The Pittsburgh Steelers have come to terms with yet another unrestricted free agent and this time it is former Baltimore Ravens LB Patrick Queen, who has agreed to sign a three-year, $41 million contract with the team. On the heels of that exciting Queen news, it’s time once again to update where the Steelers sit from a 2024 salary cap perspective.
As already noted in the previous contract details post, Queen was given a $11.59 million signing bonus as part of his deal. He will also reportedly have a 2024 base salary of $2.25 million. This should make his 2024 salary cap charge just $6,113,333.
Queen will obviously enter the Steelers Rule of 51 and he’ll displace a salary of $915,000. This means the signing of Queen used $5,198,333 of available salary cap space in the Rule of 51.
Queen’s signing now puts the Steelers $18,439,180 under the salary cap in real time.
As usual, and as I always like to point out in theses updates, it’s important to remember that the Steelers still have quite a few forthcoming things to budget for that will be related to their salary cap. The team still must account for workout bonuses, a 52nd and 53rd player, a full practice squad, and the offset related to signing its 2024 draft class in addition to budgeting for in-season roster moves and any players on the Reserve/Injured list. Most of those costs are way down the roads, however.
The Steelers are also likely to sign TE Pat Freiermuth to a contract extension this offseason so any increase in his salary cap charge for 2024 will ultimately need to be accommodated if the team goes that route with him this summer.
The Steelers still have the ability to free up a lot more salary cap space this offseason should they have the need to. As I have mentioned several times this offseason, extending the contract of DT Cameron Heyward could be one way to free up around $9.5 million or so in 2024 salary cap space. Additionally, the Steelers could choose to restructure the contract of OLB Alex Highsmith later this summer and such a move would free up as much as $7.206 million in 2024 salary cap space.
If you are scoring at home, the Steelers three adds so far in free agency, Queen, QB Russell Wilson, and P Cameron Johnson, have a combined 2024 cash spend total of $19.05 million. I have projected that the team will spend between $40 and $50 million in cash this year on free agents.
