4 Steelers most likely to have their contracts restructured this spring

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.