The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the verge of reporting to training camp to start the 2024 season. While reports still 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.

The Steelers have made only one move in the month of July in bringing back former seventh-round draft pick Tyler Matakevich. With eight NFL seasons under his belt, Matakevich remained unsigned throughout the 2024 offseason as he will turn 32 during the upcoming season. But even with all his years of experience which has him receiving a $1.21 million league minimum salary, it is a veteran salary benefit contract so it only counts $985k against the cap which does not land in the top 51 contracts. The player the Steelers released, Jalen Elliott, only had a $915k salary so there was no savings either. So the Steelers salary cap space was unaffected by the transaction.

Here is the approximate breakdown of the Steelers salary cap space after all the deals this league year 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: Reported $985,000; No in top 51: -$0
Izaiah Gathings: Reported $750,000; No in top 51: -$0
Troy Fautanu: Reported $2.737326 million; After displacement: -$1.752326 million
Cam Sutton: Reported $985,000; No in top 51: -$0
Grayland Arnold: Reported $985,000; No in top 51: -$0
Jaray Jenkins: Reported $750,000; No in top 51: -$0
Zach Frazier: Reported $1.371675 million; After displacement: -$0.385451 million
Denzel Mims: Saved $1.055 million; After displacement: +$0.068776 million
Tyler Matakevich: Reported $985,000; No in top 51: -$0

Approximate salary cap space: Approximately $15.95 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 $15,945,541 under the salary cap. Having all the same contracts, we have the exact same number.

Another credible salary cap website is spotrac.com, which has the Steelers at $15,927,282. Spotrac has a slightly different number for Alex Highsmith’s restructure and 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.

Another place where I confirm salary cap information is the NFLPA public salary cap report. It does not offer a breakdown but simply an amount. Their current cap space for the Steelers is $16,680,499. In their calculations, they do not yet have the offseason workouts and they count the potential dead money from players outside of the top 51. Taking into account those two discrepancies, we have the same number.

While the Steelers are going to need cap space for a number of things to start the regular season, it still doesn’t have to be at this time. The Steelers will need as much as an additional $13 million but it is not needed until September. 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 acquiring players or offering contract extensions throughout training camp.

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.