The Pittsburgh Steelers have all 69 players under contract heading into the 2024 regular season with an additional International Pathway Program player on the price squad. With their 53-man roster set and 16 players (plus one) signed to the practice squad, their week of preparation for Week 1 has now commenced.

But with all these different moves as everything came together, where did it put the Steelers in regards to the 2024 salary cap? Do they have enough money heading into the season to conduct the business they would potentially need to do? Is there enough money to make one last move?

For those who have followed my salary cap articles, I begin a running tab at the beginning of the league year in order to keep track of everything. But with the changing of the requirements from being the top 51 salaries which count towards the salary cap to now everything having to count, listing out all the names and all the moves isn’t just unnecessary but almost impossible. Instead, I’ll take a look at the different categories of where the salary cap has changed since the Steelers cut down to 53 players.

Numbers compiled come courtesy of both overthecap.com (OTC) and spotrac.com.

Cole Holcomb & Cam Sutton

Two players went on two different lists, which are not always used, when the Steelers cut their roster down to 53-players last week. Cole Holcomb went on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform List (PUP). Usually the salaries of those earning above the league minimum would count fully against the salary cap, but the Steelers reworked Holcom’s deal earlier in training camp to where he now has a split contract. A better explanation of how this works and the amount involved can be seen HERE.

The other player who moved to a different list was Cam Sutton who is on the Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner List. While Sutton is suspended, he will not receive pay for those eight games. But by being on this list, Sutton must have the rest of his salary he will be due when he returns, $547,222, count against the salary cap.

When it comes to both of these players, it should be noted that if they come off of these lists they will be replacing another player on the 53-man roster. In the case of Holcomb, there may be an increase in salary if he comes off of PUP which would then count against the cap, but it will likely be countered somewhat by the player who has been released. As for Sutton, his salary has already been accounted for, so whatever player the Steelers release upon his return from suspension would simply give that much salary cap relief.

Players on injured reserve

Other than Cole Holcomb who will be grouped into this category being on PUP, there are five other players on the Reserve/Injured List (IR) who now officially count towards the 2024 salary cap. Two of the players— Ryan Watts and David Perales— have split contracts to where they are paid a reduced rate while on IR. Nate Herbig is the biggest one at this time at $5.46 million. The Steelers also have two players designated to return each counting $915k in Dylan Cook and Jerimiah Moon. In all, the five player’s contracts, along with Holcomb’s, total $13,015,671 towards the salary cap.

Injury settlements

On top of the players on IR, the Steelers also reached an injury settlement with several players during the preseason. At this time, there have only been two of these settlements reported (both by OTC) in Breiden Fehoko and Tarik Black who each only received one week’s salary at the league minimum for a split contract. Between these two players, the Steelers paid out a total of $56,389 in injury settlements which now count towards the salary cap and I group into the “dead money” category. There will likely be others reported eventually, but they likely will not be more than $30k individually.

52nd and 53rd salaries

As I mentioned continually throughout the offseason, the final two salaries when the Steelers cut down to 53 players would be in addition to their salary cap number once the moves were made. The final two salaries on the Steelers in terms of their salary cap number for 2024 are Cory Trice and Beanie Bishop who’s combined cap numbers total $1,619,422.

Practice squad

Compiling data from both Spotrac and OTC, the Steelers have six of their 16 players making a higher amount by being a vested veteran ($302,400 for the season) while 10 players receive the typical practice squad salary ($225,000 for the season). In adding up these numbers, the Steelers current cost for the practice squad for the 2023 season is $4,064,400. These amounts are paid out weekly to the players, so if a less expensive player is added in place of a vested veteran, this number could fluctuate throughout the season. The 17th player in the IPP program does not count towards the salary cap.

Salary differences of released players

As expected, the Steelers had a number of players who were not in the top 51 salaries during the offseason that made the team. Players such as Spencer Anderson, Darius Rush, Ryan McCollum, Jalen Elliott, and Logan Lee made the team but their contract did not count against the salary cap until 4 PM Tuesday. Instead, they replaced other players who were in the top 51 who did not make the team such as Quez Watkins, La’Mical Perine, and Matthew Wright as well as those placed on PUP or the Suspended List. But with some of these players who were released, they also rolled dead money for the 2024 season from any signing bonuses these players have made with the Steelers. While it’s not impossible to calculate the differences of players who fell out of the top 51 salaries and those that moved in, it seems a bit futile to track those exactly.

The Steelers added new dead money from Quez Watkins, John Rhys Plumlee, Daijun Edwards, Jacoby Windmon, and Julius Welschof. Adding their dead money amounts to those from other players throughout the offseason and cuts from the Steelers in 2023, the Steelers current dead of money total is $24,858,734. As I said earlier, I included injury settlements in this dead money total.

How much cap space is there?

After breaking all that down, it is now time to get to the overall purpose and what everyone ultimately wants to know. Based on my calculations, I have the Pittsburgh Steelers current salary cap space as slightly over $8.325 million.

During the offseason, I gave an estimate of about $7 million that I believe the Steelers might want to carry into the 2024 season. In 2021, I had been using $5 million as the number and had kept it steady for several seasons. But starting two seasons ago, I upped the amount due to increased minimum salaries and the cost of elevating players from the practice squad on game day. Since I’ve likely aired on the side of caution, the Steelers should be completely confident heading into 2024 with this amount of salary cap space and could still add another player if the first year of their contract worked out right.

If the Steelers think they want to make another significant move that would need more cap space, a small restructure of a player that wouldn’t really change much, such as a Minkah Fitzpatrick could free up just enough of what the Steelers think they could additionally need. The Steelers could take a small amount of Fitzpatrick’s $14.5 million base salary and add it as a signing bonus to free up some space. For example, converting $3 million into a signing bonus would save $2 million for 2024 while only adding $1 million each to 2025 and 2026. While this is entirely possible, it may not be necessary and therefore the Steelers might be content rolling into the 2024 season with their current amount.

For those who like to look at the salary cap websites, some of them differ slightly from my number. At OTC, their current cap number is $8,629,857 as of Monday night. Our only difference at this time is they do not have Quez Watkins’ salary from the practice squad yet. As for Spotrac, their reported number of the Steelers salary cap space is $9,036,571 as of Monday night. I often have differences from Spotrac such as them not taking into account offseason workouts, an incorrect restructure for Alex Highsmith which has been on the books for months that and has not been corrected, and a few differences in dollars here or there.

As I often say to close out my salary cap articles, if there are any questions please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer promptly.