The Pittsburgh Steelers have kicked the tires on some former players in the past, like with Terrell Edmunds, Cam Sutton, Plaxico Burress, Larry Foote, and others, so why not do it again? DT Javon Hargrave departed in free agency after his rookie contract was up in 2020. After four productive years with the Philadelphia Eagles, he has spent the last two years with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have now designated him as a post-June 1 designation and he will be a free agent in March, per David Lombardi on X.
“It gives him an opportunity to see what his market is, and that may include us,” 49ers GM John Lynch said via Lombardi.
The 49ers restructured his contract in early December to get a head start on their tricky salary cap situation this offseason with some big decisions involving QB Brock Purdy, WR Deebo Samuel, and others. They reduced his base salary from $19.9 million to $2.1 million to lower his cap number significantly. For a more thorough explanation of this move, Jason Fitzgerald has an excellent write up on Over The Cap.
The 49ers hope to re-sign Hargrave but are allowing him to gauge his market value as an unrestricted free agent. As I mentioned earlier, the 49ers have quite a lot to worry about when it comes to their cap management this offseason. It won’t take much for them to withdraw from any bidding war for Hargrave’s services.
Hargrave was a third-round pick out of South Carolina State University in 2016. He was a great find from a smaller program and ended his Steelers career with 14.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and 168 total tackles. That set him up for a nice contract with the Eagles.
At 32 years old and coming off an injury-plagued season without much production, Hargrave could be pretty affordable. He would be reunited with T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward, which is pretty wild considering how long ago he left. It would be under a different defensive coordinator, but he worked with DL coach Karl Dunbar for two seasons before leaving for Philadelphia.
Since leaving the Steelers, Hargrave has made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2023. He had a whopping 11 sacks in 2022 in his last year with Philadelphia and had three-straight years with double-digit hits on the quarterback before his injury in 2024.
The Steelers have Keeanu Benton, who will be entering his third NFL season, but adding additional DL depth is never a bad thing, and Hargrave is more proven at providing pressure in the middle of the defense at this point. Javon Hargrave can absolutely still play when healthy.
