The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling along through the 2024 league year. 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.

Since the last cap update, OTC has reported three of the salaries for new players on the Steelers. Scotty Miller comes in with a veteran salary benefit contract with a base salary of $1.125 million but does not count fully against the salary cap. He also has the $167,500 in a bonus, but it as not a signing bonus and is instead a roster bonus. If Miller does not make the Steelers roster, there will be no dead money associated with his contract. If he does, his salary cap hit for 2024 will be $1.1525 million and it displaces a $985 K salary.

The other two salaries that have been reported are for Anthony Averett and La’Mical Perine. With Averett having four years of experience in the NFL, he also qualifies for a veteran salary benefit contract where he will make a $1.125 million base salary but only count $985 K against the salary cap. With no bonus as a part of his contract, it does not land in the top 51 salaries. But for Perine, he has one less year experience in the NFL and therefore has a base salary of $1.055 million. Unfortunately, he is not eligible for the veteran salary benefit and this is his cap number for 2024, which does land in the top 51 and displaces a $985 K salary.

One other item of note that will affect the cap at some point is the reports of Keilahn Harris being placed on the Reserve/Injured List (IR). OTC has it reported that Harris has a split contract and therefore will count $470 K against the Steelers salary cap. Because this amount does not fall in the top 51, it’s a bit of a gray area as to whether it counts now or when the Steelers cut their roster to 53 players. For now, I am not including this total against the salary cap, but may change my mind.

At this time, there is not a reported contract for running back Jonathan Ward. Based on his years of service, Ward is eligible for the same contract as Anthony Averett and will likely not land in the top 51 salaries if this is the case.

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 million
Scotty Miller: Reported $1.1525 million; After displacement: -$0.1675 million
Anthony Averett: Reported $985,000; No in top 51: -$0
La’Mical Perine: Reported $1.055 million; After displacement: -$0.07 million
Jonathan Ward: No report

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $18.0 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 $18,014,542 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 $18,003,671 . Spotrac does not have these three contracts added and has a slightly different number for Alex Highsmith’s restructure. They also have wide receiver Keilahn Harris on (IR) with his full salary of $795 K. 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.