With the Pittsburgh Steelers now being halfway through their 2023 training camp, and on the heels of the team signing veteran inside linebacker Kwon Alexander last week, now is the perfect time to update the team’s salary cap situation ahead of their annual Friday night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium.
The signing of Alexander effectively used just $152,500 in available 2023 salary cap space as his contract qualifies as a veteran benefit deal, according to NFL CBA rules. While the team has obviously made several other transactions since training camp got underway, the signing of Alexander is the only move that effectively impacted the real-time Rule of 51 number.
As of Friday morning, the Steelers are $11,239,971 under the cap for 2023 with their Rule of 51 number. When the offseason workout bonus placeholder amount of $849,600 is applied, that number slightly dips to $10,390,371 under.
While the Steelers do have their entire 2023 draft class signed at this point, there are a lot more forthcoming expenses that the team must be able to accommodate prior to Week One of the season. Those forthcoming expenses include a full practice squad, a 52nd and 53rd roster spot, any players on the Reserve/Injured list and a cushion amount for in-season moves. A breakdown of those projected forthcoming cap expenses is in the table below and they have an estimated total of $17.5 million.
Based on the estimated forthcoming expenses the team will have and using the current top 51 players under contract, the Steelers are effectively $7,109,629 over the cap as of Friday morning. It is, however, important to remember that the projected $17.5 million in estimated forthcoming cap costs is likely to be offset some to the good side as part of the initial setting of the 53-man roster. There might be as much as $5 million in cap space created should several players currently within the top 51 don’t wind up making the Week One roster. We’ll see.
Prior to Week One, there’s still a good chance that the Steelers will restructure the contract of outside linebacker T.J. Watt to some degree. A full restructuring would clear $12,613,334 in 2023 salary cap space. Quite honestly, it’s beginning to look like maybe a partial restructuring of Watt’s contract might only be needed, but how the final 53-man roster ultimately shakes out might go a long way in determining that.
I wanted to note that as of Friday morning, the Steelers now have three players, defensive end Renell Wren, cornerback Cory Trice Jr. and running back Alfonzo Graham, on their Reserve/Injured list and on split salaries. It’s a good bet that all three will remain there come Week One. I have budgeted for the Steelers to have an additional $3 million in Reserve/Injured costs come Week One and those three players are already eating up nearly half of that amount.
So, to recap, the Steelers are really right on course when it comes to their 2023 salary cap situation as laid out to you throughout the offseason. The key unknowns at this point revolve around savings related to final roster construction, total Reserve/Injured amount and how much of a restructuring will be done on Watt. It’s obviously tough to predict those key variables with certainty.
