3 best bargain contracts on the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021
By Tommy Jaggi
The Steelers have some players with very team-friendly contracts. Here are their three best contracts for the 2021 season.
Every team makes poor financial decisions from time to time (some more often than others). We know the Pittsburgh Steelers are no exception to this. The team dumped a ton of money into former All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown before being forced to ship him to the Raiders, and it’s hard to argue that Maurkice Pouncey was worth as much as he earned over the final two seasons of his career before retiring this offseason. Even Ben Roethlisberger’s two-year, $68 million extensions he signed in 2019 looked like a pretty bad deal in hindsight.
Fortunately, the Steelers have a number of team-friendly contracts that help balance out some of their poor financial decisions. Some of these players have a chance to drastically outplay their cap number in 2021.
For this particular piece, I chose to exclude players who are still on their rookie contracts (like Minkah Fitzpatrick). Here are the three best bargain contracts on the Pittsburgh Steelers entering the 2021 season:
CB Cameron Sutton
I had a good idea that Cameron Sutton was the cornerback that the Steelers were going to end up re-signing this past offseason. However, he’s also the cornerback that I really wanted Pittsburgh to keep. While Mike Hilton is a better tackler and blitzer, Sutton is more versatile with his ability to play on the outside and in the slot, and he can wear multiple hats for the team.
Some 2021 free-agent cornerbacks signed new contracts that pay them upwards of $10 million per season in yearly value. Even Mike Hilton earned $6 million per year with the Bengals. Fortunately, the Steelers were able to retain Sutton for just $4.5 million per season.
That number looks even better after Pittsburgh added voidable years to his deal – lowering his cap number to just $1.7 million this season. Sutton has graded out as the best Steelers cornerback over the past two seasons, and he will have a chance to greatly outplay his contract this year.