Today’s free agent analysis for 2024 focuses on Pittsburgh Steelers CB Levi Wallace. A six-year veteran, he just completed his second season with the team. He also completed a two-year, $8 million contract. Wallace lost his starting job during the 2023 season. If the team did look to re-sign him, he could return in a reserve role.
Player: Levi Wallace
Position: Cornerback
Experience: 6 Years
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
2023 Salary Cap Hit: $5,482,500 ($4,000,000 base salary)
2023 Season Breakdown:
The Steelers signed both Ahkello Witherspoon and Levi Wallace to matching two-year, $8 million contracts in 2022. They released Witherspoon after one season. They won’t have to release Wallace, whose contract is up. But after the 2023 season, they may not have much interest in re-signing him.
Wallace was an every-down starter for the first five games of the season leading up to the bye week. Beginning in the game against the Los Angeles Rams, he began to lose some snaps to rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. By the following week, he was the third cornerback instead of Porter. His playing time steadily declined until injuries at safety prompted Patrick Peterson to move there. That forced the pending free agent Wallace back into the starting lineup.
To his credit, he did play better on the whole over the final three games than prior to his demotion. In fact, outside of the game against the Green Bay Packers, his second half of the season looked much better than the first.
He still showed active ball skills as well, nabbing two interceptions with 11 total passes defensed. Pro Football Focus charges him with seven touchdowns allowed but only one came after the Green Bay game. Wallace is also a solid tackler.
Free Agency Outlook:
Analysis of Wallace’s free agent outlook has to begin with his previous contract and where his past season ended. The fact that he started down the stretch should be ignored because it was a matter of circumstance. The reality is that he was demoted, even made inactive for one game.
There’s no chance that he will see another $4 million per season on his next contract. Fans acting as though he lacks the talent to be in the NFL any longer, however, are substantially off base. The biggest hurdle is the fact that he lacks a special teams history.
The reality of the NFL is that if you’re not a lineman or a quarterback and you’re not a starter then you better be able to play special teams. He simply hasn’t done much of that at all over the course of his career, but that doesn’t mean he can’t learn.
It’s tough to say just what his market is, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he signs, either in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, on a one-year Veteran Salary Benefit contract. I could also see him getting a modest two-year contract worth $2 million per season or less from a team that still sees him as a starter-capable player. He has started 70 games and logged over 4,000 snaps, that can’t be denied.
