When news broke on the eve of the 2024 NFL Draft that the Pittsburgh Steelers had restructured OLB Alex Highsmith’s contract, the rumor mill went into overdrive. Was it a sign that the Steelers were making a trade for a top-flight receiver to pair with George Pickens? Well, the weekend came and went, and the Steelers did add a wide receiver. Just not via trade but instead by spending a third-round pick on Michigan WR Roman Wilson.
So why the restructuring? Why then?
“It gave us the opportunity to just be in position in case there’s an opportunity to upgrade,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan said Thursday while appearing on the PM Team on 93.7 The Fan. “Just to be honest, to be in a position to do something [if] there’s an opportunity to upgrade the club that’s worth us looking and doing something with. We wanted to be in position to do so if that came about. Obviously, it did not come about, but just wanted to be prepared.”
While no move occurred then, teams need to be prepared for when the opportunity arises for a move. The last thing any NFL general manager wants is to get a phone call that could change a team’s trajectory but not have the necessary cap space to make it happen.
“We haven’t really done much to get rid of that cap that we created,” Khan said. “So yeah, there’s an opportunity to do something that’s gonna improve our team… We’re diligent and we try to make the right Steelers decision. And [if] there’s an opportunity to do something, we will evaluate it…. We feel we have the opportunity and the flexibility to do something if we had to.”
Steelers fans may have been disappointed that no move happened during draft weekend, but that doesn’t mean a move can’t come together during training camp or even during the season. After all, the trade deadline has been pushed back a week thanks to the Steelers’ offseason proposal. So freeing up the cap space makes sense even if nothing has materialized yet.
Speculation persists that the Steelers could trade for a wide receiver, so having that cap space already cleared makes it easier to execute a trade if the opportunity arises. The less paperwork Omar Khan needs to do in the moment, the better.
