The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired CB Donte Jackson from the Carolina Panthers when they sent WR Diontae Johnson to Carolina, and Jackson will now slot in as Pittsburgh’s No. 2 corner. Jackson was expected to be released by the Panthers due to his cap number, and while the Steelers will absorb some of it, the team will restructure his contract, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“He was going to be released because of his cap number. And the Steelers are going to re-do his deal so he doesn’t count $10.5 million against the cap in 2024. Probably sign him to a new two-year deal,” Dulac wrote today in his weekly chat.
Jackson has a $4 million roster bonus due on March 16, so any restructure to his contract would happen in the next few days. Despite what Spotrac and jabronis on Twitter want you to believe, the Steelers did not save any money by trading Johnson to Carolina and instead used $522,500 of their available cap space as it currently stands in the swap. However, a restructure could obviously lower Jackson’s cap number for 2024 and spread the money out over additional years.
Jackson’s contract has three additional voidable years attached to it, which could make things easier for Pittsburgh to restructure it. While the cap number was essentially a wash, it would behoove the Steelers to save some money if possible by restructuring Jackson. Given that he was due to be released by Carolina due to his cap number, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was open to redoing his deal after being traded or possibly agreed to drop his roster bonus as part of a trade instead of testing the free agent market.
With Jackson’s roster bonus due on Saturday, we should know soon what his contract looks like and whether the Steelers will restructure the contract and what his number is for this year. Pittsburgh is still going to be active in the free agent market after the pending signings of Patrick Queen and Russell Wilson as well as punter Cameron Johnston, and having as much money as possible is obviously going to be beneficial for the Steelers.
A Jackson restructure makes a lot of sense, and it’ll just be a matter of time until we find out if it happens and what the new contract will look like.
