The dawn of a new offseason is on the horizon, and like most teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty of finagling to do when it comes to the salary cap. Mike Tomlin's team fell short of reaching the ultimate goal during the 2023 season, as they were immediately bounced from the playoffs in a 31-17 Wild Card loss to the Bills.
This defeat marked their third straight embarrassing playoff loss, and the Steelers are still trying to end a winless postseason drought that is now seven years and running. While coaching and game planning each play particularly important roles in the team's success, so does the roster.
It was all too evident that Pittsburgh had numerous glaring roster holes last season at positions like tackle, center, and cornerback. But fixing these major issues requires money -- something the Steelers currently don't have as they enter the 2024 offseason.
According to Over the Cap, Omar Khan and the front office are over $15 million in the salary cap hole, and they have nearly a $20 million deficit in effective cap space after roster displacement. The Steelers not only need to find a way to keep their head above water, but they need to free up ample cap space to make a few significant roster moves in free agency.
The good news is that Pittsburgh can wipe away their salary cap deficit with a few simple moves (like cutting Allen Robinson and Mitch Trubisky). However, freeing up money to work with in free agency is going to present another challenge of its own. That's where restructuring contracts comes in.
Let's examine four contracts the Pittsburgh Steelers could restructure this spring to increase their salary cap space for the 2024 season.