The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling along through the 2024 league year. With the NFL Draft now complete, the Steelers made a move to free up some cap space which could allow them to take on a sizable contract should a potential trade be on the table. While reports come in about deals, it can sometimes take a while to know the exact financials within the contract. Relying heavily on reliable salary cap websites such as overthecap.com (OTC) or spotrac.com, when they are able to report a player’s contract numbers over the specific years I then update the salary cap situation with a more precise number.

Remember, to determine how much each player changes the Steelers’ salary cap space, their cap number must be adjusted due to roster displacement. As a reminder, roster displacement is taking into account only the top 51 contracts for a team count towards the salary cap during the offseason. As a larger contract comes on the books, it bumps a smaller contract out of the top 51. Therefore, it’s only the difference in those contracts that increases the salary cap number.

Before getting into the draft picks, I wanted to clarify that all of the Steelers undrafted rookie free agents do not fall in the top 51 salaries, and therefore do not affect the salary cap at this time. Rather than listing each player, I did not include them in the running total below.

As for the draft picks, whether they fell in the top 51 or not they will still be listed below. It should be noted that both sixth-round draft picks in Logan Lee and Ryan Watts do not fall in the top 51 salaries as their cap hit for this year has been reported at $850,018 and $840,671 respectively. With the threshold of landing in the top 51 currently at $985K, they are farther down the list. As for fourth-round draft pick Mason McCormick, his reported salary cap hit of $986,224 does land him in the top 51… for now. McCormick is only counting $1,224 on the salary cap by coming into the top 51, but once the other two free agent additions the Steelers have signed and their final two draft picks are under contract, McCormick could get bumped out of the top 51 if all the other contracts are more than his.

As for the Steelers two third-round picks, they each carry a salary cap hit in 2024 of over $1 million. Peyton Wilson’s cap number for 2024 is reported at $1,017,511 while Roman Wilson‘s is at $1,044,576. By displacing a $985K case salary, both players do bring down the cap number slightly, but not too significantly.

At this time, there is not a reported contract for either wide receiver, Scotty Miller, or cornerback Anthony Everett, who was signed after a rookie minicamp tryout. Based on the years of service for each, they will land either in the top 51 or as one of the $985K salaries hanging right at the cutoff if they are given a veteran salary benefit contract. Once these contracts are reported, a new salary cap update will be given.

Here is the approximate breakdown of the Steelers salary cap space after some of the most recent deals by my own calculations. The numbers below are strictly the salary cap hit for each player in 2024.

Steelers salary cap space heading into free agency: Approximately $24.7 million

Breiden Fehoko: Reported $1.055 million; After displacement: -$0.26 million
Cameron Johnston: Reported $2.083333 million; After displacement: -$1.288333 million
Patrick Queen: Reported $6.113333 million; After displacement: -$5.297224 million
Diontae Johnson: Saves $10 million; No displacement: +$10 million
Donte Jackson: Currently $10.5225; No displacement: -$10.5225 million
Russell Wilson: Reported $1.21 million; After displacement: -$0.295 million
Miles Killebrew: Reported $2.255 million; After displacement: -$1.34 million
Christian Kuntz: Reported $1.163333 million; After displacement: -$0.248333 million
DeShon Elliott: Reported $2.25 million; After displacement: -$1.335 million
Montravius Adams: Reported $2.125 million; After displacement: -$1.21 million
Kenny Pickett: Netted gain of $0.131099 million; No displacement: +$0.131099 million
Van Jefferson: Reported $1.1525 million; After displacement: -$0.2375 million
Justin Fields: Cap hit of $3.233448 million; No displacement: -$3.233448 million
Donte Jackson: New deal saving $4.5225 million; No displacement: +$4.5225
Quez Watkins: Reported $1.1525 million; After displacement: -$0.2375 million
Kyle Allen: Reported $1.1525 million; After displacement: -$0.2375 million
Dean Lowry: Reported $1.875 million; After displacement: -$0.96 million
Cordarrelle Patterson: Reported $2.25 million; After displacement: -$1.335 million
MyCole Pruitt: Reported $1.035 million; After displacement: -$0.100554 million
Matthew Wright: Reported $1.055 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Alex Highsmith: Restructure saving a reported $7.206 million; No displacement: +$7.206 million
Ryan Watts: Reported $840,671; No in top 51: -$0
Logan Lee: Reported $850,018; No in top 51: -$0
Mason McCormick: Reported $986,224; After displacement: -$0.001224 million
Payton Wilson: Reported $1.017511 million; After displacement: -$0.032511 million
Roman Wilson: Reported $1.044576 million; After displacement: -$0.059576 mllion
Scotty Miller: No report
Anthony Averett: No report

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $18.25 million

So how does my salary cap number compare to those reported by the major salary cap websites?

According to overthecap.com (OTC), the Steelers are $18,252,042 under the salary cap. Having all the same contacts, we have the exact same number.

Another credible salary cap website is spotrac.com, which has the Steelers at $18,798,671. Spotrac also has all the contracts but has a slightly different number for Alex Highsmith’s restructure. Other differences are they do not have the offseason workouts counting against the salary cap. Additionally, Spotrac counts the potential dead money hit for players not in the top 51 even though it does not need to count against the cap at this time until those players are officially released.

While the Steelers are going to need cap space for a number of things this offseason, it doesn’t have to be at this time. The Steelers will need as much as an additional $15.14 million, with $13 million not needed until September. The Steelers are estimated to still need about $2.14 million to sign their top two draft picks after displacement based on OTC’s estimates. Expenses in September include when they need to account for all 53 players on the roster (about $1.75 million), sign their practice squad (between $4 million and $4.5 million), and have some carryover in order to do business throughout the year (about $7 million). But even taking these things into effect now, which they do not need to do as there are other moves which could be made to save some cap space, the Steelers have plenty of room in order to still be active in free agency.

Does something not make sense? Curious about any of the specifics? Leave your questions in the comments below and I will check in and do my best to answer them.