With less than three weeks to the start of training camp, the Pittsburgh Steelers currently have 91 players under contract. This means before the team meets up at Saint Vincent on July 26, they will need to release a player to hit 90.
This will also have an impact on the Steelers overall salary cap situation. As of now, with 91 players, the Steelers are sitting on $13,249,924 in cap space per Over the Cap. The Steelers do still need to sign rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to his rookie deal so that will impact the cap a bit.
However, with no pressing roster needs, it does beg the question of what Pittsburgh is going to do with that money. I suppose the Steelers could reach out to some street free agents and bolster the roster more for this season. But with the Steelers philosophy on free agents, I am not sure this will happen.
You might think that money is all going to go to outside linebacker Alex Highsmith in a new contract extension. The truth is if/when Highsmith signs an extension with the Steelers, it won’t have much of an impact on this year’s cap at all. It could even lower it a bit.
The truth is the Steelers might just decide to hold only as much of that extra cash as possible and let it carry over to 2024. Depending on what the new salary cap numbers work out to next year, Pittsburgh is almost sure to be over the cap to start the offseason.
