The Pittsburgh Steelers still have a need at cornerback and one of the best is available.
I’m writing this with an understanding that the Steelers have very minimal cap space. There are some players that I think we could restructure to give enough cap room to make this kind of signing happen. We will get to that later.
Richard Sherman is still one of the best cornerbacks in the league. He is still one of the best in the league, even at 32 yrs old, in man-to-man coverage. Sherman also has a knack for making a big play. He is very good at baiting quarterbacks into throwing the ball towards him, before hauling in a pick.
Why the Steelers should make a hard push at signing Sherman
Sherman fits the Steelers defensive scheme beautifully. Pittsburgh has been finding a lot of success in running very man-heavy schemes in recent years and Sherman would be an immediate fit for the black and gold. We saw that Cameron Sutton can play both inside and outside – allowing Sherman to operate on the outside. Having the two of them would allow the Steelers to keep the 32-year-old Sherman off of some of the speedier threats we will have to contain in 2021.
Having to face guys like Marquise Brown, Tyreek Hill, D.K Metcalf, and even Bengals rookie Ja’marr Chase could pose problems for a guy like Sherman or Haden at their age. Yet, Cam Sutton can help remedy this so the Steelers can still make use of Sherman and Haden in their schemes. Meanwhile, the Steelers need a verifiable cornerback to round out their starting lineup and Sherman is a fit.
Sherman plays with an intensity and chip on his shoulder that will only add to the leadership on the team and fit the culture in Pittsburgh’s defense. The Steelers have lost veterans on both sides of the ball and adding another established vet would only help the cause as Pittsburgh is making another Super Bowl push.
As of now, the Steelers can’t afford Sherman but we could make some moves.
Pittsburgh dug themselves into a hole kicking cap space down the road the last few seasons. However, to sign a player who was voted All-Pro just two seasons ago, it may very well be worth it. There are a few bigger cap hits the Steelers could dissipate with an extension and restructure that could free up the space required. The biggest variable is whether the players involved agree to the contracts.
There are two players the Steelers would have to restructure to make this happen. They are Joe Haden and David Decastro. They come in as the 2nd, and 4th highest cap hits on the team. I can’t give exact numbers for what the cap hit would be, but I can get pretty close. I will keep the base salary for everyone involved at $1 million in cap space as I don’t know for sure what the minimum base salary will be in 3 years.
Joe Haden
Haden’s future could be cloudy past 2021, yet a restructure with an extension of 1 or 2 years could clear a decent amount of cap. For Haden, I would sign a 2-year extension while converting as much salary as possible into the signing bonus and spreading over 2021, 2022, and 2023. His current cap hit is over $15 million and $8 million is a dead cap hit.
So the Steelers could sign him to the extension, adding another 3 million and convert roughly 6 million of his current base salary to a signing bonus. Haden would get all of his money aside from a base salary of around 1 million a year this season. However, the Steelers could bring the 2021 cap hit down by approximately $3 million. The downside is he would account for $7 million against the cap in each of the next two seasons, and if he retires or is released, All $14 million that would have been split between 2022 and 2023 would count against the cap in 2022.
David DeCastro
DeCastro has taken a step back in his career up to this point, but at 31 and in a more run-heavy scheme the Steelers can hold onto him longer. Run-blocking tends to be an easier thing to accomplish as a lineman. He accounts for a little over $14 million in cap and only about $5.5 million of it is dead cap.
I would sign DeCastro to a 3-year extension adding $8 million to his current deal. I would convert as much as possible into the signing bonus – giving DeCastro roughly $12 million upfront. He’d have around $1 million a year in base salary, but the move will spread out $16 million across 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. In doing this, the Steelers would save roughly $5 million in cap this season. This carries the same downside as Haden’s deal would. Yet, at 31 years old DeCastro could be good to go for at least next season.
The Steelers would have enough cap for a presentable deal to Sherman
With around $8 million in new cap space for the Steelers to work with, a Richard Sherman signing would be possible. The Steelers could offer Sherman a 2 year $14 million contract. It would need to be structured with around $12 million of that being a signing bonus and around $1 million each season in base salary.
Sherman is already 32 years old, so a long-term contract wouldn’t be realistic for either side. He may win another Super Bowl and want to retire. The Steelers may start investing draft picks into the secondary as early as next season. This deal would make sense for Sherman because he would make $12 million and would be the final piece to a championship-caliber defense. It gives him a chance to make a very reasonable amount of money upfront while still competing for a title.
The cap implications for the Steelers with this deal aren’t very bad. The worst-case scenario would see the Steelers with $6 million in dead cap in 2022. That would be if Sherman decided to retire after 2021. However, Sherman recently stated that he wants to play for 2 more seasons. Pittsburgh would ultimately have a little more time to find two new starters to play around Cam Sutton as age would be the issue with Sherman and Haden past 2022.
This would help the Steelers immediately, but it isn’t something we should just jump into. We would have to tie ourselves to Haden and DeCastro for the long term from a cap perspective. However, Sherman could be the difference-maker for the Steelers come playoff time in 2021. We are in a win-now state of mind and swallowing a cap hit over the next couple of seasons to give Mike Tomlin every bit of help for Ben’s last ride may very well be the way to go.