We now have roughly four weeks to go until the Pittsburgh Steelers start their 2024 training camp. With their offseason roster now built back up to 91 players, and with all draft picks signed, today is as good as day as any to update the team’s salary cap situation.
As of Thursday morning, the Steelers have 91 players under contract and the team’s Rule of 51 amount sits at $241,059,693. That amount includes $24,381,069 in dead money on the books for the 2024 season. All told, the Steelers sit $16,680,499 under the cap in real time and that amount matches the NFLPA report.
The Steelers’ latest roster moves are all accounted for and that includes the signing of WR Jacob Copeland and the claiming of DL Willington Previlon off waivers. Also accounted for since my last cap update is the signing of OC Zach Frazier, the team’s second-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The NFLPA, however, has yet to reflect the annual workout bonus placeholder amount of $907,200 on its public salary cap page. Even so, with all NFL teams now having wrapped up their annual mandatory minicamps, it shouldn’t be long until the real amount for the Steelers is known. That final amount should come in well below the placeholder amount.
The NFLPA has also yet to reveal the official injury settlement amounts for two former Steelers players, WR Keilahn Harris and CB Luq Barcoo. Those two injury settlement amounts, which will ultimately be charged against the Steelers’ 2024 salary cap, will likely total right around $165,000.
Looking ahead at other projected and predictable cap costs for the Steelers as we sit here in late June, the team probably needs to budget for around $13.59 million in space for things such as a full practice squad ($4 million), a 52nd and 53rd rostered player ($1.59 million), players on the Reserve/Injured list to start the regular season ($2 million), and an in-season move funding amount ($6 million).
When factoring in those projected and somewhat predictable cap costs for the Steelers moving forward into the summer, the team has roughly $2,183,299 in effective salary cap space to use, pending any additional contract restructures or top-51 contract terminations.
The Steelers are likely to sign a player or three to contract extensions in the next 10 weeks. An extension for TE Pat Freiermuth this summer, for example, will likely increase his current salary cap charge of $1,918,057 by at least $2 million and possibly as much as $3 million. Conversely, should DT Cameron Heyward sign a contract extension in the next 10 weeks, his 2024 salary cap charge of $22,406,250 is likely to decrease significantly and perhaps even by as much as $8 to $9 million. And while most people view it as very unlikely to happen, a contract extension for RB Najee Harris in the next 10 weeks would likely result in his 2024 salary cap charge of $4,151,460 increasing by around $1.8 million.
Should the Steelers need to restructure another contract between now and the start of the 2024 regular season, S Minkah Fitzpatrick is the most likely next candidate for such a move. The Steelers can create an additional $8,916,667 in 2024 salary cap space by fully restructuring his contract.
Obviously, all eyes will remain on the heavy speculation that the Steelers will trade for a significant wide receiver in the next 10 weeks. If such a deal ultimately happens, the Steelers would obviously need to accommodate an additional large salary cap charge for that player. It’s tough, however, to predict what such a large cap charge would ultimately be without knowing more details such as which wide receiver might ultimately be traded for.
All told, and in summation, the fact that the Steelers sit more than $16 million under the cap in June is great news for the team. They have tons of cap flexibility at this point of the offseason, and it will be interesting to see which paths they go down as far as contract extensions, restructurings, and maybe even trades in the next 10 weeks.
My next 2024 Steelers salary cap update will be posted after the team makes another significant transaction or two
