This team still has $10 million in cap space

[Steelperch]

free agency isn’t over yet. Steelers have $10 million in cap space and can always create more thru restructuring. I wouldn’t rule out adding a name free agent for depth. Biggest holes we have are CB and OLB which are still pretty deep with FA talent. It’s hard to imagine they feel set at either position.

CB
Steven Nelson
Casey Heyward
Brian Poole
Dre Kirkpatrick
Darquez Dennard
DJ Hayden
Gareon Conley
Richard Sherman

OLB
Melvin Ingram
Ryan Kerrigan
Justin Houston

[Mick]

TJ Watt 130M.

[Ice]

I'm still banking on Nelson returning at a reduced rate, which would explain the lack of attention paid in the draft (as well as the fact that maybe they've just realized they suck at it and given up). I'm more than cool with solving secondary issues through FA. A one-year mercenary at EDGE is also an intriguing prospect, but I'm not sure they do both.

Watt and Fitz's looming contracts? Okay, you got me. Could mess up that plan.

[steelcountry]

TJ Watt 130M.

And a cap hit no greater than what he is currently taking up.

5 year extension (in addition to the 1 year he's already guaranteed with us)
45M signing bonus
1M base salary
= 10M cap hit.

There is room to spend 3-5M this year on a quality CB or EDGE.

[Kodiak]

I'm still banking on Nelson returning at a reduced rate

I thought Nelson ASKED to be cut? He wanted out. Probably heard good things about Tomlin, and then after a few years came to the same conclusion we all did.

[tbsteel]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

[Steeldrama]

I’d like to see couple former Chargers brought in
Melvin Ingram
Casey Heyward

[K_C_]

If Kerrigan has any tread left on his tires, he'd be interesting as a situational pass rusher.

[Mick]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

i think the draft picks do matter, but not so much as you might think because they only count the top 51 salaries, and they already have more than 51 guys on roster so really its only the increase in salary of those rookies relative to the guys they are replacing. Which mostly means Najee’s 2.4M in place of a $660k or whatever minimum is at the moment. I would estimate a total cost of all rookie signings for around 2.8M, but it does depend on how many end up on roster this fall.

[Jobu]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

i think the draft picks do matter, but not so much as you might think because they only count the top 51 salaries, and they already have more than 51 guys on roster so really its only the increase in salary of those rookies relative to the guys they are replacing. Which mostly means Najee’s 2.4M in place of a $660k or whatever minimum is at the moment. I would estimate a total cost of all rookie signings for around 2.8M, but it does depend on how many end up on roster this fall.

I read an article a few weeks back ( I’ll try to find it) that stated the Steelers will only need about $2.7 mil to sign their draft picks due to rookie slotting and roster displacement. I don’t know if it’s true or not...

Took me about 30 seconds. Here it is...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 3MQ7w1uxri

[DP39]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

They'll also probably gain back at least $3-5mm by current players being replaced -- a la draft picks making the team and losing a P, QB, RB, OL, and DL from the Top 51 salaries. Point is, a lot of the draft picks will cost less than the current 51 their replacing. It'll come out in the wash and they get their in-season spending buffer from that, imo.

I'm pretty sure it won't happen, but they could save money by having SS, Miles Killebrew beat out Edmunds and then cut him. Punter is a better example, of course.

EDIT: there you go, Jobu beat me to it.

[Ice]

I'm still banking on Nelson returning at a reduced rate

I thought Nelson ASKED to be cut? He wanted out. Probably heard good things about Tomlin, and then after a few years came to the same conclusion we all did.

Considerable amount of the supposed acrimony there was media-generated from what I read, but hey, way to worry in the Tomlin dig.

[tbsteel]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

They'll also probably gain back at least $3-5mm by current players being replaced -- a la draft picks making the team and losing a P, QB, RB, OL, and DL from the Top 51 salaries. Point is, a lot of the draft picks will cost less than the current 51 their replacing. It'll come out in the wash and they get their in-season spending buffer from that, imo.

I'm pretty sure it won't happen, but they could save money by having SS, Miles Killebrew beat out Edmunds and then cut him. Punter is a better example, of course.

EDIT: there you go, Jobu beat me to it.

It's blasphemous I know, but but Steelers Depot is the best resource for Steelers cap navigating on the Internet.

Accounting for the amount of cap space the Steelers generally like to keep in-season for an injury/emergency fund, we're about $2.5M over.

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/04/steel ... -april-24/

[stillthere]

I'm still banking on Nelson returning at a reduced rate

I thought Nelson ASKED to be cut? He wanted out. Probably heard good things about Tomlin, and then after a few years came to the same conclusion we all did.

He wanted an extension and a raise and guarantee that he was going to start is what I assume. Sutton got told he will have a chance to compete for starter on the outside. They can both play inside and outside I would like to get Nelson back.

[DP39]

I wouldn't rule out a bargain bin FA, but 8-9 million of that 10 million is already sucked away for 9 draft picks to be signed. Effectively, the Steelers are basically over the cap and will need to restructure Boz and Tuitt just to have room/flexibility for any in-season moves.

They'll also probably gain back at least $3-5mm by current players being replaced -- a la draft picks making the team and losing a P, QB, RB, OL, and DL from the Top 51 salaries. Point is, a lot of the draft picks will cost less than the current 51 their replacing. It'll come out in the wash and they get their in-season spending buffer from that, imo.

I'm pretty sure it won't happen, but they could save money by having SS, Miles Killebrew beat out Edmunds and then cut him. Punter is a better example, of course.

EDIT: there you go, Jobu beat me to it.

It's blasphemous I know, but but Steelers Depot is the best resource for Steelers cap navigating on the Internet.

Accounting for the amount of cap space the Steelers generally like to keep in-season for an injury/emergency fund, we're about $2.5M over.

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/04/steel ... -april-24/

Thanks for the link, tb. I see they show the actual cost to sign our draft picks at about $2.4mm -- once you take out the replacement savings. Looks like $6mm is for in-season the injury/replacement fund. Sounds about right. But you're right, not much left over for any decent depth FA moves.