The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling along through the 2024 league year. With no new signings reported this week, I’ve been looking for the previously unreported breakdowns in order to update my numbers for the salary cap availability for the Steelers. 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.

After being officially announced by the Steelers a week after it was reported they were coming to Pittsburgh, the contracts for Quez Watkins, Kyle Allen, Dean Lowry, and Cordarrelle Patterson have now been reported. As I had stated previously, Patterson‘s contract was known to be two years for $6 million. His breakdown comes as a $1.3 million base salary this season along with a $1.9 million signing bonus. This leaves Patterson with a $2.25 million salary cap hit for 2024 and it displaces a $950 K salary.

The other two-year contract belongs to defensive tackle Dean Lowry which is for $5 million. For this season, Lowry was given a $1.25 million base salary along with a $1.25 million signing bonus. This leaves Lowry with a $1.875 million salary cap hit this season and displaces a $915 K salary.

The other two contracts for wide receiver Quez Watkins and quarterback Kyle Allen are both veteran salary benefit contracts. Just like the deal for Van Jefferson, each player will be paid their $1.125 million minimum salary along with a $167,500 signing bonus. Because it is a veteran salary benefit contract, the base salary only counts as $985 K. For this reason, the salary cap hit for each of these players is $1,152,500 and they displace the final two $915 K salaries that were still in the top 51.

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

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $11.3 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 $12,744,907 under the salary cap as of Wednesday night. Of the four players added, OTC only has Patterson’s contract and is missing Watkins, Allen, and Lowry. Otherwise, we have the exact same number.

Another credible salary cap website is spotrac.com, which has the Steelers at $13,631,003 as of Wednesday night. Spotrac also only has the contract for Patterson and not the other three. Other differences here 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 $16 million, with $13 million not needed until September. The Steelers are estimated to need about $3 million to sign their rookie class after displacement based on their current draft picks. 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.