The Pittsburgh Steelers have the highest-paid defense in the NFL, and when they don’t, it’s still usually up there. In recent years, the salary has been top-heavy with T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Heyward accounting for the bulk. Other players, however, have also claimed larger contracts, such as Larry Ogunjobi and Patrick Queen.
Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger admits that this sometimes gets in the Steelers’ way. It is inevitable, of course, when you’re working with a salary cap. But in the Steelers’ defense, they generally pay their talent. And the talent is generally on defense. When they had Pro Bowl offensive linemen, they paid them. They paid Antonio Brown, and they tried to pay Le’Veon Bell.
But right now the Steelers don’t have an Antonio Brown or a Le’Veon Bell—or a Ben Roethlisberger. It’s worth keeping in mind when comparing them to the Eagles, as Roethlisberger touched on during his Footbahlin podcast.
“Sometimes when you get so much money, how it’s distributed and how it’s paid out over years and salary cap, things like that [matter]”, he said when talking about how the Eagles paid QB Jalen Hurts. On the Steelers, he said, “Their defense, I know we have the highest-paid d-lineman, the highest-paid linebacker, the highest-paid safety in the league. And I’m not saying those guys aren’t deserving, but that ends up taking a toll on your team when you can’t pay other guys that much money”.
The Steelers signed Heyward to an extension last year, and Watt is due for one this year. Theoretically, Fitzpatrick’s turn would be next year if the Steelers want to extend him. Given how the past two seasons have gone, however, that’s far from a given.
Now, Heyward had a first-team All-Pro season and Watt was in the running for the Defensive Player of the Year. It’s not like the Steelers are not seeing return on their defensive investments. And on the flip side, they really haven’t had the offensive players who merited investment.
Think back, seriously, in recent years and consider which offensive free agents they lost. Outside of Kevin Dotson, who lost his starting job here and was ultimately traded, who should the Steelers have paid? The Steelers’ bigger issue is not the expenditure imbalance but poor drafting and developing. Of course, the balance sheet would have looked a little different if they had succeeded in trading for a wide receiver.
Of course, you could argue that the Steelers need to be more proactive in acquiring offensive talent in free agency. They have done that to some degree along the offensive line with James Daniels and Isaac Seumalo. Perhaps they would have gone bigger at wide receiver last year if they weren’t trying to trade for one. And, hey, they did sign Cordarrelle Patterson for $3 million APY.
