5 of the Steelers worst moves during the 2021 NFL offseason

The Steelers did the best that they could with limited resources, but these five decisions seem like questionable ones heading into training camp.

It was no secret that the Steelers were entering this offseason with one of the worst cap situations in the league. While their numbers weren’t as bad on paper as a team like the Saints, the amount of pending free agents mixed in with the lowering of the cap number overall meant the team would have been limited no matter what they did this offseason. While most of the moves they made were relatively low-risk, a few stood out as being pretty bad. Here are the five worst moves the Steelers made during the 2021 offseason.

Steelers spent money on subpar players

This may sound a bit like a nit-pick, but two of the Steelers free-agent deals really stood out as puzzling. While the Steelers handed out a plethora of contracts to middling players, many of which will likely not make the roster, most of those deals were for the minimum. This resulted in next to no cap space being taken up for their deals. However, Chris Wormley and Joe Haeg got deals worth far more than either was worth.

Now, neither player broke the bank with their deals, as their combined 2021 cap hit is only 3.1 million dollars. But in a year where the Steelers were so thin with their cap space, every penny would have helped. While not a monumental amount, that money could have gone to bettering (or maintaining) the cornerback situation or even signing a better overall player at either position. Had the team been flush with cap space these deals wouldn’t have stuck out as much. But in a year where the Steelers lost a handful of starters but added/retained these two players for as much as they did, neither deal can be looked upon too favorably.