Obviously, there is no intention to disrespect the players who announced their retirement after the 2020 NFL season, but one of the results of Vance McDonald and Maurkice Pouncey deciding to call this a career in Pittsburgh is a relief from the Steelers 2021 salary cap situation . In case you didn’t know, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in need of some tough decisions as they are well above the projected salary cap for next season. Exactly what the limit will be is just a projection at this point, as the NFL has not announced the number needed for teams to fall below the 51 highest salaries on March 17.
Before I get to exactly the Steelers position, to quickly answer the question of why the NFL did not announce the 2021 salary cap is because there are many things going on in the 2021 season that were not agreed between the league and the NFLPA. Will the NFL go on a 17 game season this fall? Will there be a new TV contract? Will both sides agree not to lower the salary cap as much for 2021 due to a jump in the ceiling projected for the 2022 season?
There is no guarantee that something is being agreed between the NFL and the Players Association that will help with the salary cap, but if there is a possibility that the two sides will agree on something different for 2021, it will probably be beneficial to Steelers in some way.
So, where are the Steelers right now? According to overthecap.com, the Steelers are just over $ 30 million above the projected wage ceiling for 2021. The number they are going with is about $ 180 million, which is $ 5 million to more than the $ 175 million floor established last season.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m using a huge amount of approximate values. It is very difficult to arrive at the exact dollar values when things are not known. Therefore, these approximate figures will give an estimate of the Steelers’ wage cap situation.
Another factor included in the number by overthecap.com is the amount of transfer that the Steelers have from the 2020 season, when they have not spent up to the salary cap. As previously reported, Steelers have just over $ 5 million to be transported. Looking at the numbers used, the $ 30 million over the limit took this figure into account.
Next, Vance McDonald and Maurkice Pouncey’s pensions will have the money owed to them out of the books for 2021. Of course, the dead money will continue, but the base salary that would have been earned by each player will come out of the cap salary.
These numbers are known for certain, as Vance McDonald will save the Steelers $ 5.2 million for the salary cap and Maurkice Pouncey will have $ 8 million coming out of the books. A mistake that some may make is the fact that $ 13.2 million will not come out of the salary cap as there will be a shift from the 51 highest salaries for Steelers. With players earning $ 660,000 each rising to the top 51, Steelers will have a net profit of just under $ 12 million over the salary cap.
Therefore, of the $ 30 million the Steelers will need to cut, almost $ 12 million was made without them having to make any decisions on their own. Granted, the Steelers have more than $ 18 to cut if the salary cap ends up around the $ 180 million mark.
So what else can the Steelers do to improve their situation? First, any amount that the salary cap exceeds $ 180 million is much less that the Steelers have to worry about. In addition, Steelers are expected to cut part of their salary cap based on anything done under Ben Roethlisberger’s contract. If Roethlisberger calls this a career and does not play in 2021, then more than $ 18 million would be transferred to the Steelers because of the $ 19 million in salary minus the shift to move another player to the top 51. If Ben Roethlisberger stays with the Steelers and there is no commuting, but they redo their contract and give him a little extension, I can see the Steelers saving at least $ 10 million if they can work things out.
In addition, there is money to be saved by restructuring players with several years remaining in their contract, such as Stephon Tuitt and Cameron Heyward. If Steelers is looking to restructure as much as possible for both players, they can save another $ 10 million.
Of course, there may still be escalation cuts and other contract extensions in order to reduce the maximum number of players’ salaries for the 2021 season.
All of these numbers are just talking about where the Steelers need to get to at the beginning of the 2021 league year on March 17th. The Steelers will also need an additional salary limit to sign their draft choices, take players 52 and 53 into the squad, sign up for their training team and take some money for the season in order to do business and transfer if not be used. But for now, the most important question is what the Steelers can do at the start of the league year. As we saw in previous years, Steelers can find money in other ways to prepare for these things.
Are the Steelers still above the projected salary cap for 2021? Yes they are. Did McDonald and Pouncey’s retirement help with that? Yes it was. Are there other ways to achieve wage cap compliance without completely screwing up the list? Yes, there are, but it will still be difficult to hire free-agent players. But, as we have seen in the past, difficult does not mean impossible for the Steelers, as there is still a lot of work to be done with the 2021 salary cap.