to remember that the team has several forthcoming costs that they must account for by the start of the 2023 regular season. Those forthcoming costs are fairly predictive overall, and they revolve around a 52nd and 53rd player (est. $1,500,000), a full 16-player practice squad (est. $4,000,000), a Reserve/Injured list (est. $3,000,000) and an in-season move buffer amount ($9,000,000).
Currently, those fairly predictive forthcoming costs total out at $17.5 million. And when applied to the team’s effective current salary cap space amount of $10,542,871, the team is essentially $6,957,129 over the cap as of July 22, if we are looking into the future. That amount is shown in the table below.
As previously discussed in these salary cap update posts, the Steelers are likely to still have quite a bit of juggling prior to Week 1 of the 2023 regular season when it comes to their top 51 salaries. In short, the team is likely to clear a little more salary cap space by Week 1 as part of their initial 53-man active roster construction. Players such as defensive tackle Montravius Adams, guard Kevin Dotson, wide receiver Gunner Olszewski and safety Miles Killebrew are just a few notable examples of ones not necessarily guaranteed to make the 53-man roster come Week 1 in lieu of cheaper players being retained.
It’s important to also remember that the Steelers are still likely to restructure the contract of outside linebacker T.J. Watt closer to the end of the offseason. While the team might not need to ultimately do a full restructuring of Watt’s contract come Week 1, there is an opportunity to clear as much as $12,613,334 in 2023 salary cap space in doing just that.
In closing when it comes to this late July salary cap update of the 2023 Steelers, they are right on track to where I thought they might be at this time of the offseason. The main unknowns ahead of training camp getting underway, which is the case every offseason as July comes to a close, revolve around final roster setting and last-minute restructures.
