It’s an interesting time right now on the NFL calendar as it relates to tracking the 2024 salary cap situation of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why? Because as we sit here on this Thursday, not only has the NFLPA public salary cap report switched over to 2024, but it also matches up in real time to where the Steelers currently sit with all contracts accounted for. With this rare occurrence happening, it’s a perfect time to teach about how the NFL’s Rule of 51 is calculated and how it matches the real-time cap situation of the Steelers.
For starters, below is the Thursday PDF download from the NFLPA public salary cap report page. You will see several values listed next to the Steelers so let’s review them all.
PublicLeagueCapReport4424First, $12,195,998 is what the report shows for the Steelers when it comes to their available salary cap space when using the offseason Rule of 51. Next, you will notice that the Rule of 51 cap total for the Steelers is $245,544,194. The report also shows that there are 74 contracts accounted for. Finally, you will see that the report shows that the Steelers carried over $2,340,192 in salary cap space from 2023.
We know that the NFL’s 2024 cap number is $255,400,000. So, if you add the carryover amount from 2023 of $2,340,192 to that, you get an adjusted 2024 cap number of $257,740,192 for the Steelers. If you then subtract the Steelers’ listed Rule of 51 amount of $245,544,194, you get a total under the cap of $12,195,998.
Now, let’s look at the Steelers’ actual 74 players under contract, along with all dead money listings for 2024, to show how the Rule of 51 number is calculated.
Before we go over the data listed in the graphics below, let me first redefine the Rule of 51: The NFL works off the Rule of 51 during the offseason, which is from the start of the new league year in March until the mandatory setting of the active 53-man rosters just ahead of Week 1 of the regular season. That Rule of 51 is the total of the top 51 cap charges a team has, plus any bonus proration amounts that fall outside of the top 51, plus all dead money listed for that league year.
Below is a table of all 74 players currently under contract with the Steelers. Each player is listed with a base salary, along with their 2024 prorated signing bonus amount, roster bonus amount and 2024 salary cap charge. The table also includes a cutoff line after the top 51 cap charges.
You should see that the top 51 cap charges total out $221,142,016.
Additionally, as stated above, the total of all prorated signing bonuses for players outside of that top 51 is $21,109. That lone amount actually belongs to Steelers CB Cory Trice Jr.
If you add $21,109 to the top 51 total of $221,142,016 you get $221,163,125, which is still $24,381,069 short of the $245,544,194 listed Rule of 51 amount that the NFLPA public salary page currently shows.
Now, we still need to add in the dead money that the Steelers have on the books for 2024 as of April 4 to finish our Rule of 51 total calculation. That list of players, along with the dead money amounts for each, is in the table below. As you can see, the Steelers’ dead money charge total as we sit here on April 4 is $24,381,069.
To recap, if you add the top 51 total of $221,142,016 to the total bonus proration outside of the top 51 total of $21,109 and then add the dead money amount of $24,381,069, you get a Rule of 51 total of $245,544,194, which matches the grand total listed on the NFLPA’s public salary cap report from Thursday.
My hope is that I thoroughly explained this process of determining the Steelers’ 2024 Rule of 51 as it sits currently and in real time. I should make it clear, however, that the NFLPA public salary report is not always caught up to where the Steelers are in real time. It’s important to always recognize how many players are listed as being under contract in relation to what the actual number is.
If you have any questions about this Rule of 51 process and how it is calculated, feel free to ask them in the comment section below. I hope you all benefited from this post.
