Pittsburgh Steelers Starting From Bottom Up With Draft Signings

Sep 21, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman Daniel McCullers (98) rushes against the Florida Gators during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida Gators defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 31-17. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers started signing their 2014 draft picks today and are going to work their way from the bottom on up.

Sixth round defensive tackle Daniel McCullers and seventh-round tight end Rob Blanchflower both inked new deals on Monday morning.  The details of each contract has yet to be disclosed, but spotrac.com estimates that Blanchflower will get somewhere around a $2.3 million deal that is $434,850 against the cap in 2014 and McCullers will receive a similar $2.3 million deal that is $439,670 against the cap in 2014.  Man, if McCullers can actually step up and be the NT of the future for the Steelers, he will be an absolute steal (fingers crossed).

Why are the Steelers starting from the bottom up?  Well primarily because that all they can afford right now.  Until LaMarr Woodley’s release becomes official on June 1st, the Steelers are still carrying his fat cap hit.  The team cannot shed the $13.59 until June 1st, and once that happens, Woodley’s and his fat cankles will only count $5.8 million in dead money this season.  That will free up almost $8 million for the Steelers to finish signing draft picks as well as grabbing one last free agent if they can find one.  The team will need around $5.8 million in cap space to sign all of their draft picks (strangely ironic that it’s very close to Woodley’s dead money).

Expect the team to stay quiet until after June 1st.  After that, they will more than likely ink the rest of the rookies in a very short period of time.

Here we go!