Have Steelers been spending their salary cap space the wrong way?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the worst cap situations in the league heading into the 2020 offseason. Here’s how they should be spending their money.

The Steelers have some big decisions to make this offseason. Bud Dupree is set to become one of the league’s highest-paid edge defenders after a strong 2019 season, and Javon Hargrave is also estimated to rake home a big payday.

While it will be tempting for Kevin Colbert and the Rooney’s to live by their old philosophy of retaining their own players, have the Steelers been spending their salary cap space the wrong way in recent years?

When is the last time you have seen the Steelers go out and grab one of the most coveted free agents to hit the market? It doesn’t happen. In 2019, Steven Nelson became the most expensive Pittsburgh free agent signing of all-time, in terms of yearly value. Though Nelson turned out to be a great player in his first season, perhaps the Steelers could be doing more.

The Chiefs and the 49ers (the two Super Bowl teams from this year) went big in free agency last year. The 49ers made Dee Ford the 5th-highest-paid defensive end in the league last season after poaching him from the Chiefs, and they also forked up money for Richard Sherman. Though the Chiefs lost Ford to Free agency, they more than made up for him by signing Frank Clark to NFL’s 4th largest contract to a defensive player. They also made a move for Tyrann Mathieu and made him the 3rd-highest-paid safety in the league.

The Steelers, on the other hand, have been going about their cap the wrong way. Instead of saving their money for bluechip players like Frank Clark, or Tyrann Mathieu, they have been paying good money to average players. Here’s a look at what I’m talking about:

Instead of paying an elite-level free agent top dollar, they have been spreading out a ton of money between average players like Mark Barron, Vance McDonald, and Anthony Chickillo. For the same price as paying Barron and Chickillo this year, Pittsburgh could have had Tyran Mathieu.

The way the Steelers have spent their money and restricted contracts may have worked for them in the past, but there is evidence to suggest that paying high-priority free agents may be the way to go moving forward. Even the Patriots forked up big time for Stephon Gilmore in 2017. Since then, he has helped them win a Super Bowl and was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year for his 2019 season.

The Steelers are still one of the NFL’s most winning teams over the past twenty years, so it’s hard to knock them too much how they divvy out their money. However, the last few seasons have shown us that saving that money for elite players may be the way to go in the future.