Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan declined to rule out the possibility of further cap-based roster cuts prior to the start of the new league year, unsurprising given some obvious potential candidates like WR Allen Robinson II and CB Patrick Peterson. The team already released four starters or former starters, with salary cap considerations factoring into the majority of those decisions. While they are already compliant with the 2024 salary cap, however, they still have a couple decisions to make.
Odds are they retain DL Cameron Heyward but maneuver his contract to lower his cap hit, for example. But he’s not going anywhere. CB Patrick Peterson and/or WR Allen Robinson II may not be as fortunate. But Robinson’s situation is not the same as Peterson’s, and that’s not an accident.
Peterson has a substantial $3 million roster bonus due March 16, early in the new league year. That’s nearly 44 percent of the total liquid money they owe him for 2024. In other words, they need to make a decision about his roster status very soon to avoid paying that bonus. I wouldn’t bet on Peterson agreeing to delay his bonus to a later date.
As for Robinson, he doesn’t have a roster bonus due, but that’s only because he took preventative measures. The Steelers largely but not entirely inherited the contract Robinson signed with the Los Angeles Rams when trading for him. Los Angeles agreed to eat a substantial portion of his 2023 salary. But Robinson also agreed to excise a $5 million 2024 roster bonus on the books.
The Steelers still owe Robinson $10 million in base salary for the 2024 season, which he’s never going to see. But because they have no offseason deadline, they can work spend the next several months if necessary working on alternatives.
Obviously that’s not going to happen because the Steelers are not going to tie up $10 million for months. Surely both parties prefer to reach some resolution sooner rather than later. But they don’t need to find it before March 16 the way they must for Peterson’s contract.
That gives them the benefit of going through the free agency and draft process. They have the opportunity to assess the trade market for Diontae Johnson as well. Basically, they have the luxury of finding out just how valuable Robinson is relative to their options.
Then again, Robinson is likely most eager for a resolution. If the Steelers push too hard he may prefer to accept his release to give himself a chance to hit the free agent market while teams are still looking for pieces. And as a street free agent, teams would not incur any compensatory hits against their tablatures.
The problem, of course, is the fact that we really don’t know how valuable Robinson is. The Steelers didn’t use him very well or very efficiently in 2023. How could Arthur Smith better utilize him in 2024? How would his production benefit from better play from the quarterback position? It’s not the $10 million question, but we don’t know the worth. $7 million? $5 million? $3 million?
