Pittsburgh opens up some cap space through cuts and restructures of current contracts
Cap casualties always happen in the NFL and it seems like more are always projected to happen compared to what actually happens. There are plenty of ripe candidates to get cut by Pittsburgh over the coming months to get some extra money by the time free agency rolls around. Right now, it's projected that the Steelers are roughly 7 million over the cap.
They can open up a lot of spending change and they spend little time before going to work. They start off by restructuring Watt's contract. That opens up a good chunk of change. They then extend Heyward with void years to lower his current cap charge for this season and beyond.
Now the cap casualties start to pop up for the Steelers as they want to remain active in free agency. Names like Mitch Trubisky, Chuks Okorafor, and Allen Robinson II become the obvious cuts for Pittsburgh. Some notable names that get the boot here are Larry Ogunjobi, Patrick Peterson, Mason Cole, and Keanu Neal.
Some big shockers here but some have not played to the level of their contract. All of these moves make a lot of spending cash for the upcoming free agency and draft class. With these moves, Pittsburgh will head into the re-signing phase with around $50 million to spend.