Steelers News: Warren, Roethlisberger, Salary Cap
By Kim Myers
The Steelers players head into the offseason for recovery and the coaches head out to prepare for free agency and the draft.
Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the offseason starts to heat up we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Saturday, Feb. 13th.
Re-signed
The Steelers are set at the long snapper position with the re-signing of Greg Warren. The team announced on Friday afternoon that they signed Warren to a one-year extension. Warren has played 11 seasons for the Steelers and was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent out of North Carolina back in 2005.
Warren has played in 165 regular season games and 12 postseason games for the Steelers. Somehow that’s only fifth-most among active Steelers. There are a few things you can count on in Pittsburgh; traffic heading into the tunnels and Greg Warren as the long snapper.
More from Steelers News
- 5 best Pittsburgh Steelers players from the 2022 season
- The ‘Tremaine Edmunds to the Steelers’ buzz is totally justified
- Steelers mock draft: Pittsburgh addresses pressing needs with early picks
- How far would the Pittsburgh Steelers have gone in the NFL playoffs?
- Steelers news: Experts weigh in on draft needs, Kenny Pickett lobbies for WR, and more
AFC North MVP
The ESPN NFL Nation AFC North brain trust has realized that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was obviously the division’s most valuable player. The runner-up was receiver Antonio Brown. Brown won the Steelers team MVP but it’s clear that the offense runs better when Roethlisberger at the helm.
He led the league in 328 passing yards per game and averaged a league-high 11-yards in the air per pass (for those that think the Steelers offense is all dink and dunk). Roethlisberger, when he was healthy, ripped apart the league’s top defense and had 55 pass attempts against the Broncos in a Week 15 victory over the eventual Super Bowl champs.
Slow down with the cap-panic
Reports surfaced this week indicating that the Steelers were in some deep trouble with the salary cap. Dave Bryan of Steelers Depot encourages us to calm down and relax as the cap figures right now are projections and there’s no reason to think the Steelers can’t manage their cap situation like they always do.
Next: Hines Ward: Small but powerful
ESPN reports that the Steelers have $155.9 million in cap usage for 2016 and the PPG’s Ed Bouchette reports that the Steelers are projected to be $2.5 million over the cap. Bryan created a table listing the Steelers players on the roster with their base salaries and cap hits.
He’s suggesting that the Steelers will most likely end up at $5,263,017 under the cap, and probably even further down after some restructuring occurs. If it seems like the Steelers are always tight with the cap in spite of never really shelling out big money for free agents it’s because of their restructures.