4 major contracts Steelers must restructure this offseason to free up cap space

Star Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick could save the Steelers a lot of money

Another big option for the black and gold to change the workings of his contract is none other than Minkah Fitzpatrick. The star safety had a tough season that made him seem less of an elite player. There are plenty of reasons why Fitzpatrick had issues this season. He is still an elite player, but because of those issues this year his stat sheet looked uncommon for him in a negative way.

Perhaps one of the issues with Fitzpatrick was his rotational pieces around him. Neither Keanu Neal nor Damonate Kazee allowed Fitzpatrick to play in the role he is more suited for. It pushed him to cover tight ends and stay away from the ball-hawking role that he has been used to. Terrell Edmunds was not a perfect player, but he did do that job and that allowed for Fitzpatrick to roam the field for turnovers.

Injuries were the main issue with Fitzpatrick this season. He missed significant time with both a hamstring and then a hand/wrist injury. That caused him to miss a lot of time and you could tell that he was rushed back onto the field. He was still better than the other options available, but it limited his ability to produce at the rate that most fans of the Steelers are used to.

Getting a restructuring of his contract done seems to be an obvious conclusion when you look at the amount of savings it would provide. Getting Fitzpatrick to restructure his deal would save Pittsburgh a little under nine million bucks. With his deal and Highsmith's redone already, Pittsburgh would be about six million dollars over the cap ceiling. Still, more work to do for the Steelers in this scenario.