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.
Cameron Heyward, DL
The first contract the team could restructure is that of former three-time First-Team All-Pro defensive lineman, Cameron Heyward. As great as he has been in the past, the Steelers cannot enter the 2024 season with his contract as is.
Back in 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers handed Heyward a four-year, $65.6 million extension. This is an average annual earnings of $16.4 million per season (which is very reasonable for a player of his caliber). However, because of the way that his contract was backloaded, Pittsburgh has some extremely small cap numbers in his first two seasons, followed by some much larger numbers in the final years of his deal.
In 2024, Heyward is set to have a cap number of over $22.4 million. This is second to only T.J. Watt on the team, and it's a number that's too high for the performance that we are now getting from him on the field. Heyward turns 35 years old this offseason after missing roughly half the year with a groin injury in 2023. Some have even toyed with the idea of cutting the former star player, as Pittsburgh would instantly save $16 million in salary cap space.
We know this isn't going to happen, and the Steelers want to reward Heyward for his service. Because he's entering the final year of his deal, Pittsburgh can't really restructure his contract without some sort of minor extension. This could come in the form of tacking on a few voidable years to kick some of his cap number down the road and lower his cap hit for the 2024 season.
Larry Ogunjobi, DL
Another Steelers defensive lineman who could have his contract restructured this spring is veteran Larry Ogunjobi. After a productive year with the Bengals in 2021, Ogunjobi signed a one-year $8 million deal with the Steelers during the 2022 offseason. He initially had a big deal in place with the Bears, but Chicago backed out due to medical concerns
Following an adequate season, the Steelers threw a lofty extension at Ogunjobi during the 2023 offseason after the defensive line market in free agency dried up quickly. This was one of the more questionable moves from GM Omar Khan early in his tenure, and now his contract isn't very appealing.
After playing the first season of his three-year, $28.75 million deal, Ojunjobi is now set to have a cap number of nearly $13.3 million for the 2024 season. This is simply too large for an average NFL starter on the defensive line. The problem is -- because of his recent extension and guaranteed money -- the Steelers would take a $7 million dead cap hit if they cut him with a savings of just $6.2 million.
This would still be a good bit of money to work with, but after displacement cost, they aren't netting anything here and might not be able to afford a player even as good as Larry 'O'. On e interesting choice would be to make Ogunjobi a post-June 1st cut. This would save the team $9.75 million with just a $3.5 million dead money hit. However, the front office might not be able to afford to wait this long.
For this reason, the Steelers could restructure Larry Ogunjobi's contract and push more money into the 2025 season. By doing this, it would lower his cap hit for 2024. If this were to happen, Ogunjobi would be an easy cut candidate during the 2025 offseason.
Minkah Fitzpatrick, S
Another contract the Steelers seem likely to restructure this offseason is that of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick's deal was one of the last big extensions that Kevin Colbert dished out before handing the reigns to Omar Khan and Andy Weidl in the front office.
As good as Fitzpatrick has been and still is, this is a deal that's not looking pretty for the Steelers in 2024 and beyond. In an effort to lower his initial cap numbers, Colbert pushed the majority of Minkah's cap into the final three years of his deal.
This looked awesome at the time, as Fitzpatrick had very reasonable can numbers of roughly $8 million in his first two seasons. The problem with doing this is that it always comes back to bite you later. Now Minkah's cap number is over $21.3 million for the 2024 season and it actually goes up from there in 2025 and 2026.
Having a safety suck up nearly 9 percent of the team's total cap space is unreasonable -- even with one as good as Minkah Fitzpatrick. Because of the quick passing game, safeties just don't have the same impact they once did. Cutting Fitzpatrick obviously isn't the answer, this team would take a dead cap hit of over $20.5 million by doing so (and he's too good of a player to cut).
Instead, the Steelers seem poised to restructure Minkah Fitzpatrick's deal, and they could even add a few voidable years to his contract to make his cap numbers in the coming seasons easier to stomach. Fitzpatrick's contract situation is ugly, and Pittsburgh will do what they can to give themselves more cap space to work within 2024 -- even if it means kicking the can further down the road and hurting themselves in the future.
T.J. Watt, EDGE
The last significant contract restructure we could see during the 2024 offseason is that of T.J. Watt. The All-Pro edge defender became the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL during the 2021 offseason. As much as they spent on Watt, this proved to be a worthwhile investment, as he went on to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors right after receiving his deal.
Watt has been a menace when healthy, and there's no question that he's the most valuable asset on the Steelers roster. But after seeing manageable cap numbers in the first two years of his four-year, $112 million deal, Watt is now set to cost the team over $30 million in cap space over each of the next two seasons.
To be honest, this number is easier for me to stomach than the $22 million cap numbers for both Heyward and Fitzpatrick, as Watt's importance to the team is on another level. However, this is still a number that Pittsburgh would like to decrease for the upcoming season to give themselves more cap space to work with this year.
Restructuring T.J. Watt's contract is something that has been talked about for a year. Now the Steelers could be running into some financial issues, and they may have no choice but to restructure his deal in an effort to free up additional cap space in 2024.
All salary cap and contract numbers courtesy of Over the Cap.