I’m not saying it’s happening. I’m just saying if the Pittsburgh Steelers trade for a wide receiver, San Francisco’s Brandon Aiyuk, Denver’s Courtland Sutton, or some other possibility we haven’t even begun to ponder, the signs will have been there.
As we wrote, the Steelers just reportedly restructured OLB Alex Highsmith’s contract, a move that will clear up more than $7 million in cap space. Just 24 hours before the draft and Pittsburgh felt the need to give itself financial breathing room. As Dave Bryan was quick to note, and this is important, the Steelers already had enough current cap space to sign their rookie class and make all the moves they would need to over the coming weeks. While there would be a time and place to restructure contracts like Highsmith, it did not need to happen today.
There seems to be little debate that the Steelers are in the marker for a veteran wide receiver. Mike Williams was supposed to be that guy. But Pittsburgh missed out on the chance, Williams signing with the New York Jets, the first team he visited.
While it’s a deep receiver class that offers the Steelers plenty of options, they may want more of an immediate-impact player. Not an unknown rookie with a learning curve. The Steelers know they have to get their offense into gear, and they don’t want to hamstring Russell Wilson (or Justin Fields) without the supporting cast required for this unit to put points on the board.
The bottom line is clear. The Steelers’ offense can’t be stagnant. Not for another year. They’ve wallowed in trying to become even average and failed to reach that bar year after year. They can’t have what-ifs or regrets, wondering come November if they should’ve done more to support this offense.
As Dave outlined earlier this offseason, if the Steelers were going to make a trade for a receiver, they would need the cap space to accommodate it. Trading for Aiyuk or Sutton requires immediately being able to take on their current salary, even if the goal is a long-term deal to reduce their 2024 cap charge. For the trade to process, Pittsburgh has to have the cap space to assume it. Two weeks ago, Dave outlined Highsmith being the team’s likely restructure target if – and again, it’s an if – a trade for Aiyuk went down (the post initially referenced Aiyuk or the Bengals’ Tee Higgins, but it applies to any veteran receiver who is due a decent amount of money).
“The Steelers would need to accommodate either of those two cap amounts before signing the one they acquire to a contract extension, which would then in turn lower the player’s salary cap charge. Could they pull that off? Sure, they could, and that’s why we would likely see the signs beforehand as a restructuring would likely need to happen before the trade was made official.
As things stand right now, Steelers OLB Alex Highsmith would be the likeliest candidate to have his contract restructured this offseason to free up salary cap space. Such a full restructuring would free up $7.206 million in 2024 salary cap space. Why is Highsmith the likeliest candidate? Because he has the freshest big deal on the books.”
Lo and behold, he was. Just as the prophecy said it would.
According to Dave’s latest numbers, the Steelers now have over $19.2 million in available cap space, assuming a full Highsmith restructure took place (which seems to have happened).
Does this move guarantee a trade will happen? No. But it’s a clear signal the Steelers are going to make a play. If it doesn’t materialize, if they can’t pull off a trade, then no big deal. The team probably was going to kick the can on Highsmith’s contract later in the offseason anyway. There’s no negative impact by doing it now. But if a deal does go down, then Pittsburgh has the room to land a veteran receiver it has been searching for.
For what it is worth, Aiyuk posted a video of himself dancing on his Instagram page Wednesday afternoon.
What is more likely – the Steelers making a trade for Aiyuk or Sutton? Aiyuk is the top prize. But he also comes at top cost, especially in light of Amon-Ra St. Brown becoming the NFL’s highest-paid receiver at $30 million per year (we’ll wait to see the details of that contract). And Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson looms, certain to top that figure. Sutton will be comparatively cheaper in contract and likely in draft capital. Just guessing but the Steelers sending their two third-round pick, No. 98, for Sutton, sounds fair.
How will this end? I wish I knew. Maybe a trade happens, maybe it doesn’t. There’s been smoke for weeks. Now there are embers flickering. Pittsburgh could come away from the draft with more than rookies added to its roster.
