3 obvious cuts the Steelers must make to free up cap space for 2020

There is no question the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to make cuts this offseason to free up cap space. Here are three players who should be the first to go.

The Steelers have a lot of preparations to make for the 2020 NFL sesaon, but not a lot of money to work with. According to Over the Cap, Pittsburgh is just 30th in the league in cap space heading into the offseason.

Ben Roethlisberger is set to return this season, and it will be crucial that Pittsburgh gives this team the best chance to win in a quickly closing Super Bowl window. Bud Dupree and Javon Hargrave are set to hit free agency if deals can’t be reached, and the Steelers have question marks at many positions on the offensive side of the ball.

While Pittsburgh won’t be able to make every move they would like to this offseason, there are three obvious cuts the Steelers must make in order to free up some much-needed cap room this offseason:

Anthony Chickillo

To me, this is the biggest no-brainer of them all. Anthony Chickillo is entering his 6th NFL season as a backup edge defender on the Steelers. However, the former 6th round draft choice has earned just 2.0 sacks in his last 33 NFL games, and has been completely non-existent on the football field.

Cutting Chickillo would instantly save the Steelers $5 million in cap space for the 2020 season. Though Pittsburgh isn’t exactly deep at edge defender, they could find suitable replacements for Chickillo in free agency or in the NFL Draft.

Mark Barron

If there is a competition for the easiest cut Pittsburgh can make this offseason, it’s against Mark Barron. The 30-year old linebacker played 69 percent of the Steelers defensive snaps last season, but fell short of meeting expectations.

With just a 57.4 overall grade on the season, Barron was the 54th ranked linebacker this year, according to Pro Football Focus. Barron’s unreasonable cap number of $8.125 million in 2020 makes this decision easy for the Steelers. Pittsburgh can save $5.25 million with his release.

Vance McDonald

This obvious cut candidate maybe a little less obvious than the other two, but is still one that probably needs to happen. Vance McDonald was dealt to Pittsburgh in a pick-swap deal back in 2017 that had little risk involved for Pittsburgh. While he put up solid numbers splitting snaps with Jesse James in 2018, Vance was invisible this season.

While bad quarterback play can certainly be to blame in his dip in production, McDonald didn’t offer much of anything as a blocker or receiver last year. The soon-to-be-30-year old tight end graded out as the 67th best tight end out of 68 qualifying players last year, according to PFF. Cutting Vance would save Pittsburgh more than $12 million over the next two seasons.

While these cuts seem obvious to us, Kevin Colbert and the Steelers front office often have a different way of doing business. It’s certainly possible that all of these guys could be gone in the coming months, but don’t be surprised if they look to restructure a few contracts to keep as many veterans as they can in this closing Super Bowl window.