Commissioner Roger Goodell recently discussed the salary cap at the league’s owners meetings.

“We did spend time today talking, at length, about areas of our Collective Bargaining Agreement that we want to focus on,” Goodell told reporters per Pro Football Talk. “The two areas that we spent time on were really the cap system itself, the integrity of that system, how’s it working, where do we need to address that in the context of collective bargaining, when that does happen. That was a very lengthy discussion.”

If the salary cap is just a number that all 32 cannot exceed in a given year, why are there thought to be “integrity” issues with it? In reality, it’s not quite as simple as that one number, which stands at $279.2m for the 2025 season. Let’s travel across the Keystone State to the City of Brotherly Love (although you may need to take out a line of credit to cover the Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls).

Perhaps the most-forward thinking organization in that regard is the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, led by general manager Howie Roseman. The Eagles have a philosophy of extending players they want to retain as early as possible, to get ahead of the cash market for comparable players.

When doing this the Eagles almost always include option bonuses and void years, which delay the cap charges on the contract. For example, quarterback Jalen Hurts signed a five-year, $255m extension in 2023. The total contract value over six seasons, including the 2023 season, was $260.8m. Included in this contract were void years, running through 2035, per Over The Cap.

Of the $260.8m contract value, $98.6m of that is set to be incurred after the contract voids after the 2028 season. Given Hurts is coming off a Super Bowl victory, the Eagles will almost certainly extend Hurts in 2027 or 2028. That would keep the $98.6m of post-contract cap expense on the books as currently amortized, starting as $38.3m in 2029 and gradually declining to $10.0m in 2032.

Hurts will earn the entire $260.8m in cash by the end of 2028, but the Eagles cap charges for Hurts through 2028 will only be $162.2m. Each active contract year (2023-2028) contains either a signing bonus payment or an option bonus payment, both of which can be amortized over five years, while Hurts’ base salary (known as a Paragraph V salary and paid in weekly increments during the regular season) is only the league minimum of between $1 and $1.4m.

This mechanism has allowed the Eagles to also sign star players such as wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, offensive linemen Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens, running back Saquon Barkley, and linebacker Zach Baun to large, long-term contracts, while spreading out their cap charges over a period longer than the length of the contract.

Void years aren’t a new development, but the use of them exploded in 2020 and 2021 when the league had decreased revenue during COVID, and thus a lower salary cap than projected when teams were signing players in the late 2010s. The Steelers even used void years with Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Sutton and JuJu Smith-Schuster prior to the 2021 season to stay cap-compliant, but have not done so since the pandemic subsided and the salary cap exploded with new TV deals.

So, are void years a good thing? They do help allow teams to maintain more players that they drafted and developed into quality players. While free agency is a huge news period for the league, I like seeing as many players receive extensions with teams that drafted them. I think continuity with sports teams is healthy and provides a feeling that you are cheering more for people and less for laundry.

My preferred approach would be a cap discount for signing players that you drafted or signed out of college. Going back to the Hurts example, I’d like to see the Eagles only be charged 90% of Hurts’ $255m extension cash value (a $25.5m discount) on the salary cap. The league would likely be against that, as it could be a detriment to parity and help great teams stay great, but I believe it’s a simpler approach than void years.

Option bonuses seem more real to me, as teams generally have the “option” to pay a player’s annual cash payment as base salary spread over the 18 weeks of that season, or as a lump-sum payment that can be spread over the lesser of the number of remaining years of the contract or five years. But these option bonuses are what generally get spread into void years, as they are essentially contract restructures done at the time of signing rather than during the contract. The Steelers prefer the latter approach, as they have taken recently with Cam Heyward in 2021, T.J. Watt in 2022, Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2023, and Alex Highsmith in 2024, all in the second years of their contracts.

Goodell’s comments suggest that he would like to see the Eagles have to part ways with some of their expensive players. Eliminating void years would likely force them to do just that, so that they may, for example, only be able to keep Mailata and Jurgens on the offensive line, and have to let Dickerson go to free agency and hope to find a cheap replacement in the draft. That would spread talent around the league, while penalizing the Eagles for again finding a second-round draft pick (like Hurts) who turned into one of the best players at his position.

What about the NFLPA? Void years, generally speaking, benefit the players, as they can receive more cash that functions as an “interest-free” loan for teams on the salary cap. A $20m cap charge for a player, which is a little over seven percent of the 2025 salary cap, could only be a little over six percent of the cap come 2028. That sounds small, but it’s not insignificant when laying out a roster together over multiple years.

I expect void years to continue, even when a new CBA is agreed to near the end of this decade, as it would be more important to players than the owners at the negotiating table. While I find it silly that a player can have nearly half of his earnings not be charged against the cap until after his contract ends, it does help teams keep their rosters together. Even if that’s a slight detriment to the league’s desire for parity, I prefer teams’ star players staying together for as long as possible.

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The focus in Western Pennsylvania now turns to the offseason, during which rarely a week or two go by without something newsworthy taking place. This article will look at some key decisions for the team as they work their way from locker cleanout day this week until they gather for training camp in Latrobe a little over six months from now.

External free agents and specific NFL Draft options are beyond the scope of this article, with the focus being on the coaching staff, current players who will be free agents, the future of the quarterback position, and potential extensions before the start of the regular season.

Coaching Changes - The first shoe to drop will be staff changes. That does not include head coach Mike Tomlin, who signed a contract extension after the 2023 season. I do believe it would be best for both parties to go their separate ways, similar to Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles after 14 seasons in 2012. Reid quickly latched on in Kansas City, and the Chiefs have been to the Super Bowl four times under his leadership, while two of the Eagles three head coaches post-Reid have been to the Super Bowl. Steelers owner Art Rooney II will likely see it differently, however, and I would be shocked if Tomlin does not return for his 19th season.

First-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has been requested for interviews with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, but a team actually taking the plunge and hiring Smith given his 21-30 record as Atlanta Falcons head coach and the Steelers putrid offense for most of the 2024 season seems unlikely.

Teryl Austin is likely to return for a fourth season as defensive coordinator. Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show reported last week on 93.7 The Fan’s The Fan Morning Show that Austin signed a two-year contract last offseason, and the Steelers have infrequently relieved coordinators of their duties prior to their contracts expiring.

As far as position coaches, offensive line coach Pat Meyer has to be at risk after three seasons in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers again failed to produce a successful rushing attack

Contract Terminations - The Steelers have an unusually high number of players entering free agency, but they also have to make a few decisions on players under contract for 2025. The most urgent is DL Larry Ogunjobi, who is due a $3m roster bonus at the start of the league year in March, followed by a $4m base salary for the 2025 season. Ogunjobi had flashes of good play in 2024, but battled minor injuries (again), and is now on the wrong side of 30.

The dilemma the Steelers face is their lack of depth at defensive line. They do have five other defensive linemen under contract, but they are largely of backup quality only beyond Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton.

Another possible release is EDGE Preston Smith, acquired at the trade deadline from the Green Bay Packers for a seventh-round pick in April’s NFL Draft. Smith is a solid backup, but with T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig all returning at the position, there is no reason to pay Smith his $12m base salary, plus a small workout bonus and per-game roster bonus. He was inactive for the playoff loss to Baltimore. Because Smith’s cap charge is over $13m, it would be prudent to remove that contract from the books at the start of the league year to maintain maximum flexibility, even though no significant money is due until the start of the season.

The only other possible early releases would appear to be RB Cordarrelle Patterson and DL Dean Lowry. Neither are due major dollars in 2025 ($2.8m and $2.5m respectively), but it’s hard to see them having a role on the 2025 team. The Steelers may choose to just move on and give the two players a chance to latch on with another team, but keeping them on the roster into training camp is viable as well with the duo not tying up significant salary cap space.

Both Heyward and LB Patrick Queen have large roster bonuses due in March, but the Steelers will be paying those without blinking.

Now, let’s quickly discuss the elephant in the room - S Minkah Fitzpatrick. The former all-pro had a rough 2024 and has logged just one interception over the last two seasons while anchoring a secondary that has struggled. Fitzpatrick is under contract for two more seasons, meaning the Steelers would not clear a ton of cap space by parting ways, but Fitzpatrick is owed $15.5m in cash for the 2025 season. That’s a lot of money for a player at a non-premium position who isn’t producing splash plays.

I do not expect the team to move on from Fitzpatrick, but if they do, their 2025 dead money cap charge would be $13.7m with a trade or a standard release. If they designate him a post-June 1 release, he would remain on the Steelers books at his current $22.4m cap number through May, before having that reduced to $6.9m for the duration of the year after June 1. Another $6.9m of dead money would then have to be accounted for in 2026.

Quarterback - Barely a month ago, it seemed likely the Steelers would re-sign Russell Wilson to a large but manageable contract that would likely lock him in as the starter in Pittsburgh for 2025 and 2026. Then, the last five weeks happened. Wilson regressed during the team’s collapse from 10-3 to 10-8. After 13 seasons, it seems that Wilson’s slow but notable decline since the end of his time in Seattle has ended his days as a top-half quarterback in the NFL. A divorce after a cheap one-year fling seems likely.

As for Justin Fields, the fourth-year quarterback acquired from the Bears for a sixth-round pick last March went 4-2 as a starter before Wilson took over in Week 7, but he struggled in his final two starts against the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders. Fields is a much different quarterback than Wilson, but he hasn’t shown enough consistency to suggest he can lead a team to playoff victories. Despite his flaws, Fields may end up being the best option among the short list of free agent quarterbacks with a track record of starting experience, however, with Sam Darnold likely to return to the Minnesota Vikings.

The 2025 draft is a poor quarterback draft, and moving up for a player like Miami (FL)’s Cam Ward would cost an arm and a leg with the Steelers only holding the No. 21 pick. Fields on a prove-it deal and a Day 2 rookie quarterback may be the Steelers best approach for the 2025 campaign.

Internal Free Agents - The Steelers have more than 20 players on their active roster who will be free agents. The most likely to return are RB Jaylen Warren, who is a restricted free agent, and C Ryan McCollum, an exclusive rights free agent.

For Warren, the restricted free agent classification means that the Steelers can assign a draft pick value to Warren, which would be owed to Pittsburgh from any other team who signs Warren, and the Steelers opt not to match the contract. The tender for Warren would likely be of the second-round designation, which comes with an estimated 2025 salary of $5.217m, per Over The Cap. Warren could also then receive a new multi-year contract later in the offseason.

For McCollum, who started a pair of games in the middle of the season when Zach Frazier was injured and performed admirably, he can be brought back on a one-year minimum-salary contract worth $1.03m. That deal should get done with no issues, as McCollum has no leverage and cannot sign elsewhere if the Steelers do offer him that low-cost deal.

EDGE Jeremiah Moon is also an exclusive rights free agent who could return at the same $1.03m cost as McCollum. It’s definitely possible that the Steelers value Moon enough as a special teams player and No. 4 outside linebacker to quickly bring him back, but it seems less likely than McCollum.

Among unrestricted free agents, ILB Elandon Roberts proved to be a great signing in 2023, but he is 30 years old, and the Steelers have both Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson under contract for the next two seasons. If Roberts’ market is limited, he could return, but a re-signing prior to Roberts testing free agency seems unlikely.

Four-year starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. had a strong start to the 2024 season, but, like Russell Wilson, struggled down the stretch, and exited the playoff loss to the Ravens with a leg injury. Having used a first-round pick on offensive tackles in both the 2023 and 2024 drafts, the Steelers will likely let Moore go to free agency after four seasons. A third or fourth-round compensatory pick in 2026 once seemed possible for the loss of Moore in free agency, but it may drop a round or two if Moore’s decline in play lowers his contract value.

Other potential returning players who are unrestricted free agents include WR Ben Skowronek and LB Tyler Matakevich, heavy contributors on special teams, and No. 3 QB Kyle Allen.

Summer Extensions - Arguably the Steelers best players on each side of the ball enter 2025 in the final years of their contracts. On defense, that would be 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt, who is due just over $21m in 2025 with a cap charge north of $30m. Watt had another very good season in 2024, but his 11.5 sacks were his lowest in a season that he avoided a serious injury since his rookie year in 2017. Signs of decline for the 30-year old Watt are minimal, but they do exist, as Watt failed to record a stat against the Ravens. Can the Steelers afford to give Watt another top-of-market contract, which would run north of $30m per year and could approach the $34m per year of San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa? Watt is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but the Steelers have yet to win a playoff game during his time in Pittsburgh due to so many deficiencies throughout the roster. As great as Watt has been, that money may be better used elsewhere.

On offense, WR George Pickens heads into the final season of his rookie contract. Pickens will likely be looking to jump into the top five of NFL wide receiver contracts, which would be in the $30m per year range. Pickens is an incredible talent, but after three full seasons, he remains an immature player. His dud of a performance in the regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals looms large, even when accounting for recency bias, but he did catch a touchdown on Saturday night to give the Steelers a glimmer of hope in the third quarter.

Is there a team willing to give up a first or second-round pick for Pickens? That seems unlikely. If Pickens plays out his contract and leaves via free agency after the 2025 season, the highest compensatory pick value the Steelers could receive would be a third-round pick in 2027, so a late Day 2 pick in 2025 would be worth considering. At this point, an extension comes with too much risk given the number of quality receivers the college game churns out on an annual basis.

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Today we will focus on the lead-up to free agency, which technically begins on Mar. 11 with the start of the two-day negotiating window between players and potential new teams, but plants its first seeds on Feb. 20 with the opening of the two-week window for franchise and transition tags.

The Steelers do not have a player who would be a candidate for a tag, so their first course of business will be making decisions on their one exclusive-rights free agent (ERFAs) and four restricted free agents (RFAs).

ERFAs have fewer than three accrued seasons, and must sign a contract with their current team if a contract tender is presented prior to the start of the new league year. RFAs have three accrued seasons, and can be offered a contract tender with varying salaries that come with a different level of compensation should the player sign with another team. Unlike ERFAs, RFAs can still sign with other teams if tendered, but the current team has the option to match the new team’s offer, and, if draft pick compensation was attached to the tender, receive a draft pick from the new team.

Of the four RFAs for the Steelers, the only contributors were long snapper Christian Kuntz and running back/kick returner Godwin Igwebuike. Defensive lineman Renell Wren and linebacker Chappelle Russell spent the season on injured reserve. With the minimum base salary for an RFA tender projected to be around $2.8m by Over the Cap, Kuntz would be the only player even under consideration for a tender. However, $2.8m is more than $1m above the current highest average annual value for a long snapper contract, so tendering Kuntz would not be financially prudent.

What would be prudent is a two-year contract offer for Kuntz. This aligns with what the Steelers did with their most recent restricted free agent long snapper, Kameron Canaday, in 2020. Canaday received a two-year contract worth just over $2.4m in total value, with $450,000 guaranteed. He earned just over half of that amount, as he was released prior to the start of the 2021 season when Kuntz won the starting long snapper job.

Adjusting for salary cap inflation, I believe a fair offer to Kuntz would be a two-year, $2.8m contract, with $575,000 guaranteed in the form of a signing bonus. Here is the proposed structure, with his 2024 and 2025 base salaries at the minimum for his years of service.

This would move Kuntz into the top 10 of the NFL for long snappers in average annual value, which is merited given the reliability of the Steelers’ placekicking operation during Kuntz’s three seasons with the team. I expect a contract with Kuntz to get done prior to the start of the league year.

Igwebuike was heralded for his savvy play against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16, in which he stood out of bounds while touching the ball on a kick return. This, by rule, is deemed to be a kickoff out of bounds. He displayed some special teams value during the 2023 season, and while Igwebuike will not receive an RFA tender, he could be brought back to the team on a contract with a minimum or near-minimum salary.

As for exclusive rights free agents, the Steelers have just one - offensive lineman Dylan Cook. While on the 53-man roster for the entire season, Cook did not log any snaps in 2023.

Cook can be tendered for a 2024 non-guaranteed base salary of $915,000, the 2024 league minimum for a player with one credited season.

Ultimately, the Steelers’ decisions around these five players are pretty straightforward, with the specifics of the Kuntz contract likely being the only notable items to arise from this process.

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Aside from a fairly prolonged stretch of inactivity in late June and early July, there won’t be much more than a week without significant newsworthy events around the NFL

The first “major” event of the offseason is the start of free agency. That coincides with the start of the new league year on March 15, but negotiations with players from other teams are allowed to begin on March 13, with March 13 and 14 being even busier days for reported signings than the day of and after the start of the new league year.

Prior to mid-March, teams will still be busy preparing for free agency. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, a few things must happen over the next month. This piece will walk through some of those key dates and decisions for general manager Omar Khan and the organization.

Feb. 21 - Franchise tag window opens

The NFL allows teams two weeks for teams to designate a player who will become an unrestricted free agent in March as a franchise player. The franchise tag process has some complications and nuances, but for purposes of the Steelers, we will only consider the non-exclusive franchise tag. This tag is a one-year tender at a percentage of the 2023 salary cap ($224.8m) based on the player’s position and the five-year history of the franchise tag at that position in relation to the salary cap.

The only Steelers player would merit the cost that comes with this designation is cornerback Cameron Sutton, whose contract voids later this week, which would make Sutton an unrestricted free agent in March. A non-exclusive franchise tag for Sutton would come with a 2023 base salary of $18.1m. If the Steelers take this approach, it would be because they want to retain Sutton do not believe they can sign Sutton to a long-term contract prior to March 15. A tag of Sutton would be a sizable hit to the salary cap for a player expected to command at least $5m less per year on the open market, and would likely simply be a move just to buy another four months to try to agree to a long-term deal with Sutton that would lower his 2023 cap charge prior to a July 15 deadline for contract extensions for tagged players.

I do not anticipate the Steelers tagging Sutton. He’s been a model player for six seasons in Pittsburgh. Negotiations should be fair and upfront, and if nothing gets done in the next month, the Steelers should allow Sutton to reach the open market. He can always re-sign with the team if coming back to Pittsburgh is his best option both financially and personally.

The tag window closes on March 7.

Feb. 28 - Mar. 6 - NFL Scouting Combine

The seven-day event in Indianapolis is centered around April’s NFL Draft, with some 300 or so draft-eligible players participating in medical evaluations, on-field workouts and team meetings. While free agency is not directly involved, the combine often times allows team to discuss trades, which, if executed, can certainly impact the approach to free agency.

Prior to March 15 at 4 p.m. ET - Excusive Rights Free Agent Tenders

The Steelers have two players with fewer than three accrued NFL seasons whose contracts expire next month: long snapper Christian Kuntz and outside linebacker Jamir Jones. The team must decide by March 15 if it wants to make tender offers to the players for the minimum salaries for players with two credited seasons, which will be $895k for 2023. If tendered, those players cannot sign with any other NFL team. Kuntz is a certainty to receive a tender, as he has proven to be an adequate long snapper over the past two seasons. There’s little downside to retaining Jones, so he may be tendered as well even though it’s unlikely to envision him on a final 53-man roster in September.

Prior to March 15 at 4 p.m. ET - Salary Cap Compliance

The $224.8m 2023 salary cap and “Rule of 51” will go into effect on March 15, when all players not under contract past the 2022 season come off of the books and all futures contracts signed by players in January go on the books. At that time, a team’s salary cap will consist of a team’s highest 51 cap charges, plus any signing bonus proration for players without a top-51 cap charge, accelerated bonus proration for players who had their contracts with the Steelers terminated prior to full amortization of their signing bonuses, and a workout bonus expense.

My salary cap tracker has the Steelers currently looking at a salary cap expense of around $225.5m on March 15. This obviously means the Steelers cannot simply do nothing between now and then, as at least $700k of salary cap expense must be removed to avoid being in violation of the salary cap.

The first move will be the release of cornerback William Jackson III, who was acquired by the team from Washington in November, but did not play in any games. Jackson III’s 2023 cap charge is $12.75m, with $2.5m being guaranteed in the form of a roster bonus on Mar. 191. The team added Jackson III hoping he could show in the final half of the season that he could be a viable replacement for Sutton in 2023, who again will likely command a contract with an annual value comparable to $12.75m. Due to injury, this did not happen, and Jackson's III brief time in Pittsburgh will end soon.

The Steelers will need more than just $12.75m of space in order to re-sign some of their own free agents as well as be active with external candidates. The decision around quarterback Mitch Trubisky will draw the most scrutiny, as the Steelers owe Trubisky $8m if he’s on the roster in 2023 with a cap charge of $10.625m, the difference between the two being his unamortized signing bonus that will remain on the books whether Trubisky is on the roster or not. I’m not a Trubisky fan with regards to what I would like out of a Steelers backup to Kenny Pickett in 2023. I believe a better option could be had for closer to $5m, but my gut at this point says Trubisky will not be released, and the Steelers will take on one of the highest salary cap expenses in the league for a backup quarterback.

Another $4.7m in addition to the $20.8m from Trubisky and Jackson being deleted from the roster could be had from the releases of linebacker Myles Jack and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon. Both players disappointed in 2022, but their cap charges are not so high as to not be able to carry them through the draft and training camp if desired. Of the two, Witherspoon is probably more likely to depart, especially if Sutton returns as a projected starting cornerback alongside Levi Wallace.

A minor consideration is that a release of any of these players would come with an additional cap expense of $750k per release, as a minimum-salary player currently outside of the top 51 cap charges would have their cap expense slide into the top 51. So, in essence, the release of the four players discussed would net the Steelers approximately $22.5m in cap space as opposed to $25.5m.

At that point, additional space would need to be freed up through contract restructures of current players such as T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Chukwuma Okorafor, James Daniels, Diontae Johnson or Chris Boswell, with Fitzpatrick being the likely first target.

That sums up what is in store for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the next month. Other teams will likely be in the news far more than the Steelers, with tags and trades unlikely for Pittsburgh, but the 2023 Steelers roster will begin to take shape in the next four weeks as the new league year quickly approaches.

Due to the allowed carryover of unused prior year cap space, the Pittsburgh Steelers will operate with a salary cap budget of approximately $229.227m due to $4.427m of carryover space. Relatively speaking, that $4.427m number is near the league average of carryover space. The Browns have a league-high $27.6m of cap carryover, while the Bengals and Ravens both will carry over fewer dollars than the Steelers.

The $224.8m number takes effect at the start of the new league year on March 15. The accounting will include each team’s 51 highest salary cap expenses for players under contract (Rule of 51), plus any dead money, of which the Steelers have $8.0m related to Stephon Tuitt (retirement), Cameron Sutton (contract void), Chase Claypool (trade), and assorted other players whose contracts were terminated since last summer. There is also a small cap charge related to workout bonuses, estimated to be around $500k.

While the Steelers will make significant roster moves prior to the $224.8m cap ceiling taking effect, the team currently sits about $650k over that cap number. All that means at this time is that the team cannot maintain its current roster past 4 p.m. ET on March 15. The Steelers’ most likely move to reduce the team’s cap expense is the release of cornerback William Jackson III, as well as the possibility of releases for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon and linebacker Myles Jack. We will detail those potential moves further as we approach the start of the new league year six weeks from now.

The assumed 2023 salary cap prior to Monday was between $224m and $225m, so no planning is likely to change as a result of the salary cap being formalized. The Steelers will be able to retain a few of their top free agents as well as sign multiple starters externally, similar to last year when they acquired Jack, center Mason Cole, guard James Daniels, and cornerback Levi Wallace.

We’ll start with the 11 players who I believe are unlikely to return.

LB Marcus Allen: Allen has spent five seasons with the Steelers since being drafted out of Penn State in 2018. He’s been a valuable special teams contributor, particularly on punt protection. His 2022 season ended on a low note, however, as he suffered a biceps injury against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 16, six days after committing an egregious unsportsmanlike penalty during a media timeout against the Carolina Panthers. If he returns to the team, it won’t be until the summer once healthy.

DT Tyson Alualu: The 13-year veteran has likely played his final NFL snap. He was a valuable asset for the Steelers from 2017-20, but an ankle injury ended his 2021 season in Week 2. He struggled this past season, as father time and the effects of the ankle injury caught him.

LB Devin Bush: The much-maligned former No. 10 overall draft pick is officially a bust after essentially being benched for the final two games of the 2022 season against AFC North rivals. Bush had a promising rookie season, but never progressed after suffering a torn ACL early in his second season. His Steelers career is over.

OT Jesse Davis: Davis was acquired from the Minnesota Vikings in an August trade for a conditional 2025 draft pick as a third or fourth tackle option. Fortunately for the Steelers, starting tackles Dan Moore and Chukwuma Okorafor combined to miss just a single snap (by Okorafor) in 2023, and Davis never was needed.

S Karl Joseph: Joseph spent the 2022 season on Injured Reserve after suffering an August ankle injury. He turns 30 at to the start of the regular season, so health and age concerns will likely prevent the West Virginia alumnus from returning to the Steelers.

WR Anthony Miller: Like Joseph, Miller was on Injured Reserve for the 2022 season after an August shoulder injury. He has one reception in two seasons with the team. The Steelers should be moving on from Miller.

LB Malik Reed: The Steelers acquired Reed along with a seventh-round draft pick in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick in August, hoping Reed could be a capable No. 3 outside linebacker behind Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt. Reed never became that player, recording just one sack in 14 games. Pittsburgh needs to upgrade at this position.

QB Mason Rudolph: No Steelers player probably wanted to get out of town faster than Rudolph, who did not play a snap as the No. 3 quarterback in 2022 after making 10 starts from 2019-2021 as the No. 2 quarterback. He’s unlikely to garner interest as a starter, but some team will likely pay him to be a No. 2 option in 2023.

OT Trenton Scott: Scott was added to the roster in the offseason due to his familiarity with new offensive line coach Pat Meyer. Thanks to Moore’s and Okorafor’s good health, Scott was not needed, and the Steelers should look to upgrade at the No. 3 tackle position for 2023 via the draft.

RB Benny Snell: Mike Tomlin loves Snell, but he’s become merely a special-teams player after the emergence of rookie Jaylen Warren as the No. 2 running back. An NFL roster can only afford to have one or two veteran players who are limited to special teams coverage and return units, and Snell is unlikely to be one for the 2023 Steelers.

DE Chris Wormley: The former Baltimore Raven proved to be a valuable asset for the Steelers defensive line over three seasons, but Wormley suffered a torn ACL against his former team in Week 14. If healthy, he could return to the team around the time of training camp, but his availability for the start of the 2023 season is in doubt.

That leaves eight unrestricted free agents who the team should at least consider re-signing either prior to or shortly after the start of the new league year on March 15.

WR Miles Boykin: The Steelers acquired Boykin off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens. He proved to be valuable on coverage teams and is worth bringing back for 2023. The Steelers can offer him a one-year minimum salary benefit contract that would pay him $1.233m in cash with a reduced salary cap charge of just $1.093m. A two-year deal would likely come up with a cap hit of around $1.5m.

S Terrell Edmunds: After testing free agency last year, Edmunds ultimately returned for a fifth season with the Steelers on a one-year deal. He played in 15 games, and his play was good enough to merit a multi-year deal. The Steelers should look to bring Edmunds back as a starter on a two-year contract for around $7m, with a 2023 cap charge of around $2-$2.5m depending on structure.

TE Zach Gentry: Gentry’s rookie contract is expiring after four seasons and 303 yards receiving. Because he has four years with the Steelers, he is eligible for a four-year player qualifying contract. This team-friendly deal would come with a cap charge of Gentry’s minimum salary for a four-year player of $1.08m, plus up to a $152,500 signing bonus, while his cash payout could be up to $1.25m more than his minimum salary plus bonus, or $2.483m. Connor Heyward’s emergence late in the season may leave the Steelers comfortable at tight end without Gentry, but he’s a decent blocker, and the four-year player qualifying contract option makes his return possible.

S Damontae Kazee: After returning from injury and suspension in November, Kazee played in nine games and recorded nine tackles and a pair of interceptions. He has proven to be a better option as a No. 3 safety than Tre Norwood. Like Boykin, Kazee is a candidate for a second minimum salary benefit contract that would pay him up to $1.233m in cash with a salary cap expense of no more than $1.093m. If the Steelers choose not to pursue re-signing Edmunds, a multi-year deal could be in the works for Kazee to return in a starting role, likely at or slightly under the $3.5m/year contract proposed for Edmunds.

DT Larry Ogunjobi: In six seasons, Ogunjobi has now played for every AFC North team except the Baltimore Ravens. Assuming his desire isn’t to cross off the final team in the division, the Steelers should look to bring back the 28-year on a two-year contract. A two-year, $10m deal with a 2023 cap expense of around $3.5m should be about right for Ogunjobi, who played hurt for much of the 2022 season. The team could then part ways with Ogunjobi after the 2023 season with a 2024 dead money charge in the $2.5m range.

LB Robert Spillane: Say what you want about Spillane, who struggled in coverage as the team’s primary linebacker in dime coverage, but he’s a valuable asset as a run defender against AFC north rivals Baltimore and Cleveland. With Devin Bush gone and Myles Jack being little more than an average player in 2022, it might be nice to have Spillane around as at least a Ravens and Browns specialist. A two-year contract offer similar to Edmunds should be enough, which would keep his 2023 cap hit near the $2.433m that it was in 2022.

CB Cameron Sutton: Sutton signed a two-year contract with three void years with the Steelers in 2021, so the Steelers are already on the hook for a $2.1m cap expense in 2023 related to Sutton’s signing bonus proration. As far as a new contract goes, Sutton is probably looking at a deal worth eight figures per year after an excellent 2022 season. Despite the high price tag, Sutton must be a priority for the Steelers. My proposal is a three-year, $36m contract with a $12m signing bonus. His 2023 cap charge for the new contract would be in the $5.5-$6m range if you assume a base salary around $1.5-$2m.

FB Derek Watt: Watt is now on the wrong side of 30, but had his most productive of three seasons with the Steelers in 2022, scoring a receiving touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8 and a rushing touchdown against the Cleveland Browns in Week 18. The “other” Watt and the “other” Heyward are not the same players, but Heyward’s diverse abilities and cheap price may allow the Steelers to move on from Watt. Having only been with the team for three seasons, he is not eligible for the four-year player qualifying contract that could be offered to Gentry.

That concludes the list of the Steelers’ 19 unrestricted free agents. I’d put the number that will return to the Steelers at six on the low end and nine on the high end, with the caveat that some players not signed in the spring could be brought back closer to or during training camp if still unsigned.

Please follow me on Twitter @SteelersCap and reach out to me with any questions.

Despite the Steelers defeating the Cleveland Browns, 28-14, to complete a 7-2 close to a 9-8 season, the team fell short of the playoffs for the third time in five years. Nevertheless, the Steelers will be busy over the next nine weeks until the start of the new league year on March 15.

Of the 62 players on the season-ending active roster or injured reserve, 37 are under contract for the 2023 season. If you’re smarter than a fifth grader, you know that means there are 25 Steelers not under contract. Most of they big names are unrestricted free agents, which we’ll focus on in another piece, but today’s focus is on the six players who are exclusive-rights free agents or restricted free agents.

First, let’s define these terms.

Exclusive-rights free agents have two or fewer accrued seasons in the NFL. If a contract is tendered by their most recent team prior to the start of the new league year, they may only sign with that team, generally for the league minimum based on their number of credited seasons. If no contract is tendered, they are an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.

Restricted free agents have three accrued seasons in the NFL. Like exclusive-rights free agents, they can have contracts tendered by their current team prior to the start of the new league year. There are four levels of tenders with varying degrees of compensation for the player coupled with a correlated compensation for the team should the player sign with another team. They range from simply a right of first refusal tender with an estimated 2023 player salary of $2.629m, per OverTheCap.com, to a first-round pick tender with an estimated 2023 player salary of $6.011m, per OverTheCap.com. This draft pick price to sign a free agent deters other teams from pursuing restricted free agents, and most restricted free agents, if tendered above the right of first refusal designation, ultimately re-sign with their existing team.

Now, on to the specific players.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents (2): LS Christian Kuntz, LB Jamir Jones

Kuntz is a no-brainer. He’s not a perfect long snapper, but there were no snaps in 2022 that could not be caught by either the punter or holder. Kuntz should be brought back at a one-year tender of $940,000, the 2023 league minimum for a player with two credited seasons.

Jones had 10 tackles in 2022, with more than 80 percent of his snaps coming on special teams. $940,000 is not a significant outlay, but with little demand likely for Jones, I do not expect the Steelers to tender Jones, although there is really no downside to tendering him. If not tendered, Jones could still circle back to the team prior to the start of OTAs or training camp.

Restricted Free Agents (4): WR Stephen Sims, CB James Pierre, iOL J.C. Hassenauer, RB Jeremy McNichols

This is an interesting quartet. Sims emerged as a competent slot receiver late in the season after the Steelers traded Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears on November 1. The Steelers would like to upgrade at the slot receiver position, but they know Sims well and trust him as both a No. 3 receiving option and a punt returner. Given the team does know what it has in rising sophomore Calvin Austin III, it would be prudent to bring Sims back. The right of first refusal tender for an estimated $2.629m should be enough to ward off other suitors for Sims.

Pierre has had an up-and-down three seasons in Pittsburgh as a reserve and spot starter, but the only cornerback certain to return in 2023 at this time is Levi Wallace. If the Steelers can extend Cam Sutton prior the start of the league year, perhaps they could let Pierre walk, but I believe the right of first refusal tender for $2.629m is appropriate for the former undrafted free agent given the lack of depth at the position.

Hassenauer’s value comes from his ability to play center. He’s not a starter in this league, and the right of first refusal tender price tag seems a bit expensive for a guaranteed backup. A tender would not shock me, but I think Hassenauer’s time in Pittsburgh may be over. If he does not sign elsewhere, he could return to the team in the spring on a minimum salary contract, which would come with a $1.010m base salary, or about $1.5m below what he would cost on a right of first refusal tender.

McNichols, who has played for nine NFL teams, was a 2022 offseason signee who was injured during training camp. He was placed on Injured Reserve in August, where he has remained. McNichols will not be tendered and will be free to sign with any team on March 15.

Up Next: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Unrestricted Free Agents

Prior to the start of the new league year and free agency on March 16, NFL teams will have a two-week window beginning on February 22 to use either the franchise tag or the transition tag on a player whose contract will expire at end of the current league year.

The franchise tag is a mechanism by watch a team can retain the rights to a player for the following season at a salary equaling the average cap percentage of the franchise tag amount at his position in each of the previous five seasons. For example, if the franchise tag for a defensive end averaged ten percent of the league’s salary cap in the 2017-2021 seasons, the 2022 franchise tag amount for a defensive end would be ten percent of the $208.2 million projected 2022 salary cap, or $20.82M.

The player is not barred from signing with another team if he is given the non-exclusive franchise tag, but the original team has a right to match the new team’s offer sheet, and the new team must compensate the original team with two first-round draft picks, essentially restricting that player from signing elsewhere due to the hefty draft compensation owed.

There is also a rarely-used (except for quarterbacks) exclusive franchise tag, which comes with a higher salary, but fully restricts the player from negotiating or signing with any other team.

Often times, the franchise tag is a prelude to a long-term deal that gives the player more guaranteed money and the team immediate salary cap relief. For a player who has received the franchise tag, a new deal must be completed by July 15, or the player cannot receive a new contract until after that season and can only play under the one-year franchise tag.

The Steelers last used the franchise tag in 2020, locking in edge rusher Bud Dupree for a sixth-season after he played out his five-year rookie contract in 2019. Dupree ultimately did not receive a contract extension prior to the 2020 season, and he signed a lucrative long-term contract with the Tennessee Titans in March 2021.

Prior to Dupree, the Steelers used the franchise tag on running back Le’Veon Bell in both 2017 and 2018. Bell played the 2017 season for the Steelers under the franchise tag, but opted to not play the 2018 season when Bell and the Steelers failed to reach a long-term deal prior to the July 15 deadline. Bell’s career never recovered from that ill-advised decision, as he has played sparingly in short stints with the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the past three seasons.

For 2022, the Steelers are unlikely to use the franchise tag, as they do not have any pending free agents who would merit a top-five salary at their position. The closest would be wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, but Smith-Schuster missed all but six of the Steelers’ 18 games in the 2021 season after a Week 5 shoulder injury. The Steelers would be wise to pursue another one-year contract with the gritty Smith-Schuster, but at a price far lower than the projected $19.1 million1 tag amount for wide receivers given his injury history and lack of big plays over the past three seasons.

The three key free agents in the secondary also do no merit a franchise tag, as cornerback Joe Haden is on the downside of his career, Terrell Edmunds is an average starting safety at best, and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon’s resume is relatively short after not emerging until late in the 2021 season following a summer acquisition via trade with the Seattle Seahawks.

The other two starters who will be unrestricted free agents are offensive guard Trai Turner and offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor. Turner was signed to be a one-year stopgap and is unlikely to return to Pittsburgh, while the Steelers can find a tackle in free agency better than Okorafor at a cost comparable to the projected $16.7 million franchise tag amount for offensive linemen.2

After using the franchise tag in three of four seasons from 2017-2020, the Steelers are likely to pass on the franchise tag for a second straight season when the tag window opens on February 22.

There will be many twists and turns in Pittsburgh over the next seven months, with perhaps the final one being a blockbuster contract extension for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick will be entering his fifth season in the NFL. As a first-round pick in 2018, he was eligible to have his fifth-year option picked up following the 2020 season, his third in the league. The Steelers debated that decision for about two seconds, and then picked up Fitzpatrick’s option for a 2022 base salary of $10.612M, the designated value for a safety with two or more Pro Bowls in his first three seasons.

Like T.J. Watt in 2021, Fitzpatrick is unlikely to earn just his fifth-year option value in 2022. It would behoove both parties to agree to a long-term deal prior to the start of the 2022 regular season, which would guarantee Fitzpatrick far more money than $10.612M, while allowing the Steelers to lock up one of the league’s best safeties and at the same time reduce his 2022 salary cap expense.

How much is Fitzpatrick worth? I would expect Fitzpatrick to seek a new league-high in average annual value, guaranteed money, and two-year cash flow. For comparison, we’ll look at two contracts signed by two standout safeties from the 2016 and 2017 draft, just prior to Fitzpatrick in 2018.

Jamal Adams, drafted by the Jets in 2017 but traded to the Seahawks in 2020, agreed to a four-year extension through the 2024 season. Here is the structure of Adams’ deal. 1

The key figures here are Adams’ full guarantees, consisting of a $20M signing bonus and his $1M 2021 base salary, his average annual value of $17.645M, and his two-year cash flow of $35.440M. I expect any Fitzpatrick contract to exceed these numbers.

The Broncos’ Justin Simmons was franchise tagged twice after his rookie contract expired following the 2019 season, but the two sides finally agreed to a long-term contract last offseason. Simmons’ average annual value falls short of Adams’, but he earned more fully guaranteed money2.

The Broncos assured Simmons’ $32.1M at signing, with the difference compared to Adams being Denver guaranteed his second-year base salary of $15.1M in 2022. That raises the bar for Fitzpatrick, which I expect to exceed the average annual value and two-year cash flow of the Adams contract and the full guarantees of the Simmons contract.

The Steelers showed last summer that they are willing to break their precedent of not guaranteeing any money beyond the first year for non-quarterbacks with the Watt deal. Does Fitzpatrick merit that degree of special treatment? I believe so. He will still receive a large signing bonus, however, as the Steelers generally structure their contracts that way while having lower base salaries.

Based on the precedents, and the Steelers’ history of contracts, I’ve laid out a framework for a potential Fitzpatrick extension.

As you can see, this new five-year contract comes in with an average annual value of $18.6M, which exceeds that of Adams by a full one million dollars. He would be guaranteed his $30M signing bonus and two years of base salary (Watt was guaranteed three years of base salary), for a total of $38.035M, blowing Simmons’ $32.1M out of the water. His two-year cash flow would also be $38.035M, easily topping the $35.440M Adams would receive.

I included a third-year roster bonus of $8M in 2024, meaning he would be a strong candidate for a restructure at that time to free up cap space. The bonus could also be in 2023, but I expect the Steelers to be in solid cap shape again next offseason and be able to absorb a cap charge for Fitzpatrick in the mid-teens.

With this extension, Fitzpatrick’s 2022 cap charge would drop from $10.612M to $7.035M, for a savings of $3.577M, while also giving Fitzpatrick the distinction of becoming the highest-earning safety across multiple key contract metrics.

Negotiations could be long and contentious, as they were with Watt, whose deal was not signed until the week of the 2021 regular-season opener against the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers have a long history of retaining top talent, however, so they are unlikely to put themselves in a position where they have to use the franchise tag on Fitzpatrick in 2023 given his reliability and availability over his three seasons in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers have shifted their higher-value contracts from offense to defense over the past 18 months with Roethlisberger, David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey retiring, and Watt and Cameron Heyward signing mega-extensions. Expect Fitzpatrick to join that duo this summer with a huge payday.

Feel free to ask any unanswered questions in the comments below, and please follow me on Twitter @SteelersCap.

Roethlisberger and the team agreed to have one final ride in 2021, with Roethlisberger agreeing to a new contract that reduced his 2021 salary cap hit and allowed the team to be moderately active in the trade and free agency market.

Here are the terms of his 2021 extension1:

By adding four voidable years and turning all but $1.075M (the 2021 minimum salary for a player with 7+ credited seasons) of his reduced $14M cash payment into a signing bonus, the Steelers deferred $10.340M of that cash expense to 2022. The contract is scheduled to void prior to the start of the new league year on March 16, likely shortly after Super Bowl LVI on February 13.

Should no action be taken, the Steelers will have a 2022 salary cap charge of $10.340M for Ben Roethlisberger, as the remaining four years of prorated signing bonus all accelerate into 2022 as dead money once the contract voids.

However, there is a mechanism for the Steelers to reduce that cap charge in 2022. Prior to the contract voiding at some point in the next few weeks, Roethlisberger and the Steelers could sign a one-year extension for a non-guaranteed minimum base salary of $1.120M. The Steelers would have to then carry Roethlisberger on their books for the total of the base salary plus the 2022 singing bonus proration for a total of $3.705M.

After June 1, Roethlisberger could file retirement paperwork with the league anytime on June 2 or later, and the $1.120M base salary would then be removed from the Steelers’ books at that time. The in-season cap charge for Roethlisberger in 2022 would then be just the $2.585M of 2022 bonus proration, deferring the acceleration of the remaining years’ proration until 2023, when the Steelers would incur a cap charge of $7.755M related to Roethlisberger for the 2023-2025 prorations.

The Steelers will need to make a decision prior to the contract void date, which, again, should be sometime in the second half of February. While signing an extension after Roethlisberger’s retirement announcement would seem odd, there is nothing preventing the Steelers from doing so.

The Roethlisberger situation is different than that of Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in 2021. Like a proposed Roethlisberger extension would have, Brees agreed to reduce his base salary for 2021 to the league minimum, as the Saints had to carry his base salary on their books until June 2 in order to take advantage of the prorated bonus deferral option. Unlike Roethlisberger, Brees was under contract for 2021, so there was no “extension” needed at this time a year ago, just a pay reduction. Brees retired shortly after the 2020 season concluded, but did not file formal paperwork until after the key date of June 1, allowing the Saints to defer his unamortized signing bonus for the 2022 season until the 2022 league year rather than having it accelerate into 2021, had he filed paperwork before June 1.

The Steelers aren’t in desperate need of the $7.755M in cap space, but it would give them more flexibility for free agency and summer extensions, notably with safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. If they don’t use the extra space in 2022, it can be rolled over to 2023, so there’s not a lot of downside to going this route.

While Roethlisberger’s on-field career is complete, there’s still one final, much less exciting chapter to write before his financial association with the Steelers comes to a close.

As always, please ask any unanswered questions below, and follow me on Twitter @SteelersCap.

There are four main classifications of veteran free agents that I would like to discuss today: Exclusive Rights, Restricted, Unrestricted and Street. The first three are designations for players whose contracts expire at the start of the new league year, while street free agents were terminated from their previous contracts.

Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA): ERFAs are players that have completed two or fewer accrued seasons. They are permitted only to sign with the team with which their previous contract expired, generally for the league minimum, as the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) does not provide ERFAs much leverage. From the CBA:

Any Veteran with fewer than three Accrued Seasons whose contract has expired may negotiate or sign a Player Contract only with his Prior Club, if before the first day of the League Year after the expiration of his contract, his Prior Club tenders the player a one year Player Contract with a Paragraph 5 Salary of at least the Minimum Active/Inactive List Salary applicable to that player. A player receiving such a Tender shall be known as an “Exclusive Rights Player.”

Standard procedure for ERFAs is for the team to offer a player it wants to retain a one-year contract for the league minimum based on his number of credited seasons (which may or not match his number of accrued seasons). The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the offseason with four ERFAs, but have already signed long snapper Christian Kuntz to a one-year deal for $825,000, the league minimum for a player with one accrued season. Other ERFAs are center J.C. Hassenauer, defensive tackle Demarcus Christmas, and cornerback DeMarkus Acy. Of that trio, Hassenauer is the only player likely to receive an offer at the start of free agency, which he would accept. Having two accrued seasons, Hassenauer would earn a base salary would be $895,000 for the 2022 season.

Restricted Free Agent (RFA): RFAs are players that have completed three accrued seasons with an expiring contract. They are restricted in that the team with which their previous contract expired can choose to offer the player a restricted tender at four different levels of compensation, which each level having a different “price” should the player choose to sign with another team. In practicality, very few RFAs sign with other teams, as the CBA terms don’t make it worthwhile to part with the draft-pick compensation owed to the player’s former team.

RFA tender levels include (1) First-Round Tender, (2) Second-Round Tender, (3) Original Round Tender and (4) Right of First Refusal (ROFR). They more or less define themselves in terms of what the team is owed should a player sign an offer sheet with another team. They also each come with a different level of player base salaries, ranging from $2.433M for an ROFR tender to $5.562M for a First-Round tender.1 The compensation levels allow a player to earn a higher base salary to offset the reduced chances of receiving an offer sheet from another team, given the higher price tag that a player’s new team would owe his previous team.

The Steelers will have three players that will be restricted free agents in March - quarterback Dwayne Haskins, linebacker Marcus Allen, and linebacker Robert Spillane. Allen and Spillane should receive ROFR tenders with $2.433M base salaries, as they are unlikely to garner significant market interest given their position and productivity.

Haskins, as you may recall, was a first-round pick of the Washington Football Team in 2019, but was released in December 2020 before landing in Pittsburgh for the 2021 season. Haskins is only an RFA because his rookie contract with Washington was terminated, as all drafted rookie contracts are four years in length, and most every drafted player on an expiring rookie contract would qualify for unrestricted free agency.

Haskins’ situation benefits the Steelers, as they can offer him an Original-Round tender, which keeps his salary low, but, because he was a first-round draft pick in 2019, requires any other team signing Haskins to give the Steelers a first-round pick. Given Haskins’ lack of production and off-field issues, no team is going to do that, so Haskins is almost certain to re-sign in Pittsburgh. Per former NFL agent Joel Corry, this amount should come in around $2.54M, with the extra $100,000 or so compared to Spillane and Allen coming from the draft pick compensation.

Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA): UFAs are what you are most familiar with, as these are players that hit the open market with four or more accrued seasons. Once a player earns four accrued seasons, he will automatically become a UFA any time he completes a contract. Teams can be compensated for losing UFAs, but this is in the form of compensatory draft picks that are awarded by the league (not from another team) and determined by a complicated formula that considers a team’s net number of UFA signings/departures in a given year, the players' contract terms, and the players’ productivity in the first season of the contract.

The Steelers will have 19 players who will become UFAs in March, barring extensions or renegotiated contracts. They are quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Joshua Dobbs, running back Kalen Ballage, wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington and Ray-Ray McCloud, tight end Eric Ebron, offensive linemen Chukwuma Okorafor, Trai Turner and B.J. Finney, defensive lineman Montravious Adams, edge rusher Taco Charlton, cornerbacks Joe Haden, Akhello Witherspoon and Arthur Maulet, safety Terrell Edmunds, and special teams standout Miles Killebrew.

I’ll discuss who of that group is likely to return in 2022 as the start of free agency approaches, but the Steelers have a lengthy list of UFAs, albeit with not quite as much sizzle as the 2021 group that included starters Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Bud Dupree, Alejandro Villanueva, Matt Feiler, Tyson Alualu and Mike Hilton.

Street Free Agent (SFA): A street free agent is a player who has had his prior contract terminated prior to completion. For proven veteran players, they are often deemed “cap casualties”. For the Steelers last year, that included linebacker Vince Williams and cornerback Steven Nelson. There are no contract restrictions with SFAs, other than the player’s minimum salary having to be at least what the CBA designates based on the player’s number of credited seasons. SFAs do not factor into the compensatory formula noted above for UFAs.

Haskins and Turner were SFA signings by the Steelers a year ago after being released by Washington and the Chargers, respectively.

That concludes the overview of the various NFL free agent types. Feel free to ask any unanswered questions in the comments below, and please follow me on Twitter @SteelersCap.

First, let’s look at how the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) defines accrued seasons:

For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement, a player shall receive one Accrued Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games (which shall include any games encompassed in any injury settlement, injury grievance settlement or injury grievance award), but which, irrespective of the player’s pay status, shall not include games for which the player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or (iii) a Club’s Practice Squad.1

In layman’s terms, a player earns an accrued season towards free agency if he is on the 53-man roster, a team’s Injured Reserve (IR) list, or a team’s Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list with a football-related injury for six or more games. This means that a drafted player on a rookie contract who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2 of the 2021 season and is placed on IR earns a fourth accrued season for 2021 despite being on the 53-man roster for only two games.

Now, let’s look at the definition of credited seasons, per the CBA:

For purposes of calculating Credited Seasons under this Article only, a player shall earn one Credited Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of three or more regular season games, but which, irrespective of the player’s pay status, shall not include games for which this player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List; (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury; (iii) a Club’s Practice or Developmental Squad; or (iv) a Club’s Injured Reserve List.2

A credited season can be earned by only being on the 53-man roster for three games, as opposed to six for an accrued season. Another difference that is being on IR does not count towards a credited season. Using our example above, the fourth-year player on a rookie contract who is on IR after two games would not earn a credited season, and would finish the season with four accrued seasons (making him an unrestricted free agent) but just three credited seasons.

This distinction would mean his minimum salary, using CBA-stated 2022 minimum salaries3, would mean he could sign a contract with a 2022 base salary no less than $965,000, as opposed to no less than $1.035M had he earned a credited season for 2021, a difference of $70,000.

An upcoming post will explain the differences between the four types of free agents, which, as you now know, are determined based on a player’s accrued seasons. His compensation upon signing a new contract, could be affected by his credited seasons, which may be more, less or equal to his number of accrued seasons.

Once a player reaches four accrued seasons, he will be an unrestricted free agent upon the expiration of all future contracts. For credited seasons, the NFL has six classifications: 0 seasons, 1 season, 2 seasons, 3 seasons, 4-6 seasons, or 7+ seasons. The gaps between the minimum salary for each classification range from $70,000-$120,000 per year.

Thanks for reading, and please ask any unanswered questions below and follow me on Twitter @Steelers Cap.

Dead money is expense that factors into a team’s salary cap calculation for a player not currently on the team’s roster. It’s “dead” because the player is no longer a part of the team. Dead money arises from trades, releases and contracts that void. It is most often the remaining portion of a player’s signing bonus that is still being prorated over the length of the contract that was terminated early. Let’s talk through a few examples of dead money.

1. Player A signs a five-year contract for $30M. His base salary begins at $2M and increases by $1M each season, for a total of $20M in base pay, with $10M of the $30M being a signing bonus paid out at signing or during the first year of the contract. The $10M signing bonus, although being paid at signing or in the first year of the contract, is spread out evenly over the length of the contract for salary cap purposes, in this case $2M for each year.

• Season 1: Base Salary $2M, Prorated Bonus $2M, Total Cap Charge $4M

• Season 2: Base Salary $3M, Prorated Bonus $2M, Total Cap Charge $5M

• Season 3: Base Salary $4M, Prorated Bonus $2M, Total Cap Charge $6M

• Season 4: Base Salary $5M, Prorated Bonus $2M, Total Cap Charge $7M

• Season 5: Base Salary $6M, Prorated Bonus $2M, Total Cap Charge $8M

Player A plays three seasons for the team, but is released prior to the start of Season 4. Assuming his base salaries are not guaranteed, the dead money charge for the team in Season 4 will be $4M, which is the remaining signing bonus expense for Seasons 4-5 that has yet to be charged against the salary cap. We’ll discuss the June 1 provision in our next example, but assuming this release happened prior to June 1 of Season 4, the entire remaining bonus proration accelerates into Season 4, so $4M would be the dead money expense for Player A in Season 4, even if he signs with and plays for another team. The team would not incur any expense for Player A in Season 5. Only in rare circumstances are signing bonuses recovered from the player, so the expense will hit the team’s books at some point regardless of how long the player is with the team.

2. Player B also signs a five-year contract for $30M, with the same annual base salaries and same $10M signing bonus as Player A. Player B plays two seasons for the team, but due to a training camp injury at another position, Player B is traded to another team prior to the start of the Season 3 regular season in August. Player B’s base salaries are non-guaranteed, so the team is no longer responsible for them, but there is still $6M remaining in unexpensed signing bonus proration. Because it is after June 1, the dead money charge can be spread over two seasons, per the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). In Season 3, the team will only incur the $2M of non-accelerated bonus proration as dead money, instead of the full $6M covering Seasons 3-5. The additional $4M would be a dead money charge in Season 4, so Player B would be on the books for two seasons in which he was not on the roster.

The June 1 provision of the CBA allows NFL teams to designate up to two players each season who are removed from the roster on or prior to June 1 to have their dead money spread out over two seasons instead of one. This is the decision of the team and is dependent on the team’s cap situation to determine whether to absorb the full dead money charge immediately or delay a portion of it to the following year. The only kicker with this provision is that the team must carry the player’s base salary and any incentives on their books through June 1, even if the player was released in March. On June 2, the current-year base salary is removed from the books, with only the current-year bonus proration remaining.

3. Player C signs a two-year contract for $50M, with base salaries of $15M per year and a $20M signing bonus. The team also adds three “void” years to the contract, allowing the team to prorate the $20M over five seasons instead of two. In contracts with void years, they generally will automatically void with no action from either party sometime between the Super Bowl (mid-February) and the start of the new league year (mid-March). Player C plays out the two non-void seasons on his contract and then retires prior to the start of the new league year. Because the $20M signing bonus was spread over five years instead of two, there is still $12M of expense related to the original $50M contract that has not yet been expensed. With void years, the full $12M is accelerated into a dead money expense in Season 3, even if the player re-signs with the team on a new contract. This is similar to the situation the Steelers face in 2022 with Ben Roethlisberger, who has four void years remaining and $10.34M of non-expensed bonus proration. There is a potential workaround related to the June 1 provision, which I will discuss in a subsequent post, but as of now, Ben Roethlisberger will cost the Steelers $10.34M in 2022 salary cap expense despite likely spending his Sundays on his couch or in his backyard with his children.

The Steelers currently have five players slated to have dead money expense associated to them in 2022, totaling $22.294M.1 These are Roethlisberger (void years), wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (void years), tight end Eric Ebron (void years), edge rusher Melvin Ingram (trade), and edge rusher Quincy Roche (release), with likely more dead money charges to come when players are released. The only one of this quintet who is likely to be a part of the 2022 Steelers is Smith-Schuster. If that happens, the team could incur expense for Smith-Schuster on the 2022 cap related to two separate contracts. By the time the regular season rolls around, I would expect the Steelers to have somewhere between $25-27M of dead money expense for 2022, with the status of defensive end Stephon Tuitt being the most impactful to that figure.

I hope this has helped you get your head wrapped around the concept of dead money, as it’s a significant but often misunderstood aspect of the NFL salary cap. Please post any questions below, or reach out to me on Twitter @SteelersCap, and I will be happy to answer them.