The Steelers are about to have a huge offseason ahead of them, and here are the easiest ways for them to clear cap space.
The Steelers need to be aggressive this offseason, as their window with a rookie contract quarterback shrinks every season. Kenny Pickett is the face of this team for the immediate future, and he needs some capable players added to this roster to help him out. While good draft capital will help, the team also needs to be buyers in free agency.
I’ve already highlighted some potential free agency fits for this team, but the Steelers have some work to get there before they can actively sign players. Thankfully, this team has quite a few outlets to free up money so they can be more aggressive in the offseason. Here is how the Steelers can open up 75 million in cap space before free agency.
Assessing the current Steelers cap space
Before the William Jackson trade (more on him soon), the Steelers would have entered into the offseason with well over 10 million dollars in cap space. That is no longer the case, as the team is currently sitting at just below 1.5 million total in cap space according to Over the Cap. That means some work needs to be done.
Thankfully, there are some obvious ways for this team to get more cap space before free agency opens. While I could, in theory, cut an excess of players and restructure most everyone else, I want this to be a realistic look as to what the team could do. Thus, we have obvious ways to create cap space (cuts for mediocre players) and other possible, but not guaranteed, ways to open up even more.
Steelers starting cap space: 1.5 million (rounded)